Showing results by narrator "Charlotte Anne Dore" in All Categories

Caroline Evans is a single mom trying to raise her 15-year-old daughter, Issy, as best she can. Her ex-husband, James, was a philandering charmer, and a wealthy one at that. But Caroline couldn't put up with his cheating and left him, taking Issy with her. Now, they live in the countryside outside London, where Caroline has built a modestly successful catering business, and Issy is now at an all-girls boarding school. Things are beginning to feel normal. But then James mysteriously appears on her doorstep....

She had dared turn a cold shoulder to London's prize catch. She was a precocious American upstart who thought beauty, brains, and bravery were enough to conquer London society. Well, he'd show her! Nobody spurned Lord David Manley, the most eligible bachelor in town - not publicly, not privately. He was determined that she'd soon be trembling in his arms, desperately in love with the man she had dared mock. David Manley always got his way, and Miss Molly Maguire presented a challenge he couldn't resist.

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.

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.

When Lady Esme Byron happens upon a gorgeous naked man sleeping beside a secluded country lake, she can't resist the impulse to sketch him. But when her highly improper drawing is mistakenly revealed at a party, she finds her once-pristine reputation in tatters. Gabriel, Lord Northcote, may be a notorious rakehell, but he is still stunned to find himself accused of despoiling a duke's sister - especially since he's never set eyes on her.

Life for Lady Adelaide Bell was easier if she hid in her older sister's shadow - which worked until her sister got married. Even with the pressure of her socially ambitious mother, the last thing she expected was a marriage of convenience to save her previously spotless reputation. Lord Trent Hawthorne couldn't be happier that he is not the duke in the family. He's free to manage his small estate and take his time discovering the life he wants to lead.

With little to live on but her romantic daydreams - which frequently starred the dashing Marquess of Fleetwater - Jean Lindsay lived a rather dismal life with her nasty, drunken uncle. Jean was always the object of ridicule, that is, until news of her unexpected inheritance spread. Suddenly her worn dresses became "quaint" and her forthright manner turned magically to "charming", but to Jean's horror, someone wanted her dead!

Major Calborne Rutherford returns to England on the trail of an assassin, only to find he's become Lord Ashendon, with the responsibility for vast estates and dependent relatives. Cal can command the toughest of men, but his wild half-sisters are quite another matter. They might just be his undoing. When he discovers that Miss Emmaline Westwood, the girls' former teacher, guides them with ease, Cal offers her a marriage of convenience.

Matilda, Duchess of Hadshire, is virtually a prisoner of her cruel husband, who romances his mistress right under the duchess' nose. Her only joy is dreaming of the handsome Earl of Torridon - for like her, he is trapped in a horrid marriage and longs to find true love and happiness. Though she secretly wishes for the death of her unkind husband, Matilda never could have imagined the guilt that plagues her when the illustrious duke is befittingly murdered by his own mistress!

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!

London, 1819. Richard, Marquess of Devon, is satisfied with his ton marriage. His wife of five months, Lady Eugenia Devon, thought she was, too, until she found the book. Their marriage is one of respect and affection, with no messy entanglements such as love. Devon's upbringing impressed upon him that gentlemen slake their baser needs on a mistress, not their gently bred wives. However, once married, he was no longer comfortable bedding a woman other than Eugenia.

Four years ago, Alex, a second son, had planned a life together with Lady Patience. However, when Patience was betrothed to his brother, the heir, Alex left his family's estate and joined the military. Alex returns to assume the title Duke of Bedford when his brother unexpectedly dies. He is unprepared for both his new responsibilities and the reunion with Patience. The horrors of war are a heavy burden, and when he learns that Patience never married his brother, he is stunned.

It was an unfair decision - to be forced to choose between her home and her heart…When one of her sisters is attacked by Harry Devers, the lecherous son of Mannerling's present owner, Abigail Beverley puts her obsession with reclaiming the mansion on hold. It is then that Abigail meets the dashing and extremely eligible Lord Burfield, fresh back from the army and in full-time pursuit of a bride. She must be quick to grab his attention lest he be snapped up by Prudence Makepeace.

The Misses Penelope Yarwood, Euphemia Perkins, and Letitia Helmsdale all smugly informed her that the Marquess of Cleveden was at once the most eligible and the most elusive catch in the London marriage mart. Society's most dazzling beauties had failed to win him over yet, and a newcomer like Fiona didn't stand a ghost of a chance of having him look at her twice.

Minerva marks the delightful debut of The Six Sisters, a family saga in six volumes that will recount the romantic adventures of the six marriageable daughters of a country vicar, the Reverend Charles Armitage, in Regency England. The eldest, Minerva, is enchantingly beautiful - but a prude. She lives in the country looking after her siblings while her mother reclines on a chaise longue happily inventing new malaises.

Lady Georgina Hawthorne has worked tirelessly to seal her place as the Incomparable for her debut season. At her first London ball, she hopes to snag the attention of an earl. With money and business connections, but without impeccable bloodlines, Colin McCrae is invited everywhere but accepted nowhere. When he first encounters the fashionable Lady Georgina, he's irritated by his attraction to a woman who concerns herself only with status and appearance.

It seems as if there will be no need to find a husband for Diana, the fifth daughter of Charles Armitage, the hard-drinking huntsman and country vicar. For Diana shares her father's passion for the hunt, secretly posing as a man in order to participate in a sport that is considered too vulgar for a lady in Regency England. Her four elder sisters have married well, but Diana fears she will never be as desirous to wed a man as she is to be one. She was born to have a man's freedom to do and say what she wishes, to move about without restraint - or so she thinks until, disguised as David Armitage, she gets a bitter taste of tawdry town life.

His feelings toward her were warm. She turned their conversation over and over in her mind, reading into every casual answer a double meaning, hints of a growing passion that were held in check. From the moment young Annabelle met her sister Minerva's intended, Lord Sylvester, she developed a secret passion for him that obsessed her. Now she was determined to take him away from Minerva no matter what. But she hadn't reckoned on Sylvester's best friend, Peter, who fell in love with Annabelle and decided to tame her.

From the prolific M. C. Beaton, comes a Regency romance where love flourishes in the most unexpected places. From the top of his flawlessly groomed head to the waxed tips of his fashionable shoes, Lord Andrew Childe was every inch the perfect gentleman. But Andrew's arrogant composure was almost always shattered by the impertinent Penelope Mortimer, an achingly lovely country beauty who had a clear knack for ruffling his lordship's feathers.

Margerie Croft yielded up her virginity before her wedding and then fled from her eager suitor, knowing that she could not marry a man she did not love. Now she is viewed as soiled goods, fit only for the role of courtier's plaything. Virgil Elton is King Henry VIII's physician, working on a tonic to restore his sovereign's flagging libido. But first it must be tested.