This short story is the prequel to the Wishing Well series by Sofi Laporte. It is available for free only for Sofi Laporte's newsletter subscribers (go to her webpage for the link).

A spirited young lady with a dream. A duke in disguise. A compromising situation. Penniless and seeking a new start, Lucy Bell sets out to visit her childhood friend at Ashmore Hall. When she finds herself stranded in a barn with a handsome gardener, Lucy thinks her luck may be finally turning. Henry is everything she has ever wanted: charming, caring, and kind. Arriving at the estate, Lucy is devastated to discover her beloved gardener is actually the duke of Ashmore - a man she despises. She puts her talent for mischief to good use, cheerfully upending the Duke's life at every turn. Lucy is certain of one thing: she loves the gardener, not the duke. But as they match wits, she discovers that the duke may not be the arrogant aristocrat she thought. When scandal strikes and her past catches up with her, Lucy faces an impossible dilemma. She must decide if love means protecting the people she cares about or risking everything to fight for her happiness... ...for the Duke of Secrets is not the only one wearing a disguise. ♥♥♥ Lucy and the Duke of Secrets is a sweet, light-hearted Regency romp full of witty banter, mischief, and heart-tugging happily ever after. The Wishing Well Series are standalone novels, though you'll encounter cameos from earlier stories.

A runaway Duke’s daughter. A dashingly handsome blacksmith. A festering secret. Everything was a lie ....until it all unravelled. Being a Duke’s daughter is not what it’s cut out to be. Surely, there must be more to life than embroidery, balls, and finding a husband? Running away to work as a governess, Lady Arabella does not count on being hired by a precocious 14-year-old girl who runs the family….and a dashingly handsome father. Mr Philip Merivale, inventor, blacksmith, and widowed father of three lively children, is not amused. There is one thing he dislikes the most: the aristocracy. Clearly, the pretty girl who answered his daughter’s advertisement must be a lady. Why did she choose his family for her social experiments? She must be taught a lesson on middle-to-lower-class life. Adjusting to her new life is difficult, especially when Philip is bent on challenging her at every turn. As the spats between the two grow to undeniable attraction, Arabella uncovers Philip’s devastating secret that jeopardizes everything. How can Arabella succumb to love when her real identity is what Philip despises the most?

A battle-scarred duke. A substitute bride. A dangerous secret that brings them together. The Honorable Roberta Talbot is tired of being the practical one in her family. As the impoverished daughter of a reckless baron, she has spent years supporting her mother and siblings. When a chance-meeting brings an opportunity for adventure her way, Birdie grabs hold and takes it… all the way to a haunted castle in Scotland and into the domain of its beastly lord. A tormented past… Captain Gabriel Eversleigh never expected to become the Duke of Dunross. Racked by survivor’s guilt after the Battle of Waterloo, Gabriel wishes for nothing more than to be left in alone in his tower. Bound by honor to fulfill his promise to wed a girl he has never met, Gabriel plans to be a husband in name only. But the bold young woman who arrives as his bride is irksomely determined to upend both his life and his castle. Worst of all, she pulls on the strings of a heart he thought was long since dead. A committed wife… Determined to turn her sham of a marriage into the real-thing, Birdie not only confronts the ghosts of Gabriel’s past but stirs up a dangerous secret hidden deep within the castle walls. But when Gabriel discovers he’s married the wrong bride, will their love be able to flourish, or will his softening heart harden once more? This Beauty and the Beast variation is a sweet Regency romance that is part of the Wishing Well series; however, it can be read as a separate story. Trigger Warning: Even though there are no graphic descriptions of violence in this book, topics of war, PTSD, and suicide play a role in the main characters’ pasts.

A princess in disguise. A charming lord. A quest for true love. Half-Indian, orphaned and abandoned... ...Penelope Reid is done waiting for love. Masquerading as a boy, she ventures to London to search for the man she’s loved her entire life: her elusive guardian, who’s all but forgotten she even exists. But proving her mettle in the bewildering world of men turns out to be a challenge. Lost and out of her depths, she prowls the streets of London, until she crashes headlong into a charming dandy whose sleepy grey eyes are more perceptive than she thinks. Lord Archibald Alworth takes Pen under his wing and derives great amusement from introducing her to the glittering life of the Regency bachelor. As Pen falls from one muddle into another, he is prepared to haul her out of gaming hells and duels. Becoming increasingly irked that she will neither trust nor confide in him, he questions his self-imposed role as guide and protector. For there is something about the spirited beauty that grabs him and won’t let go. Pen’s world crashes when she discovers the shocking truth about her guardian. When a mysterious patron steps forward to sponsor her for a season on the condition that she transforms herself back to a lady, Pen finds herself in a pickle. For she’s not only lost herself and her heritage... ...she no longer knows the truth of her own heart. Can the lady Penelope find the love that the lad Pen couldn’t? This is a sweet and clean romance. It is the story about a girl’s fierce loyalty, her quest for identity and true love—that isn’t always where you think it is. Penelope and the Wicked Duke is a standalone and book 4 of the Wishing Well Series, which can be read in any order.

When an errant Earl and a feisty schoolteacher are snowed in together over Christmas, mistletoe promises happen… All alone in a girls’ school in Bath. This is not how Frances Littleworth imagined she’d celebrate Christmas. But when a handsome stranger unexpectedly collapses on the doorstep, the kind-hearted schoolteacher decides to take him in and nurse him back to health. At least it won’t feel quite so lonesome on Christmas, with this fever-garbling stranger to tend to. When the grateful but mysterious convalescent insists she hire him as a drawing master, Frances hesitates. For this man’s flirtatious charm is a dangerous threat to the careful order of her life—and her well-guarded heart. Mr Percy Tiverton, future Earl of Halsford, disillusioned nobleman and divinely talented artist, has never had to work in his entire life. Yet he is determined to prove that he can fend for himself without relying on his father’s fortune, using solely his artistic talents. If only he can convince this stubborn but enchanting woman that he is serious about his position—and her. For he has never met a woman quite like her. So sweet. So stubborn. So kissable! As the school’s substitute headmistress, Frances is determined to maintain a professional relationship with the new teacher and keeps the charming stranger at an arm’s length. She cannot afford to lose her position again over a mere flirtation. Yet what should she do when her heart races every time he glances at her? Then there is this fateful encounter under the mistletoe…. A sweet, heart-warming Christmas Regency romance to fall in love with.