Joseph is acquainted with Miss Hunt and knows she would make the perfect duchess, so he doesn’t dismiss the idea after all, this is the way of aristocratic marriages and he hopes that on further acquaintance, he and Miss Hunt can come know each other and that they will be able to forge a marriage based on mutual understanding, respect and, hopefully, affection.
Joseph knows his father is right, but is rather disconcerted when he discovers that his parents have already selected a bride for him, the lovely and serene Miss Portia Hunt – who also appeared in the first novel in this series, Simply Unforgettable. Joseph is the heir to the Duke of Anburey, whose health has been uncertain of late, and who is, as a result, pressuring his son to get married and start on the job of filling his nursery in order to secure the succession. But he has come at Susanna’s request, and Claudia does not want to be rude to her friend so she accepts Attingsborough’s escort.
Her own experiences with the aristocracy have taught her that its members are haughty and uncaring, with no thought for anything but their own consequence and desires, and she absolutely wants to refuse the marquess’ offer and have nothing to do with him. The marquess is about Claudia’s own age and is as handsome as he is charming, asking sensible questions and making complimentary comments about the school and its facilities. But the course she has mapped out for herself is challenged when Joseph Fawcitt, the Marquess of Attingsborough arrives at the school, introducing himself as a friend of Susanna, Viscountess Whitleaf ( Simply Magic), and offering to escort Claudia and two of her older pupils to London, where the younger ladies are to meet with prospective employers. Our heroine here is the formidable Miss Martin herself, a confirmed spinster in her mid-thirties who has worked hard to achieve success and who loves what she does. Simply Perfect closes out Mary Balogh’s Simply Quartet of books, each of which takes as its heroine a school teacher from Miss Martin’s School for Girls in Bath.
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