When her grandmother dies, Paola, the beautiful young daughter of the Earl and Countess of Berisforde is dismayed to find that the family’s customary six months’ mourning means that she will miss her debut in the London Season.Instead her mother sends her to stay in the ancient and historic Italian town of Lucca with her aunt, the Contessa Raulo, who is to be her chaperone.Paola’s adventurer cousin Hugo arrives just before she leaves and asks a favour of Paola that is to prove fateful.Having promised her mother that she will avoid him at all costs, Paola must now seek out a notorious ‘ladies’ man’, the Marchese Vittorio di Lucca, and deliver a precious package to him.It is a huge diamond set in a ring that had been presented some years earlier to the Marchese by the Nizam of Hyderabad, which had been stolen and which Hugo had brilliantly retrieved at great risk to his life.Within the spectacular mediaeval ramparts of Lucca, Paola accomplishes her mission, falls in love with the beautiful town – and then, after a terrifying ordeal at the hands of murderous thugs, with its most prominent citizen as well!
With the death of her mother, her father’s subsequent suicide by drowning in the English Channel, all in the foreboding shadow of imminent war, the beautiful young Fleur Garton is vulnerable to say the least. Even more so when her new love, Lucien, a French airman, is killed just two weeks after the Second World War is declared and followed after by the death of his mother. Left bereft and alone at a remote Château in German-occupied France, Fleur has to find a way home to England before the Germans discover her and in a French Resistance safe house she meets and falls in love with another airman, Royal Air Force pilot Jack Reynolds. Sadly her heart is about to be broken once more on arrival in England after a gruelling voyage of escape from France. Desperate to escape Jack’s family home, Fleur seeks employment at Greystone Priory as housekeeper-companion to the ailing mother of the renowned motor car tycoon, Sir Norman Mitcham. Instantly she falls in love with the grandeur and beauty of the house and with the arch but kindly Mrs. Mitcham. But, although she takes an intense dislike to Sir Norman, who seems cold, ruthless and aloof, she decides that this is where she will achieve her aim, ‘to hate all men, to dispense with love in her life and forget about it’. Gradually, though, as she begins to discern the man behind the façade, she warms to Sir Norman. And perhaps her heart is ready for a different kind of love from a man who will never ever break it.
The death of her beloved father, has left artistic and idealistic Tempera and her stunning, scatterbrained stepmother Lady Rothley bereft not only of love but also of money. So when Lady Rothley's womanly wiles attract an invitation from none other than the Duke of Chevingham to join him in the South of France, it's a Godsend. At last - the prospect of a handsome, aristocratic suitor for Tempera's Belle-m re who would keep them both in the style to which they would dearly love to be re-acquainted! To arrive without a lady's maid is inconceivable - to afford one impossible. So Tempera escorts her Belle-m re in the guise of a servant and attempts to coach her in fine art, the Duke's consuming passion. While her stepmother flirts with C te D'Azur society Tempera contents herself with capturing the local flora's beauty on canvas. And when the flair she inherited from her father captivates and mystifies the magnificent Duke, something stirs in Tempera that she has never felt before. Is it love? Or is it betrayal?
Oppressed and trodden on by her aunt and uncle, the Duke and Duchess of Bruntwick, who despise her because her father died in debt and her mother was French, Rocana Brunt yearns to escape the confines of their Bruntwick Castle. Yet when her dear cousin Lady Caroline is ordered much against her will to marry the imperious Marquis of Quorn, simply to extricate him from a potential scandal over one of his many liaisons, loyal Rocana agrees to take her cousin's place at the altar so that Lady Caroline may elope with her beloved Patrick. At least she believes that this deception and the loveless marriage that would undoubtedly follow, might free then her from her virtual slavery. Her deceit is not revealed until long after the wedding, when she and the Marquis reach Paris and her cousin and Patrick are safely and ecstatically wed. And soon, through her own magic and some dangerous escapades, Rocana herself feels a glimmer of hope that she too is about to find eternal happiness in a true love of her own.
