Mostrando resultados por "M C Beaton Marion Chesney" en Todas las categorías

Just when everything at the Poor Relation Hotel seems to be running smoothly, Sir Philip brings in another poor relation, Mrs. Budge. When Sir Philip presents his paramour, Lady Fortescue swears great oaths and says the woman is probably related to half the costermongers in London and certainly does not possess one rich relative. Mrs. Budge does nothing but eat all day and refused to do any work around the hotel. Worst of all, Miss Tonks seems to be taking the romance between Sir Philip and Mrs. Budge quite hard.

Since there is no hope of my securing an eligible partner, due to sad lack of looks, I am running away.… So wrote the sixth of the famous Armitage sisters. For how could colorless Frederica withstand a Season's scrutiny after the five beauties before her had married so magnificently? Disguised as a chambermaid, Freddie found her way into the household of the fashionable Duke of Pembury. That wild gentleman was soon on to her tricks and found himself escorting the lady to London. Once on the marriage mart, the five sisters preened and primped the youngest until Freddie could not recognize herself!

On the coach to Portsmouth, Miss Pym faces her most difficult matchmaking challenge yet. The lovely Miss Penelope Wilkins, daughter of a rich merchant, would be the perfect match for the handsome Lord Augustus, a nobleman whose fortune is almost depleted. Would be, that is, if the two were at all compatible. Though strikingly beautiful, the too-practical Penelope seems to stand on quite the opposite cliff from the carefree Lord Augustus. But when Miss Pym enlists their help in untangling an intrigue, and Lord Augustus steals an astounding kiss from the shocked Penelope, Miss Pym is convinced....

Morag Fleming, the Countess of Murr, had been bride to the most lecherous lord in Scotland - yet this ravishingly lovely girl had never been touched. Needless to say, she had never borne a child; yet as a young widow she came to London with a fine son in tow.

What clever woman would want a man like Lord Harry Desire? Why, he was clearly a lummox - languid, vain, and bland. Not even his beautiful face could redeem him. But he stood to inherit a vast fortune, and that was good enough for Deirdre's father, a spendthrift vicar who arranged the match to rescue himself from imminent financial collapse. Leave it to Deirdre to contrive an escape, a quick elopement with her one true love, the dashing Guy Wentwater.

I am going to die, Polly thought. The crowd clamored for a speech. Polly raised her hands, and the crowd fell silent. From the foot of the gallows, she asked the spectators why she, a poor woman, should hang for theft while the abbess of Covent Garden could commit murder on the souls of innocent country girls over and over again and yet go free - and then she condemned them to hell.

She was a lady's maid who longed to be a lady. How else could Lucy Balfour hope to win the favor of Andrew, Viscount Harvey, the toast of the town, who seemed ready to take a bride at last? There was only one way to do it, and that was to command his attention. It seemed an impossible dream; first she had to become the peer of her own mistress, the coldly beautiful Lady Angela, who was determined to claim Andrew as her own.

It's a maiden's miracle! Annabelle Quennell, daughter of a poor country parson, gets a chance at a London season to snare a wealthy husband. But before she sets off, Mad Meg the gypsy predicts trouble ahead, and it is nothing but woe that Annabelle finds. Godmother Lady Emmeline sponsors Annabelle's spree - and demands she wed the oafish Captain MacDonald.

He stated quite bluntly - and much to Isabella's relief - that theirs would be a marriage in name only. But neither Harry nor Isabella was aware of the other's disguise - contrived in vain to thwart the impending nuptials. Isabella was not the selfish ice princess she seemed, nor was Harry a mincing dandy but rather a merry profligate. A search for buried treasure and a thwarted suitor out for revenge add adventure to the marital mayhem, as two hearts discover that love lies no further than the nearest kiss.

