Despite this, she is more passionate about painting and wants to make the most of her time before settling down. So when her father tries to force her into an arranged marriage with the town's most infamous bachelor, she refuses to go along with it. Desperate to escape a grim future, she approaches her childhood rival with a most unusual proposal... one that will put her heart to the test. When unexpected feelings towards him start rising to the surface, will she manage to stick to her plan, or is her predetermined fate truly inevitable?James Clark cannot step out into town without being chased by mothers hoping to marry off their daughters. Yet tying his happiness to another person is not in his plans. So when his father informs him that he will be cut off if he doesn't get married soon, James finds himself in a tight spot. At that moment, his childhood arch-enemy, Rose, comes to him with a peculiar plan that could solve both of their problems... a pretend courtship. Only he never imagined that feigning affection for her would come so naturally, and before long the line between pretense and truth becomes blurred. Will he manage to make Rose see that she is the one who truly owns his heart?A fabricated relationship appears to Rose and James as an easy solution for their troubles. What neither of them realized was that the heart often has a plan of its own... For all that, when fate brings another shocking twist, Rose must decide whether her loyalty lies with her family or with her heart. In the end, will Rose and James break the barriers that are keeping them apart, or was their love only ever meant to be a facade?"A Deal With Love" is a historical western romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

    Young, widowed Clare Byrne, is escaping the famine in Ireland. On the coffin ship from Dublin, in the final hours of the journey to England, Clare goes into labour. Weakened and alone, the young, beleaguered mother gives birth near the quayside. Unable to look after the newborn, the child is bought for a single shilling by a curious gentleman, the industrialist Samuel Hudson. What will happen to the young girl? What plans does Mr Hudson have for her? Will the child thrive, or merely survive? Also by Emma Hardwick ----------------------------------- The Urchin of Walton Hall

    

    For it's there that I belong, and will never part."Miss Eloise Mumford, daughter of the late Baron of Saville, is desperately looking for a way out of the repressive ton. Pressured by her mother to marry well, she would much rather live as a spinster in the countryside.The Duke of Harridan, Antony Redmond, is in equal need of an escape. The black sheep of his own family, it is common knowledge among the Ton’s gossip that the “monster” killed his own father to take the title.Now living with his sister in London, he has a peculiar proposal for Eloise: they can pretend to be courting. That way, she will be left alone by most suitors, while he will be seen as desirable among the ladies of the Ton. Caught in a web of lies, they are too busy to see the danger lurking in the shadows. Antony’s past returns to haunt him, and Eloise must decide: Can she ever truly trust the Beast?