The Earl of Rochester is as notorious as his 17th Century namesake, enjoying the pleasures of London society and the trappings of his riches. When visiting the fascinating, but married, Circe Langstone he accidentally meets her stepdaughter, Ophelia. Clearly frightened in her surroundings he begins to wonder what could have upset her so, until a chance encounter a few days later, reveals all. What she tells him starts a train of events that nearly kills her and leads the Earl to hide her away on his country estate. Furious at losing her stepdaughter, Circe, whom the Earl has nicknamed 'The Serpent of Satan’ calls on the forces of black magic to get her back. How the Earl thwarts the evil stepmother, how he saves Ophelia from a fate worse than death and how he finds true happiness are all told in this thrilling tale by Barbara Cartland.
Spoilt, selfish and given to tantrums, Lady Catherine Bourne sets sail for the troubled Balkan state of Kavõnia to become its Queen, but an armed uprising is in the air… A Greek god in the human form of a ousted leader and rightful heir to the throne rescues Catherines niece, lovely young Theola from being ravished by a rebel fighter. And before long she falls in love with the Kavõnian people who have been brutally treated – can the country’s corruption and greed be Conquered by Love?
After an evening dinner with renowned French ballet dancer and beauty, Nicole de Prêt, handsome young buck about town, the Marquis of Sarne, is stirred from a deep sleep to realise that he has been drugged and then rendered unconscious. And he is in a strange bed in a strange house somewhere in London. Far worse though is the revelation that in his stupor someone has married him to some young servant girl he does not even know by his bitter enemy, Lord Kirkhampton. To avoid the likely scandal and humiliation that his predicament will bring him, he decides to take his ‘bride’ to his house in Grosvenor Square and there to arrange a divorce as best he can. But soon he realises that this girl was not a willing participant in Lord Kirkhampton’s deceitful trick nor is she the plain servant girl he had assumed at first. In fact Romana Wardell is startlingly beautiful and attractive, remarkably intelligent and every bit as appalled by their situation as he is. Then the more that the reluctant newlyweds become acquainted, the less the urgency they feel to put this forced ‘marriage’ to an early end. Perhaps after all she has the makings of a Marchioness of Sarne!
Having lost her parents in a tragic carriage accident, beautiful but innocent young Cornelia Bedlington, living in Ireland, has inherited an enormous fortune and her Uncle George decides that she needs a chaperone for the coming Social Season in London. Who better than her glamorous Aunt Lily who knows everyone smart! Unbeknown to George or Cornelia, though, Lily is in the throes of a love affair with the startlingly handsome Drogo, the Duke of Roehampton, who is struggling financially and she comes up with a Machiavellian deceit designed to make Drogo rich and save Lily the trouble of chaperoning Cornelia. Her suggestion is that Drogo marries Cornelia while secretly continuing his liaison with Lily! When this fascinating stranger, the Duke, suddenly proposes marriage, Cornelia is swept off her feet. And they are married in the most glamorous Wedding of the Season attended by the King and Queen. But just as love for the Duke blossoms in her heart, she is heartbroken to overhear her fiancé plotting their future together with Lily and then realises the horrible truth. Soon, though, amid the heady glamour of gay and exotic Paris, she enlists the help of a sophisticated Socialite, Renée de Valmé, in a desperate and cunning plan of her own to ensnare the dashing Duke’s heart for herself alone!
Just seventeen, Lady Caroline Faye is already the toast of the Season and accustomed to the ways of genteel Society. So when notorious cad Sir Montagu Reversby offers to drive her in his phaeton from London to Sevenoaks, she innocently accepts – little knowing that he is planning to fake a broken axle so that she will be forced to spend the night alone with him at a remote country inn. But Lady Caroline of made of sterner stuff than the predatory Sir Montagu imagined. Escaping his lecherous clutches, she finds refuge in the imperious Brecon Castle only to discover that her new-found haven and its master, Lord Brecon, harbour dark and terrible secrets. A murderous plot is afoot and Caroline's innocent mistake will come back to haunt her as heartbreak and humiliation in the dark, foreboding castle turn to hope and then ardent, all-consuming passion.
