Book picks similar to
Crossed Quills by Carola Dunn


romance
regency
historical-romance
historical

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!

Something About Emmaline


Elizabeth Boyle - 2005
    He lives a rakish life of well-celebrated ease and contentment and has one person to thank for his perfectly ordered existence—his dearest wife, Emmaline. She never complains about his mistresses or his penchant for late nights out. His friends are envious, but they don't know the truth—Emmaline doesn't exist. But when he starts receiving bills from London for clothes, shoes, hats and a staggering amount of other female accoutrements, he realises something is decidedly amiss.Posing as Emmaline isn't a stretch for the newly arrived Lady Sedgwick, she's been conning gentry for years. But as the popular baron's wife, she now has the one thing that has eluded her—entree into London's inner circles. Against Alexander's better judgment, Emmaline is impossibly fixed in his life. And suddenly Emmaline is challenging him to be the husband she deserves.

A Lady Awakened


Cecilia Grant - 2011
    . . A Lady Awakened.Newly widowed and desperate to protect her estate and beloved servants from her malevolent brother-in-law, Martha Russell conceives a daring plan. Or rather, a daring plan to conceive. After all, if she has an heir on the way, her future will be secured. Forsaking all she knows of propriety, Martha approaches her neighbor, a London exile with a wicked reputation, and offers a strictly business proposition: a month of illicit interludes . . . for a fee.Theophilus Mirkwood ought to be insulted. Should be appalled. But how can he resist this siren in widow’s weeds, whose offer is simply too outrageously tempting to decline? Determined she’ll get her money’s worth, Theo endeavors to awaken this shamefully neglected beauty to the pleasures of the flesh—only to find her dead set against taking any enjoyment in the scandalous bargain. Surely she can’t resist him forever. But could a lady’s sweet surrender open their hearts to the most unexpected arrival of all . . . love?

Minerva


Marion Chesney - 1982
    Prudish, self-righteous, and incredibly beautiful, she is to be sent to London to capture a wealthy husband. But Minerva doesn't know the first thing about flirting. The London dandies find her moralizing appalling and concoct a plan to assault her virtue—an assault that will scandalize all London society. Meanwhile. Lord Sylvester Comfrey, whom she met earlier through her father, has been keeping a careful eye on the girl. A fact which she resents. She dislikes Lord Sylvester. There is something about him that disturbs her. Now the plan to destroy Minerva's reputation begins to unfold. And Minerva stumbles headlong into the trap. But the plotters have reckoned without Lord Sylvester....