The Miser of Mayfair

Lady Jane Lovelace has conceived the idea of approaching the most notorious man about town, Lord Charles Welbourne, with a most unique proposition. But when he counters her offer with a condition that he thinks will halt her impudence, much to the surprise of both, she accepts. A novel of passion and intrigue, The Westerby Inheritance is the first volume of this new and emotionally charged romantic saga all played out against a backdrop of elegant 18th-century society.

Life is not easy for the poor relations of England's upper crust, but fate and clever schemes bring them together. Lady Fortescue and Colonel Sandhurst hatch a plan: What if they were to transform her decrepit Bond Street home into a posh hotel, offering their guests the pleasure of being waited upon by nobility? With the help of other down-and-out aristocrats, they do just that, and London's newest hotel, the Poor Relation, is born.

A dead employer's legacy of 5,000 pounds allows spinster Hannah Pym to resign from housekeeping and find adventure travelling the English countryside by stagecoach. But adventure soon finds Miss Pym in the form of Miss Emily Freemantle, a spoilt violet-eyed beauty fleeing an arranged marriage to a rake she has never met. When the girl's darkly handsome betrothed boards their stage, Miss Pym is certain Emily was rash to bolt from this aristocratic catch! And so as soon as the travellers repair to an inn, Miss Pym begins her matchmaking....

Poor Minerva. Prudish, self-righteous, and incredibly beautiful, she is to be sent to London to capture a wealthy husband. But Minerva doesn't know the first thing about flirting. The London dandies find her moralizing appalling and concoct a plan to assault her virtue - an assault that will scandalize all London society. Meanwhile, Lord Sylvester Comfrey, whom she met earlier through her father, has been keeping a careful eye on the girl. A fact she resents. She dislikes Lord Sylvester. There is something about him that disturbs her.

Lady Betty has no interest in the Duke of Collingham. She doesn't care that he's fabulously wealthy or devastatingly handsome or impeccably well dressed. All she sees is an arrogant nobleman with an abrasive personality and an annoyingly persistent streak. And the Duke of Collingham is persistent. He can have any woman in the whole of society - but the one who won't have him is the only one he wants. And he'll stop at nothing to persuade her.