Rich, powerful and handsome, the Duke of Melyncourt is journeying to Paris on a secret mission for the British Prime Minister when he discovers that a bewitchingly beautiful flame-haired girl has stowed away in his carriage. Amé, as she is a called, has run away from the Convent where she is a novice and to which her unknown mother had entrusted her as a baby in arms. It transpires that she fled to enjoy a last taste of freedom after for some reason the sinister Cardinal de Rohan insisted that she take her nun’s Orders without delay, far sooner than other novices would. The Duke knows that this French Cardinal is not to be trusted and agrees after much pleading to take Amé with him to Paris disguised as his pageboy. It is not long before the Cardinal’s men are in pursuit, enquiring whether the Duke has seen the missing novice. And the Duke realises that there is something ominous afoot. So begins an adventure in which Amé and the Duke find themselves amid the turmoil between the Court of Marie Antoinette and subversive factions against the Queen led by the depraved Duc de Chartres. With everything at stake, including her life, how can Amé return to devote her heart to God when she has already given it to the Duke?
London Socialite and friend of King George IV, the Duke of Strathnarn enjoys his London life is reluctant and resentful when he inherits from his hated father the title - and onerous responsibilities - of Chieftain of the Clan McNarn. Arriving bitterly angry in the highland fiefdom he fled as a youth, he's faced with a terrible dilemma. To free his young nephew and heir from the clutches of his Clan's mortal enemies, the Kilcraigs, he must marry Clola, the daughter of their fearsome Chieftain. Appalled, he complies with bad grace, but refuses even to look his young bride in the face, so certain is he that she will be coarse, uneducated and unattractive, so unlike the sophisticated beauties with whom he is wont to dally in London Society. Soon, however, a terrifying plot against the King involving a sinister poisoner and her deranged and vengeful son unfolds - and it is Clola, aided by a ghostly Grey Lady, who comes to the rescue. Only now, after so terribly misjudging and ill-treating her, does the Duke see his bride for what she is - a raven-haired, musically talented and courageous beauty. But is it too late for their marriage of convenience to be transformed by the blessing of true love?
Valda lives a life of luxury with her mother and stepfather in a beautiful château in France. Educated in Paris and enjoying all that French society can offer, Valda's English roots seem a very distant memory. That is until the day her stepfather declares that in true French style he is planning an arranged marriage for her. Horrified at the thought of marrying a complete stranger, Valda knows that it is impossible for her to go along with her stepfather's wishes, no matter how angry he will be by her disobedience. Much as she loves him, she has inherited her late father's lively intelligent.
Now that her beloved father has passed away and the family estate has been sold off to provide for her future, the beautiful young Zelina Tiverton is somewhat bewildered to find herself living amid the glamour of London’s Social world with her Guardian, her glamorous Aunt Kathleen, who is the husband of the Earl of Rothbury. Now her aunt has a greater shock in store for her, announcing that she is sending Zelina to Russia to stay as Governess with Prince and Princess Volkonsky in their superb Palace to teach their children English. Clearly Aunt Kathleen simply wants Zelina off her hands as she is so pretty and so reluctantly she finds herself alone and unchaperoned aboard a Steamer bound for Stockholm en route to St. Petersburg. On board she meets the seemingly imperial Lord Charnock, one of the most handsome and overwhelming men she had ever seen, but also one of the most aloof. Unknown to Zelina, Lord Charnock is headed for St. Petersburg on an urgent and secret Diplomatic mission for the British Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston. And so Zelina, the innocent abroad, finds herself unexpectedly in a menacing and threatening world of Secret Police, spies, sinister intrigue and predatory Russian aristocrats with only the dashing Lord Charnock to protect her in an unknown and uncaring land.
Orina Vandeholt is young, beautiful and, after the death of her much-loved millionaire father, extremely rich. To escape her grief, she travels on her father’s yacht to the Gulf of Mexico, stopping off at a small town called Sadaro. There Orina is invited by two local boys to go riding with them – and when she agrees a wild adventure begins. After being knocked out with a drugged coffee, she finds she’s been duped. The boys have kidnapped her on the orders of their leader – a handsome, charismatic man the people have named ‘Juarez’ after a Mexican hero. But it is not ransom he seeks. He needs her money to build a dam that will end a drought and save the lives of his starving people – and to get that money he intends to marry Orina! Orina is furious but there’s nothing she can do. However, soon the plight of Juarez’ people melts her heart and when at last the water flows, and Juarez sets her free, she realises that he is still the captor of her heart!
