Learning to be Little: Kelly’s Story by Kathryn R. Blake

After a bleak childhood in foster care, Kelly’s growing mistrust has her running away again and again. Homeless and penniless, with no relatives to harbor her and a penchant for escaping her caretakers, Kelly is finally handed over to one of the few parish orphanages remaining in existence until she turns eighteen, when she is released.

Possessing only a little money, few skills, and even fewer resources, Kelly’s attempts at job hunting end up with her prowling the streets in desperation – until a wealthy stranger makes her a proposition she is too cold and hungry to refuse. Though it isn’t until he takes her home that she realizes just what she’s gotten herself into.