Tongues were set wagging when Elizabeth Markham's glamorous young parents were killed, sinking their only child to the unspeakable class of poor relation. Forced to live with her cruel, miserly uncle Julius, Elizabeth is forbidden to partake in the season's festivities. Marriage is her only escape, and she enacts a daring plan to trick her way into the duke of Dunster's exclusive house party, to snare one of the eligible dandies sure to dance attendance on her.

Even the inhabitants of secluded Nethercote looked pityingly upon young Henrietta, the vicar's sister; her plain features seemed to almost guarantee her a solitary future. And yet she has a determined spirit and magnificent hazel eyes. So when her great-aunt Hester left her unexpected wealth, Henrietta set out to conquer London's glittering high society and confound them all.

Blessed with beauty, Mrs. Manners never bothered with the lesser skills of grammar and spelling. So, in order to entrap a second husband, namely the dashing duke of Denbigh, she needed Miss Verity Bascombe. Surely the modest chit would be honored to write her love letters. Poor Verity! Her old schoolmate was as selfish as ever. The lovely girl's gilded pen soon had the duke most intrigued by the poetic Mrs. Manners! But alas, what began as a tiny deception became troublesome indeed - for Verity soon found herself enamored by the handsome duke!

She was the flower of an East End slum who rose to become a star. But Poppy Duveen quit the stage to marry Freddie Plummett, the only real gentleman she had ever known - the bounder who died. When Freddie died, Poppy was left the castle, but she was also left in the clutches of Freddie's formidable uncle, Hugo, the dazzling duke of Guildham. How could she admit, even to herself, this dangerous attraction? Instead Poppy tried to turn her back on it - but it was no use.

"I do not think I want to be married at all. I want to be rich. Very rich...." When Henrietta Bascombe opens a confectionary shop in order to turn her pittance of an inheritance into a fortune, her friends are shocked to hear of such a well-bred lady going into trade. The earl of Carrisdown is both drawn to and repelled by her shopgirl status.

It was true. The lovely young widow Lady Charteris - Delphine to her friends - had agreed to abide by her parents' wishes and marry the comte Saint-Pierre. Delphine's parents had long since died in the Terror, but when she learned of their wishes for her, she believed it her duty to respect their wishes. Delphine would marry, but it would be a marriage in name only.

"I am Miss Lamberton. Miss Constance Lamberton. I hoped that you would employ me as your companion." So it was that quiet, reserved Constance came to the household of the haughty but beautiful Lady Amelia. She would serve as the lady's chaperone throughout the season's many festivities, finding herself an unwitting accomplice in Lady Amelia's scheme to trap the very eligible Lord Philip into marriage. But it was not Lady Amelia who won Lord Philip's heart.

Must one sister suffer in poverty while the other lives in the lap of luxury? This question plagued Harriet Clifton incessantly. Inviting herself to her widowed sister Cordelia's posh London townhouse for the season was surely the only way to meet a suitable partner as well as escape drafty old Pringle House forever.

Lady Lucinda Esmond's swine of a father, the earl of Sotheran, was forever fleecing young bucks in London's gaming halls with impunity - until he cheats Captain Mark Chamfrey, who kidnaps 10-year-old Lucinda for ransom. But when Chamfrey has a change of heart and returns the girl, Earl Esmond nonetheless exacts his own price: Chamfrey can redeem himself and save his skin only by marrying his little victim nine years hence.

Lord Percy Hunterdon despaired: He had inherited a Gothic horror of an estate along with a pair of 15-year-old brats to marry off. It was no secret to him that finding husbands for these two vile young ladies would require the utmost expertise: the care of a governess of superior caliber. When Jean Morrison spied Lord Hunterdon's advertisement, dreams of an unmarried viscount and a magnificent castle danced in her head.

After 10 long years, the earl of Devenham has returned to wed Mary Anstey, only to find that their feelings for each other have cooled off considerably. Nevertheless, they both put on bright faces for the benefit of family and friends. But Mary's younger sister, Emily, sees through their masquerade and would sacrifice anything rather than see her retiring sister married to the now-haughty earl.