Only Summer Nights Will Do - Diamonds of London, #9

Sometimes, the heart wants what the heart wants, even if everyone says it's wrong.

As the youngest daughter to the Earl of Alderly, Lady Elizabeth Foster has had a rather luxurious life, but when she's thrown from her horse on an early morning ride while woolgathering, everything changes. Lost and nursing a tender ankle, she's ready to become a watering pot, yet when a handsome stranger comes along to render assistance, she assumes fate is nudging her into the next phase of life.

Mr. Douglas Pratt is only a member of the ton by a thread. His father is a baronet, but the family coffers won't support a carefree lifestyle of a gentleman. He must earn a living, and since his looks are quite exceptional, he became a footman in a duke's household, to his family's embarrassment. When he comes upon a lady in need one morning on his daily constitutional, he immediately renders aid, but somehow there is confusion with his identity, and she assumes he's the very duke he serves.

No amount of trying to explain will change her mind, and because he's smitten at first sight, he prolongs the farce merely to stay in her good graces, for there's plenty of time to admit all. Yet the more they meet each other during the summer days, the more the story grows until there's no escape, and no chance of winning her once the truth comes out. And when it does, heartbreak will surely follow. Will class divide and the sin of omission doom their budding romance? Or will she marry the duke regardless? Perhaps the magic of summer nights will help them discover what is truly important.