Showing results by author "Mary Lancaster" in All Categories

Orphan Gillie Muir makes ends meet by holding genteel card parties for friends and visitors to the newly fashionable spa town of Blackhaven. But when Lord Wickenden, known as the wicked baron, makes her a shocking proposal, her world is turned upside down.

There can only be one reason for the proud duke of Alvan’s proposed visit to Audley Park. He means to offer himself for Lord Overton’s beautiful daughter Thomasina, thus saving the family’s waning fortune. In the midst of the hectic preparations for his arrival, Overton’s least marriageable daughter Charlotte remembers to collect her younger brothers from school for the holidays.

Eager to outshine her older sisters, Henrietta Maybury is disappointed to discover the first man to make her heart race is the scion of a banking family, and therefore quite ineligible as a husband to a viscount’s daughter. But as it turns out, Captain Sydney Cromarty is even less marriageable than she first imagined. For beneath his respectable facade, he’s a notorious smuggler – as Henrietta discovers during a reckless evening at the Hart Inn. And the more she learns, the more he fascinates her.

At 28, Lady Arabella Niven is gentle, sickly, and firmly on the shelf. Having disobliged her father by refusing her last chance of marriage, she has been sent in disgrace to Blackhaven with two domineering aunts. Her one wish is to be left alone in a quiet cottage to write books on history. However, everything changes when she tries to rescue a naked man apparently drowning at sea. Thus begins an odd, fun friendship that quickly becomes passionate. For Captain Alban, the hero with a shady past, is rebellious and unconventional by nature.

Lady Cecily, a daughter of a duke, has a habit of getting into trouble. Perhaps it’s her natural curiosity or maybe, she likes excitement, especially where the notorious Lord Verne is concerned. When she’s mistaken for a hussy at the Hart Inn — by every fault of her own — staring at the handsome lord through a partially opened door in a private parlor and watching him out of her chamber window in the middle of the night — is it any surprise he abducts her? Of course, she foolishly imagines her rank and her identity are enough to protect her.

Newly widowed, wicked Kate Crowmore is in trouble. Scandal has broken over her head, and someone is trying to kill her. When she seeks refuge in Blackhaven, she doesn't expect a clergyman to be the solution to both these problems. Tristram Grant is not just any clergyman. The cast-off, illegitimate son of an earl, and a one-time army officer of great promise, the charismatic new curate is making his mark in Blackhaven. As soon as he sees the beautiful, defiant Kate, he sets his heart on her. And he is used to achieving his goals.

Lady Alba Snowden lost her first love when she was 17. Since then, no man has touched her heart - until the summer she encounters wild, fun-loving Russian Prince Yuri Volkov, who is visiting London with the tsar. Dazzled by Alba’s beauty, Yuri follows her to her country home, determined to melt her frozen heart. In the process, he helps her family out of several scrapes and falls in love. But summer is not their time, and Alba and Yuri separate over misunderstandings and the ill will of others.