For demure young and beautiful Daniela Brooke it had been bad enough to find out that her much-loved late father, Lord Seabrooke, had been tricked into marriage by the use of drugs by a disreputable Parisian courtesan called Esmé Blanc. It was even worse to discover just four weeks after her father’s death that her scheming stepmother is trying to arrange a marriage in the German spa resort of Baden-Baden between Daniela and her penniless lover for her own nefarious and greedy purposes, as Lord Seabrooke has left all his money and estates to Daniela and most definitely not to Esmé Blanc. Although guarded by day and night by her stepmother, in desperation Daniela manages to meet the Marquis of Crowle secretly in the garden of the Baden-Baden casino and begs him to help her escape as soon as possible from her perilous predicament. Overcome with sympathy at her story, the Marquis arranges to whisk her away from the Church at the very last minute before she is married and they sail off back to England in his magnificent yacht, The Sea Horse, down the River Rhine to freedom with Daniela’s wicked stepmother in hot pursuit. Will the distraught Daniela find the freedom she yearns for from her grasping stepmother? And even then can it be possible that she will ever find the sublime love that she has always dreamed about?
Returning from finishing school in France, Louisa Hatton was full of enthusiasm for the life ahead. She was convinced it would be exciting and romantic. But her parents had already planned a very suitable marriage for her to Lord Westbridge, their new neighbour. He was a cold, hard man and he wanted Louisa despite her protests. Her parents would not support her. Her father owed Lord Westbridge money. It seemed that for help she could only turn to the mysterious, handsome Roderick Blake, whose dark eyes haunted her. But Roderick was only a groom. How could he protect Louisa from the forces ranged against her? How they faced danger together and Louisa discovered Roderick's secret is told in this thrilling romantic novel by BARBARA CARTLAND.
Beautiful, demure and dutiful Oletha the blessed heiress to her late mother’s vast fortune. But the blessing becomes a curse when her father tells her ‒ ‘ because you are so rich, you will find the average decent English gentleman will never ask you to be his wife.’ Worse still he intends to marry her off to a famously dashing Duke. It goes against everything she believes – and especially her mother’s precious words – ‘trust your heart and remember too the most valuable thing in the whole world is not money but love. Soon she is to discover which of her parents is right, which is wrong and whether she will ever find love she so wants.
Dashing, handsome and much in demand with Society ladies, the Duke of Oswestry is trapped by the beautiful but duplicitous Lady Marlene with whom he has just finished an ill-advised love affair. Claiming that she is with child and, falsely, that he is the father, she demands that he marries her or she will cause a great Society scandal, something that the Duke in his worst nightmares would never tolerate. He has previously vowed never to marry, but it seems that now there is no escape for him until a beautiful young girl appears at his front door begging him to save her from two men who are relentlessly pursuing her. Suddenly the Duke has an idea. He can save them both from their own pursuers simply by pretending that he is engaged to this lovely young waif, Udela Hayward. Little does he suspect, however, the violent passions that his pretence betrothal provokes. When there is a diabolical attempt on his life by his jealous younger brother, Lord Julius and a band of cutthroats, it is the innocent Udela who bravely saves his life. And to whom he finally loses his heart and she is carried to the stars when he kisses her for the first time.
After a rash argument in White’s Club, Sir Denzil Caversham is embroiled in a duel, which ends in his accidentally killing his foe, a well-known member of Society, and he is forced into exile for three years in America.His absence leaves his ailing wife impoverished, so their beautiful daughter, Thalia, decides to rescue the family by working at a fashionable milliner’s shop serving the tastes of the ladies of London’s Beau Monde.Under the assumed name of ‘Thalia Carver’, she catches the eye of the dashing and handsome Earl of Hellingham, who is instantly determined to make her his mistress and offers her endless inducements and she refuses them all.The Earl has no idea who Thalia really is, nor that she is the anonymous author of a provocative book poking fun at the ‘English Gentleman’ that is the talk of the Social World and all the Gentleman’s Clubs of St. James’s.At first appalled by the Earl’s advances, Thalia is soon irresistibly drawn by his magnificent magnetism and his underlying tenderness.But, as love blossoms in her heart, she knows that it can never be.The Earl must never find out the true identity of the milliner’s work girl who has stolen his heart.
