Alscode
Miss Hersilia Bridgerton has always preferred stillness to spectacle. Known among the ton for her serene manner and delicate sketches, she drifts through London's social season like a soft breeze-pleasant, polite, and entirely overlooked. But when a wayward child interrupts a garden party and lands in her lap-literally-Hersilia finds herself entangled with the one man society dares not speak of without a whisper.
Nathaniel D'Astley, Marquess of Wycombe, returned to London with scandal on his heels and a three-year-old daughter at his side. Polite but distant, the marquess has made no efforts to charm the gossips or win back their favor. He has no interest in society's forgiveness... or its daughters.
Until he meets Hersilia Bridgerton.
What begins as quiet companionship blossoms into something far more dangerous: affection, attachment, and the possibility of a life neither of them believed possible. But with reputations hanging by threads, offers of convenience, and the press sniffing out every whispered glance, both Hersilia and Nathaniel must decide what they are willing to risk for love-and what becomes of a young lady when she dares to choose her own future.