An Unforeseen Kiss

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)><em>A marquess who has recently become a duke. An impoverished lady who serves as a governess. An unlikely duo which becomes friends-and more . . .</em></strong></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Valentinian Worthington a carefree charmer finds himself the Duke of Millbrooke after his father's sudden death. The lighthearted bachelor must quickly assume his responsibilities as head of the family caring for his widowed mother and two younger sisters.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Miss Eden Snow lost her father in a riding accident and her mother's death followed shortly thereafter. The new Viscount Brownley orders her off his estate and she becomes a governess dismissed from her first post because she refuses to become intimate with her employer. Now she is happy employed spending the past five years educating Lady Traywick's daughters Verina and Justina.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Accompanying her charges to visit their cousin a duke Eden hopes to escape the duke's notice but Val is drawn to the attractive intelligent woman. He convinces her they can be friends and a strong bond forms between them as they grow comfortable in one another's company. Val needs a duchess-and he believes Eden is the only one for him.</span></p><p></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)><em>Will Val convince Eden that a governess can make for a wonderful duchess?</em></strong></p><p></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)><u>Tropes/Themes:</u></strong></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>✅ Inherited title / Sudden inheritance</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>✅ Governess heroine</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>✅ Class difference / Across the social divide</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>✅ Friends to lovers</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>✅ Hero falls first</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>✅ Strong independent heroine</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>✅ Charming rake turned responsible duke</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>✅ Slow burn romance</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>✅ Cinderella vibes / Commoner to duchess</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>✅ Protective hero</span></p>