Once a respectable young governess, Louise Small tumbled from society’s grace after her employer forced himself on her. She wound up at The Red Petticoat playing Little Lapis Lazuli, a submissive who dresses like a girl and offers her bottom up for frequent spankings.

She enjoys her new identity, so far removed from the prim governess she’d been, but she longs for a real daddy—one who is kind and caring, yet willing to administer real discipline. When she spies Culpepper Cove's Mayor interacting with his young niece, she knows he's just the sort of man she wants. But his disdain for her and her profession put them in conflict.

Letting go of her little self, she reverts to the proper, fine-mannered governess to win his attention. But at what cost? Her little side squashed, she must give up hope of being taken in hand. Will being the Mayor's wife be enough?