Sparks fly for a sharp-tongued spinster and a handsome Earl in this sweet and sexy Regency romance. Plain, lame Ellie Lytton isn’t destined for marriage. She’s perfectly content being her stepbrother’s housekeeper . . . Until the high-handed Earl of Hainford arrives with shocking news—her stepbrother has been killed! Ellie believes the earl is responsible for her plight and that he is duty bound to escort her on the journey to her new home. But soon Blake’s fighting an unwanted attraction to his argumentative companion . . . And when she needs protection, he determines he’ll keep her safe—by making Ellie his countess!