Love stories

Sample

Barbara Cartland

Far from the dazzle and extravagance of London's society, Nerissa Stanley and her brother lead a quiet country life as she keeps house for her father, a distinguished but improverished author. Suddenly their elder sister Delphine arrives. Some years before she had managed to marry a rich, elderly Peer and has since ignored her poor relations. But now she needs their help. Recently widowed, she is hoping to marry the Duke of Lynchester, but has to establish the suitability of her own family. She offers her brother and sister a generous and badly-needed sum of money if they will pretend to be the servants when she brings the Duke to meet her father. Reluctantly they agree but the scheme is uncovered by chance and the Duke invites them all to join a a House Part at his superb Elizabethan house. Enchanted if a little overawed by the magnificence of his establishment, Nerissa is nonetheless able to lift the family curse that blights the Lynchester family. Meanwhile, the Duke, bored and cynical about the Society beauties who pursue him, finds in Nerissa a natural, true loveliness.

Sample

Vicky Dreiling

WILL A FEW FLIRTATIOUS STEPS Harry Norcliffe, 31, never wanted to inherit his beloved uncle's ducal title. The rigidity of the ton, the incessant reminders from his marriage-minded mama that he must settle down with a highborn lady and produce an heir and a spare: it's all such a dreadful bore. So when his mother asks him to take part in a dancing competition, he patently refuses. The last thing he needs is another chore . . . until a beautiful, brilliant, delightfully tempting maid makes him rethink his position. LEAD TO A SCANDALOUS SEDUCTION? Most women would be over the moon to be pursued by a wickedly handsome—not to mention wealthy—duke like Norcliffe. But 25 year old Lucy will not be any man's trophy. She could use a friend, though, and what begins innocently soon ignites into desire. As Lucy tries to resist Harry's scorching kisses, he makes an utterly irresistible offer. Enter the dance contest with him, and win a prize that could change her life forever . . . if falling in love doesn't change it first.

Sample

Sandra Heath

Miss Rosalind Carberry defied all warnings when she accepted Lord Philip Southvale's proposal. Her father distrusts the breathtakingly handsome, fabulously wealthy Englishman, and meanwhile rumors continue to run riot about his persisting passion for his beautiful first wife. Overshadowing everything is war fever between Philip's country and Rosalind's America. Nonetheless, Rosalind believes his warm words and her heart's ardent answer, and alone she sets sail to England to join him in wedlock. It is only when she lands that she discovers the awesome odds against her. She comes face to face with a rival who seems to hold all the cards in a game of love with no rules.

Sample

Marjorie Shoebridge

I am afraid you misunderstand me, Miss Cameron. I am not offering you the post of governess...but a position as my wife! It was hardly the romantic proposal of a young woman's fantasies. But Elizabeth Cameron could no longer afford the luxury of waiting for dreams to come true. Her father's death had left her destitute . . . forced to sell all her possessions to repay his debts. So Gregory Darrell's proposition was one she could not refuse. The marriage—in name only—would make her mistress of his splendid estate . . . and step-mother to his beloved son. But from the moment of her arrival at Ranleigh Court, Elizabeth questions her husband's motives—especially as he makes no secret of his association with another woman. And especially when she learns of his business partnership with her late father. And as the weeks pass and intrigue deepens at Ranleigh Court, Elizabeth grows fearful that she is being made a prisoner there. That she may pay for her impulsive marriage of convenience with her very life.... A rich novel of romance set in nineteenth-century England.