The Disgraced Duchess
(2026)(The second book in the Beaumont Boarding House series)
A novel by Jennifer Branson
When ladies from the Old World escape to the Wild West they find refuge in Beaumont Boarding House.
Catherine Astley squeezed her threadbare reticule tightly to her chest as she stepped off the train in dusty Beaumont, Texas, 1885. The silk of her once-fine traveling dress is worn at the elbows, her last remnant of London society life before her father's scandal forced her to flee. A duchess by birth but a fugitive by circumstance, she has nothing but her wits and the address of a boarding house that promises discretion for ladies of quality.Deacon Fellows scowled at the letter from his father, crumpling it before tossing it into the fire of his brother's study. At twenty-nine, he's built a respectable law practice in Boston, far from the Texas heat and his overbearing older brother. Yet family duty called him west to help salvage the boarding house his brother has nearly run into the ground—a temporary arrangement that becomes considerably less tedious when he spots a pair of haunted blue eyes beneath a stylish, if somewhat dated, hat.
Will Catherine's carefully constructed new identity withstand the scrutiny of a man trained to uncover the truth? Can Deacon reconcile his growing feelings for the mysterious boarder with his promise to return east once the business is solvent again? And when Catherine's past inevitably catches up with her, will the fragile trust between them shatter like fine china or forge something stronger than either dared hope for?
Genre: Inspirational