Showing results for "3" in Victorian

Once upon a time, Alexandra Grace Huntington believed in fairy tales. She oohed and aahed over gowns from Courtauld’s, never wore black lest in mourning, always minded her social graces, and never, ever indulged her inner bluestocking. Now her life is a mess. She’s home alone for the holidays, alone, no siblings, no friends, and not a shred of pride remaining. But that’s all well and good, so far as Alex is concerned, because everything she once knew was all wrong.

Tormented by guilt and rage, Dorian, the Duke of Rath, agrees to a marriage of convenience—with the sister of the man whose death weighs on his soul. He vows never to touch her. But Patience Rose is stubborn, brilliant, and utterly irresistible.

In an inn, on the way to her first London Season, Katerina Fortune hears something that gives her a chance to escape her fate. Acting on impulse, she hires a gig and presents herself to a reclusive gentleman to offer herself as a bride. For Katerina, the eighth daughter of Castle Fortune (her Yorkshire home) has no intention of letting her father sell her to the highest bidder in town.

Lord Drake Varisey, Marquess of Winchelsea, eldest son and heir of the Duke of Wolverstone, must foil a plot that threatens to shake the foundations of the realm, but the very last lady - nay, noblewoman - he needs assisting him is Lady Louisa Cynster, known throughout the ton as Lady Wild.

Growing up with four unruly brothers has made Freyja Bedwyn far bolder than most society ladies. From feisty manner to long, tumbling hair, Lady Freyja is pure fire - a woman who seeks both adventure and freedom. Adventure soon finds her on a visit to Bath, when a handsome stranger bursts into Freyja's room and entreats her to hide him. His name is Joshua Moore, Marquess of Hallmere, a man with a hell-raising reputation of his own who is quickly intrigued by the independent beauty.

Lady Selina Bellamy is much more than a pretty face. And it's about time everyone realized it. Being the sweet, biddable, pretty sister isn't as easy as one might think. Selina knows this all too well. Love? That was never a possibility for her. Not when she was expected to marry a wealthy man and save her entire family from financial ruin.

To Adele Wilson the answer is clear: of course not. She has seen her two sisters dragged through scandal and heartbreak (not to mention every ballroom in London) to find the husbands of their dreams. And that's why she said yes to the first amiable British lord who requested her hand. And why shouldn't she marry him? He is kind, honest, and not sentimental in the least.

Lady Vivianna Darby was considered a smashing success by society’s standards. After all, she landed Ryder Maxen, the coveted Duke of Margate, in her first season out. Wildly in love, Viv believed herself lucky to have escaped the cold marriages common amongst the ton.

Theodora knows in her heart that she has star quality, but sadly, no one else in her theatrical family feels the same way. When her sister leaves to get married, Theo is promptly axed from the bill and expected to take a back seat in the family business.

Miss Euphemia Fleet, on her way to join her dear Felicity and her husband, is still fearing that she may be a burden to them. She meets Baron Balfour on the road, and after an accident to her only gown, finds out that she resembles his dead wife in stature when he offers her a change of clothes. But the shock of seeing Euphemia in the gown brings on an old illness, and she is forced by her kindly nature to stay with him, though his loud voice and blunt conversation terrifies her. Something stirs in Euphemia as they become acquainted....

Lady Helena Davenport is desperate to avoid the odious betrothal her father is forcing upon her. The only way out is to orchestrate her own ruin. Everything is unfolding according to plan; her escape is finally within her grasp. But there is just one problem when the moment of scandal arrives: the rake she selected for an assignation is nowhere to be found. In his place? The man she secretly loves.

Lady Theodosia Barrington is practically begging to be ruined. That’s the assumption of the Marquess of Haven after spying Theodosia at a house party given by the Duke of Granby. After his father left him little else but a title and a crumbling estate, Haven is in desperate need of an heiress.

Benedict Hannan has veered off his celibate, godly path and onto one of erotic exploration with his beloved criminal Sebastian Cavell. He is also trying and failing to rid himself of the insidious bonds of the deviant cabal Fratres Seminis. The cabal drew Benedict into their blasphemous schemes at the behest of his ex-lover Lord Euan Ardmillan. However, now Ardmillan is out of favour with the leader, Lawrence Blake, and considered to be a betrayer.

There aren't many young ladies who'd be eager to accept a governess position with wild twin boys in a lonely castle deep in the Oxfordshire countryside, but Helena Templeton has never been much like other young ladies. She's just settled into her new post when the boys' father, the rakish Earl of Hawke, returns home unexpectedly, half-dressed and fleeing his latest London scandal.

Stacie - Lady Eustacia Cavanaugh - is adamant marriage is not for her. Wealthy and well-born, she needs for nothing, and with marriage off the table, to give her life purpose, she embarks on a plan to further the careers of emerging local musicians by introducing them to the ton via a series of musical evenings. Yet despite her noble status, Stacie requires a musical lure to tempt the haut ton to her events, and only one musician commands sufficient cachet - the reclusive and notoriously reluctant Marquess of Albury.

Haunted by a past filled with violence and abuse, Claire Ashier must protect her new home and her battered heart from Boyd Grayson, the charming saloon owner who is ruining her boardinghouse business. That’s not an easy task when her only friend in town is Boyd’s dog Sailor. While marching on Boyd’s noisy saloon, Claire matches wits with the handsome saloon owner, and what begins as a test of wills becomes a test of courage. During their confrontations, they develop an unexpected friendship that changes the game for them.

They call him the Devil of Dorset. He stands alone, a man of undeniable power. Moving in and out of shadows, back alleys and ballrooms, he is unstoppable and one of the Crown’s most dangerous weapons. However, when he sets his sights on the stunningly beautiful Countess of Mont Claire, Francesca Cavendish, he doesn't realize that he has met a match like no other.

Felicity Taylor and her guardian, Lucas Kincaid, don't see eye to eye on many things, but they both agree that her twenty-first birthday can't come quickly enough. Felicity is an heiress, but she'll lose her fortune if she marries without Kincaid's consent. Unless, of course, she waits until she comes of age, when she'll be able to marry without his permission. And since Felicity hates to ask Kincaid for anything, she's chosen to wait until she turns twenty-one to make her society debut.

Lady Amelia has little desire for a suitor. An unusual woman for her time, she is capable and independent, just as her loving father raised her. But the laws of inheritance are the unjust sort, and she stands to lose her family's lands if she cannot find a suitable, proper husband before the passing of her increasingly ill father.

Summoned to Edinburgh by the Dowager Countess of Pembroke, Tabitha and Wolf reluctantly board a train and head north to Scotland. The dowager's granddaughter, Lily, refuses to participate in the preparations for her first season unless Tabitha and Wolf investigate the disappearance of her friend, Peter. Initially skeptical of the need to investigate, Tabitha and Wolf quickly realize that the idealistic Peter may have stumbled upon dark secrets. How far would someone go to cover their tracks?