Book picks similar to
The Bartered Bride by Elizabeth Mansfield
romance
historical-romance
historical
regency
The Count's Charade
Elizabeth Bailey - 2003
An enemy spy? Who are the men who seek him? What secrets lie in the papers Henri entrusts to her charge?Living alone but for her faithful maid, Grace’s reputation is at stake. But Henri’s safety comes first. If he is to have a chance, she must hold the authorities at bay.Barely has he recovered when his pursuers come calling. Pitting those who would interfere one against the other, Grace risks all to keep her Frenchman alive.Will the truth emerge before Henri’s enemies manage to silence him forever?
Rescuing Lord Inglewood
Sally Britton - 2019
All she wants is to belong. But when compromising circumstances force them together, do they have a chance at finding love?
Silas Riley, Earl of Inglewood, is known among his peers in Parliament as the man made of stone. As a wealthy peer, there are few he trusts with his friendship. He guards his heart and his honor with vigilance, and when an accident nearly takes his life, he’s faced with a situation which threatens his standing in society.Growing up in the shadow of her older brother, Esther Fox’s acceptance in his circle has been indifferent at best. So when she ends up in a compromising situation as she saves the life of her brother’s dearest friend, the Earl of Inglewood, she is forced to marry him to save her own reputation. Once again, she finds herself accepted only because of the situation, and not because she is truly wanted.Neither are prepared for a loss which further complicates their new relationship. With such a difficult beginning, can they ever hope to understand one another, let alone find love?
A London Season
Patricia Bray - 1997
Here is a chance to find a wealthy husband and get the entire family out of debt. But the upper crust of London bristles at Jane's blunt country ways—everyone but Lord Glendale. The handsome Lord, not in the market for a wife, finds himself amused by Jane's frank manner and wagers that—within the month—even provincial Jane can be brought into fashion.His plan succeeds only too well, as Jane blossoms into the most popular young lady of the season. Now will Lord Glendale relinquish Jane to her newfound admirers? Or will he take the biggest gamble of all– and risk his heart in a challenging game of love?
A Christmas Charade
Karla Hocker - 1991
Elizabeth Gore-Langton was hardly in a position to refuse to accompany Lady Astley to the Christmas party at Stenton Castle. After all, a paid companion must follow her employer's wishes. It scarcely mattered that Elizabeth would be forced to face the man who had unknowingly broken her heart years ago during her first season. Most likely, the Duke of Stenton wouldn't even recognize her. But once she looked up into his dark, piercing eyes, she knew this was a man who forgot very little and forgave even less. Well, she was no longer a blushing schoolgirl, and the dashing duke would soon find that a broken heart, once mended, could be formidable, indeed! Clive Rowland, Fifth Duke of Stenton, was in no mood for a holiday gathering. But the Christmas gala would provide the perfect cover as he investigated reports that French agents were doing a brisk trade in stolen documents along the Sussex coast. It would be devilishly difficult to play the host while tracking down traitors, but Clive was up to the task—provided he kept his wits about him and didn't get distracted by yule logs and Christmas folderol… or the delightful charms of the disturbingly familiar Elizabeth. She was hiding something, to be sure, and Clive liked nothing better than unveiling a lady's secrets!
An Unmarried Lady
Anna Willman - 2011
“You don’t want a fortune and you don’t want to be married, while I should enjoy both excessively. If Great Aunt Agatha had wished to promote the marriage of a great niece, why didn’t she leave her fortune to me?” At the age of 24, the bookish and beautiful Miss Elaine Howard of Lynnfield Manor has long accepted her status as a spinster. Her life is focused on taking care of her roguish invalid father and his dilapidated estate and on preparing her younger sister Anne for her first Season. An unexpected inheritance which promises her a large fortune if she marries before her 25th birthday soon sets off a train of dramatic and comic events, which include a spate of unwelcome fortune hunters, an exchange of identities, an abduction, and a mystery around a missing family heirloom. An Unmarried Lady is a regency romance written in the style of Georgette Heyer. Its lively characters become embroiled in a plot that makes use of the thick black fog that descended upon London and the surrounding countryside in December of 1813, and also touches on events in the lives of Henry VIII, Catherine Howard and Mary Wollstonecraft.
