The Bluestocking

Gertrude Killoran is the eldest of the Killoran sisters, and her family has underestimated her for as long as she can remember. She looks gentle, but she has a fierce streak when someone gives her the chance to use it.

Her adopted brother Stephen is taken from the family by his true father, Lord Edwin Warwick, the Marquess of Maddock, whom society calls the Mad Marquess. Gertrude will not give the boy up. She forces her way into Edwin's household and insists on staying there as Stephen's governess.

Edwin is a man despised in public, still marked by a deadly tragedy in his past. He holds nothing but hatred for the Killorans, who he believes kidnapped his son, and he does not welcome the woman who now lives under his roof.

This is a historical romance built on an enemies-to-lovers dynamic. Close quarters and a shared concern for a child wear down Edwin's anger, and admiration begins to replace it, along with something warmer. The household is divided by suspicion, and two people slowly change their minds about each other.

It is the fourth book in the Wicked Wallflowers series by Christi Caldwell.