Her Beautiful Bastard by Victoria Vale

A kiss neither will ever forget … a forbidden attraction that can’t be denied …

After a disastrous first Season, Lydia Darling abandons all hope of love and marriage. A simple country girl, she does not belong amongst the debutantes of the ton. Rather than rely on her family for the rest of her days, she chooses to find work as a governess, a position that allows her to hide away from the society that shunned her. However, she cannot seem to forget the mysterious stranger she encountered at a ball during her Season … a man whose kiss haunts her dreams. He never even told her his name, yet Lydia cannot forget the one man who made her crave his touch in a way no other has been able to since.
Sinclair Clayton thought he’d never see the young lady he kissed in a garden during a London ball four years ago … until she turns up on his doorstep applying for the position of governess to his young son. He finds his heart quickly ensnared by Lydia, the strength of their attraction growing more powerful the longer she remains in his home. The illegitimate son of a viscount, he’s always stood on the fringes of society, never feeling as if he belongs. All that changes when he is in Lydia’s presence, and with her becomes the place he knows he should be.
Yet, Sinclair’s loveless marriage to a woman who has made his life a living hell from the moment he said ‘I do’ prevents them from being together. That does not stop them from wanting one another, despite how hard they fight to resist their visceral connection. Will the whims of fate ever allow them to spend their lives together, or are they doomed to long for each other while remaining apart?