She plays chess, reads Greek, and is as educated as any young man. And she's certain falling in love is a ridiculous endeavor and vows never to do such a thing. But everything changes when she receives a Christmas visit from someone unexpected--a young and handsome English lord.

     Who is the right man for Gemma? Regency England For two years, Lady Gemma Monteith has awaited the return of her old friend Captain George Godwin, who has been away fighting in the Peninsular war. Having been in love with him since childhood, she is determined to become his wife. But Gemma’s father wishes her to marry kindly barrister John Delevan in order to rebuild the family’s dwindling fortune. When John is invited to stay at Monteith Hall for the summer, both suitors are thrown into Gemma’s path at once. To her dismay, George seems uninterested in rekindling their romance. And as she and John grow closer, Gemma begins to question her heart… A Prior Attachment by Dorothy Mack is a classic Regency romance with a lively, vibrant heroine.

    Surely her husband-to-be, the right Reverend Andrew Littletree, would not condone her leaving the safety of home for the perils that this place posed for so lovely and desirable a young lady. Surely tongues would wag about what she was doing with so eminently attractive and intriguingly unattached a gentleman as the major. But Onyx's worry was not what her fiancé would think or what the world would say. Rather it was what she would do if Jack Beresford took her in his arms…

    

    Far from it; she was a very successful author of romantic novels. Thus she was chagrined to be snubbed by the handsome writer Henry Ashton whose own book she admired. And when she learned he considered love stories so much drivel and completely beneath his notice, she vowed to teach him a thing or two about literature -- and about romance as well... SERIOUS LITERATURE Ashton had no time for foolish young misses who published romantic nonsense and then put on literary airs. True, the attractive Miss Davenport had a rather charming way with words, he'd give her that. But it was patently obvious she knew little about love and nothing at all about men. And if she intended to teach him a lesson, she just might find him all too avid a student...

    Although she is able to free herself and return to her home, she has discovered it was someone she trusted who had put the past in motion, and taken away her true love. Will he be able to see past her tormented eyes and through his own false beliefs to find the love in his heart that had so furiously burned before?

    Every man who saw her wanted to conquer her, and as a paid companion in an aristocratic household, her position was perilous as her pursuers were persistent.There was eager Viscount Andrew Fitzgerald, too young to be taken seriously, but too old for puppy love; the Reverend Mr. Headley, as eminently eligible as he was perfectly boring; and the debauched Lord Alfred Marling, whose title gave his amorous appetite teeth.But most dangerous of all was the magnificent Earl of Roxham, whom Jessica had to convince that she was made not for lust but for love...

    She was proud, high-spirited -- anything but patient. And she vowed to safeguard her independence from the handsome guardian who was charged with keeping the headstrong Patience and her younger sister out of trouble.But Hamperson was always game for a challenge. In a passionate display of emotion he announced -- much to Patience's fury -- that his ward was to become his wife. For the marquess found the prospect of a lifetime shared with the lovely firebrand a most attractive notion......and Patience was discovering the rewards of living up to her name.

    Buttchen