Benefactor to the Baroness — Melissa Kendall

In a world of rules, surrendering to love is the only rebellion that matters.Plagued by survivors' guilt after escaping her impoverished childhood selling matchsticks, Fontaine Shepherd, the Dowager Lady Kerry, uses her position on the board of a charitable foundation to relocate starving orphans to the new world-until contact with the new office is abruptly lost. Fearing the foundation will discover she's been clandestinely using funds to bribe workhouse owners to release children, she decides to travel across the ocean and re-establish communication herself.Except the only captain who can transport her in time insists that she not travel alone.Facing a lonely life after marrying off her nieces, Rosemary Summersby reluctantly agrees to attend a ladies' charity group. There, she meets the vivacious Lady Kerry, who challenges her long-held beliefs of how a lady should look and act. Compelled by a desire to experience the excitement of which her niece often speaks, Rosemary accompanies the dowager baroness to a workhouse and witnesses the cruelty of poverty firsthand.Then Lady Kerry stumbles into Rosemary's cottage one night with an outrageous request: to travel across the ocean as her companion and help her uncover the mystery behind the missing orphans.Unable to convince the dowager baroness of the dangers of her plan and remembering the sense of responsibility that drove her to accept three orphans into her life fifteen years prior, Rosemary decides to join Lady Kerry on her trip. But as the vast ocean and a noble mission stretches before them, a shared purpose and a single bunk ignite an unexpected passion that makes both women question what they truly want for themselves.The Seductive SleuthsBook 1 - Companion to the CountBook 2 - Mentor to the MarquessBook 3 - Benefactor to the Baroness