The Banished Bride
Andrea Pickens - 2002
and Aurora Sprague finds herself a child bride, married in haste to a young man she's never met to settle her father's gaming debt. Moments after the ceremony, the new groom gallops off to the army and Aurora is banished to a remote estate, married in name only. Years later, Alex Fenimore, now a top intelligence officer, is on a secret mission when a fiery young lady helps him escape attack. He has no idea that the woman is his wife or that the sparks of desire between them are about to ignite a dangerous passion.
At the Earl's Convenience
Maggi Andersen - 2009
The handsome earl confesses that he needs to marry into money to save his crumbling estate, Halcrow Hall, and produce an heir. Giles is the most interesting and fascinating man Selina knows. But he is also the most secretive. He has resigned his commission in the army while England is at war, and members of the ton cut him. Because of the earl’s rakish reputation, Selina fears she may be leaving her calm, organized life for one of disorder and heartbreak. But she never expects what lies ahead.First published as Love and War, a short story, but has been extensively rewritten.
The Earl Next Door
Amanda Grange - 2001
Tenth Anniversary EditionNote: This book was originally published under the title of Anything But A GentlemanMarianne is delighted when the empty estate next door is rented by an earl, but she soon finds that Luke, Lord Ravensford is anything but a gentleman! And yet with his dark hair and his dangerous air, she finds herself irresistibly drawn to him, despite the rumours that he has ruined her missing brother. When the secret of Kit's disappearance is exposed, she finds herself drawn into an adventure which will test her love to the limits and reveal hidden depths to Luke and his profound feelings for her . . .Amanda Grange: Humour, adventure and romance, with a guaranteed happy ending.Reviews for Amanda Grange:"Believable dialogue and lively characters ... nice touches of humour, too." - Historical Novels Review"Hits the Regency tone and language on the head." - Library Journal"Well written, clean romance. 4 1/2 stars!" - Amazon review"Amanda Grange writes from the heart . . . Highly recommended" - A Romance Review
Her Ladyship's Companion
Joanna Bourne - 1983
Brody's Seminary for the Daughters of Gentlemen for a new life. But when she accepted the position as companion to the formidable Lady Dorothy, spirited Melissa could not have known that she would soon be caught up in a web of passion and intrigue at beautiful and remote Vinton Manor.Giles Tarsin, her haughty employer, is maddeningly aloof--and irresistibly attractive. Darkly handsome Sir Adrian Hawkhurst admires her undisguisedly with, Melissa suspects, the most impure intentions. Harold Bosworth, a family connection, appears to be ever the gentleman. But why is seven-year-old Robbie, an orphan like Melissa and the future Earl of Keptford, so terrified? Before long, Melissa is struggling to unravel dark family secrets that will lead her suspicions to center on just one man...the one man she loves!
The Complicated Earl
Audrey Harrison - 2013
His mother prefers entertaining men in her bedroom, while her husband sits downstairs, unable or unwilling to respond to his wife’s inappropriate behaviour. From that day on Tom vows that no woman will hurt him the way his mother hurt his father. For the next seventeen years Tom works hard to become one of the most notorious rakes London society has ever seen, successfully keeping all the women of his acquaintance at a distance. In 1810 twenty-four year old Isabelle Crawford had been brought up hearing stories of how much in love her dead parents were and had expected to find similar happiness when she came out in society. Reality was different to what she had imagined though, instead of love, she found fortune hunters and as a result left London to set up home in Bath. Her two elder brothers had supported her decision, although they would have rather seen their sister married instead of choosing what was seen by the ton as an eccentric decision, a young woman living a single life in Bath with a cousin as chaperone. A potential marriage between Tom's sister and Isabelle’s brother throws the couple together and sets in motion a chain of events that will see Tom fighting for his life and Isabelle being kidnapped by the very man that Tom had found in his mother’s bedchamber all those years ago.
