The Ambitious Baronet by April Kihlstrom

Everything is just as he said it would be, however, and both are surprised when little Anna seems to take to Tessa right away. Rivendale can't blame her for being cautious, and indeed is surprised that she agrees to meet his daughter. She's pragmatic, though - she'll take her own coach, thank you very much, rather than traveling with a complete stranger. He begs her to come home with him to visit his daughter, explaining his reasons why, and after much protest, Tessa agrees. Thus he is shocked when he quite literally runs into Tessa and realizes that she - a young, pretty, unmarried woman - is the one he seeks.

Rivendale has a certain picture in his mind of who this Lady may be: a titled woman, definitely married, and perhaps a grandmother. The publisher demures but says that she's dropping off a manuscript today. The only thing she shows any interest in are stories by an anonymous Lady of Quality, and Rivendale tracks down the publisher and demands to know the authoress. She was thrown free from danger, but witnessed her mother's death, and has been mute ever since. His wife died in a traumatic carriage accent a year before, and his six-year-old daughter, Anna, had been present when it happened. And William, Lord Riverdale, is pretty darn desperate. These novels are published anonymously and her publisher does not give out her identity to anyone who asks - no matter how desperate they are. She's on her way to her publisher to drop of the latest manuscript for a children's novel. It's gone so fast that she thinks she may have dreamed it, but her aunt, the eccentric Miss Winsham, tells her that it does happen: Tessa's older sister saw her husband's face in the locket (aka, the plot of the first book in the trilogy). She holds the locket and makes a rather wistful wish, and when she opens it, she sees the flash of a beautiful face. There is a locket that has been handed down to the girls in the Barlow family that is accompanied by a legend: 'The legend says that when the locket is yours and you hold it, as yours, for the first time and wish, when you open it you will see the face of the man you are to marry.' Theresa is skeptical, but curious. The conceit shows itself in the very first chapter. The first thing to mention is that this is the second book of a trilogy called The Magic Locket, which I didn't discover until I registered this book on Goodreads.

I found this story to be utterly charming and exactly what I was looking for.

This story certainly hit the spot for me - a wonderful escape into a gentle story about two people who, for their own reasons, don't trust their ability to love, at least not romantically.

The Ambitious Baronet by April Kihlstrom