Previously published in the anthology Mrs. Brodie’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies Eight years ago, impoverished gentleman’s daughter Marianne Redfern fled her Lincolnshire home when her first love was forced to wed another. At Mrs. Brodie’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies, she learned the arts of cookery and self-defense—and as head cook, she can manage her staff, feed hundreds, and take down thieves. But she has no defense against Jack Grahame’s unexpected arrival two weeks before a dinner that will secure the academy’s fortunes. Now a wealthy widower, Jack still has a wicked twinkle in his eye and a place in Marianne’s heart. When she gives him a second chance, he’s at her side in the kitchen all day and the bedchamber all night. But forgiveness doesn’t come together as easily as a sauce, and the wounds of the past will either destroy the academy’s fortunes or ruin Jack and Marianne’s chance at a future…