The Secret Bluestocking
Alicia Quigley - 2014
Isobel's story is set in a time of social change, after Mary Wollstonecraft published her famous "A Vindication on the Rights of Woman," positing (correctly, of course!) that women were not inferior to men. Even so, Society hadn't yet changed to the degree that a free-thinking woman of means could be open about her "unseemly" interests. Isobel happily pursues her intellectual passions without a care for marriage. She's perfectly capable of tending to her own life as a trendsetter in fashion during the Season and an archaeologist in Scotland during the summer. Marriage, she believes, is only the surrender of her legal identity, independence and fortune to the whims of a man. Then an accident outside her country estate brings Major Lord Francis Wheaton into her life and her home. Lord Francis, recently back from the Peninsular Wars, must convalesce at Isobel's manor, being too injured to travel. What follows is the tale of two strong-willed individuals, both harboring secrets of their own, and their undeniable attraction to one another. Will Isobel succeed in keeping her secret? Will Lord Francis find what he needs? And just who is the mysterious Marcus Paley? Written as an homage to Georgette Heyer, this is the first novel written by Alicia Quigley. After years of being filed away, we're happy to present it for your enjoyment. Please note, this is a Traditional Regency Romance; the "spice" (sex) level is very low, a G-rated movie, if you will.
The Potential for Love: A Regency Novel
Catherine Kullmann - 2020
But it is Major Thomas Ferraunt, the rector’s son, newly returned from occupied Paris who stands in front of her.For over six years, Thomas’s thoughts have been of war. Now he must ask himself what his place is in this new world and what he wants from it. More and more, his thoughts turn to Miss Malvin, but would Lord Malvin agree to such a mismatch for his daughter, especially when she is being courted by Lord Henry Danlow?As Arabella embarks on her fourth Season, she finds herself more in demand than ever before. But she is tired of the life of a debutante, waiting in the wings for her real life to begin. She is ready to marry. But which of her suitors has the potential for love and who will agree to the type of marriage she wants?As she struggles to make her choice, she is faced with danger from an unexpected quarter while Thomas is stunned by a new challenge. Will these events bring them together or drive them apart?
A Duchess in Name
Amanda Weaver - 2016
An American heiress and graduate of Lady Grantham's finishing school, she's been groomed since birth to marry an English title—the grander the better. So when the man chosen for her, the forbidding Earl of Dunnley, seems to hate her on sight, she understands that it can't matter. Love can have no place in this arrangement.Andrew Hargrave has little use for his title and even less for his cold, disinterested parents. Determined to make his own way, he's devoted to his life in Italy working as an archaeologist. Until the collapse of his family's fortune drags him back to England to a marriage he never wanted and a woman he doesn't care to know.Wild attraction is an unwanted complication for them both, though it forms the most fragile of bonds. Their marriage of convenience isn't so intolerable after all—but it may not be enough when the deception that bound them is finally revealed.
The Matchmaker’s Rogue
Regina Scott - 2020
She is the hostess of the spa, arranging introductions and entertainments and playing matchmaker to the ladies and gentlemen who come to take the waters, promenade through the shops, and dance at the assembly. But when a rogue returns from her past, Jess finds herself suddenly at sea.Always an adventurer, Larkin Denby left Grace-by-the-Sea to right the wrongful death of his father. Now he’s back on a mission: to identify the mysterious Lord of the Smugglers who allegedly sails from Grace Cove and takes England’s secrets to France. But Grace-by-the-Sea is the perfect little spa town, run by the still oh-so-perfect Jesslyn Chance. When the village’s future is threatened, Jess must work with Lark to solve the mystery and protect the town’s own. In doing so, the matchmaker of Grace-by-the-Sea may just find that the best match for her is the rogue who stole her heart years ago.
A Governess for the Brooding Duke
Bridget Barton - 2017
But when her attorney tells her that the family home must be sold to pay the debts, leaving her penniless and without a home, her only choice is to become a governess.In no time at all, Georgette finds herself in the grand mansion of the Duke of Draycott, teaching his delightful, orphaned nieces. But, the more time Georgette spends with the little girls, the more she realizes they are missing their home and life in Wales, not to mention their own language. Georgette must find a way to convince the Duke to take an interest in the girls’ lives, and she must also find a way to keep their native language alive despite his determined instructions to the contrary.As the tragic tale of the Duke’s sister and her forbidden love unfolds, Georgette must struggle with the deprivations of her lowered status, not to mention the spiteful plots and schemes of a jealous housekeeper and nurse. As her loneliness threatens to overwhelm her, Georgette must find a way put the splintered family back together, even as she battles her own feelings of love for the handsome, taciturn Duke.
"A Governess for the Brooding Duke" is a historical romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.