Miss Wolfraston's Ladies

Marianne has disconcertingly open manners and a liveliness that Miss Wolfraston deplores. When she visits her aunt in Cheltenham, these traits inevitably lead her into a series of scrapes. Lord Cranbourne has already been disappointed in love once and is in no hurry to find a bride. Annoyed at his sister’s matchmaking attempts, he accompanies his friend Sir Horace Bamber to Cheltenham. He expects to be heartily bored. Then, he meets Marianne. Both have lessons to learn; not least that no one is quite what they seem.

Marianne’s brief time at Miss Wolfraston’s Seminary for Young Ladies is coming to an end, which is a relief for both of them. She has disconcertingly open manners and a liveliness that Miss Wolfraston deplores. When her aunt invites her to join her in Cheltenham for the summer, these traits inevitably lead her into a series of scrapes. After being disappointed in love seven years ago, Lord Cranbourne has acquired the reputation of being dangerous, heartless, and selfish.

Seven years ago, Miss Hayes’ world was turned upside down when she lost her father, her betrothed, and any prospect of a comfortable future. Too proud to live upon the charity of others, she became a teacher at Miss Wolfraston’s Seminary for Young Ladies. She has no wish to reenter the society that turned its back on her. But she has spent five years nurturing her pupil, Miss Charlotte Fletcher, and when she is asked to be her companion for the summer, her affection for the young lady overcomes her reservations.

Lady Georgianna Voss bids adieu to her friend Marianne with a heavy heart. Before their friendship blossomed, she had been a stranger to affection. She returns to her home uncertain of her reception. She has spurned the advances of the eligible but dull man her mama wished her to marry. Having witnessed the cold, unhappy union between her parents, she is not at all eager to follow their example. Enraged, Lady Westbury sends Georgianna to her impoverished aunt, hoping that she will realize just how much a lady needs a wealthy husband, regardless of her feelings for him.