Having retreated to his country estate to escape the amorous attentions of his mistress Lady Fiona Faversham, who is determined to marry him, the dashing Duke of Moorminster out riding when he is captivated by the sound of a church organ being played beautifully. Entering the small church, he is equally captivated by a young woman of almost angelic loveliness who is leading her choir of children with her own wonderful voice. She is perfect for a special role in the play he has written – and which is to be the debut performance at his newly built private theatre with the Prince and Princess of Wales in attendance. And so young Vicar’s daughter Lavela Ashley finds herself and her choir of children rehearsing for the great event at Moor Park and becomes embroiled in the devious scheming of Lady Fiona and the Duke’s wicked cousin Joscelyn – both of whom are plotting to force the Duke into a marriage by the foulest of means. For his part, as the romantic drama unfolds in his own Theatre of Love, the Duke comes to realise that Lavela is everything Lady Fiona is not – and that she is everything he ever wanted, if only he had understood his own heart.
Charles, Lord Hartley, was at his wits end. He had spent a fortune on his cousin John, and still the embittered John demanded more money.Charles knew he needed an heiress and he became swiftley attracted to Cliona, who had recently moved in to the neighbourhood.He did not know that she was an heiress. When he found out, he felt there was no way that he could approach her with honour. But Cliona, a spirited girl, had her own ideas. Charles was the man she wanted, and when John appeared again, determined to court her for her money, she put an audacious plan into practice. To win the man she loved she first had to win an extraordinary game of cards, using skills that no lady was supposed to have. How her lucky star helped her triumph over villainy and win the man she loved is told in this exciting and romantic novel story. If you like Downton Abbey you will love Barbara Cartland.
Overworked and exhausted through caring for her ailing father, the demurely lovely Delysia Langford goes to the family’s London house for a well-deserved rest. But her wayward and beautiful sister, Fleur, has other ideas for her. She has fallen deeply in love with Timothy, Lord Sheldon, but he is already reluctantly engaged through intense pressure from his family to be married to the daughter of the Duke of Dorset. So Fleur and Tim plan to elope. And so determined is Tim’s uncle, the vastly rich Magnus Fane, a terrifying man people call the ‘Demon King’, to stop them that he kidnaps Fleur. Little does he know, it is actually Delysia who his servants have abducted from the London house by mistake. And when she is subjected to the contempt that Magnus Fane regards her sister with, Delysia resolves to keep up the pretence that she is Fleur so giving her sister time to run away to France with Tim to be married. And giving herself a chance to reverse the dreadful impression that he has formed of Fleur from reports by his relations. But when Delysia is confronted by the awe-inspiring and arrogant Demon King, he turns out to be an extremely handsome young man as well as a highly successful entrepreneur, having made his fortune in the East. And slowly but surely she is no longer held hostage, but simply following her heart as mutual hatred in some magical way turns out to be love.
Anthea Forthingdale and her sisters Thais, Chloe and Phebe have all been named after famous poems. All very beautiful, after their father's death at Waterloo the girls and their lovely mother, Christobel, are alone and isolated, living in poverty in a small Yorkshire village. Struggling for money and appropriate suitors for her daughter, In May 1819 Lady Forthingdale writes to an old friend, the Countess of Sheldon in London and asks if she will have her Godchild Anthea to stay for the rest of the London Season. The Countess is delighted to have Anthea as her guest because otherwise her husband wishes her to leave for the country. How Anthea meets the handsome Duke of Axminster in her Godmother's house, how he appears bored and contemptuous with her when they dance at Almack's, how Anthea caricatures the Duke with far-reaching and dramatic results and how she learns never to laugh at love, is told in this 182nd book by Barbara Cartland.
Soon to be twenty-one years old, the lovely red-haired Gisela Musgrave is tormented and oppressed by her cruel and jealous stepmother until one day riding with the local hunt, Gisela rushes to the aid of a beautiful woman who has fallen from her horse. Everyone but Gisela notices her striking resemblance to this Noblewoman, who reveals herself to be none other than the exquisite Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, whose beauty is renowned throughout Europe and who is staying incognito in the English countryside for the hunting season. And then suddenly Gisela’s life is transformed by two pieces of shocking news. First, that she is not truly her father’s daughter, but the daughter of her mother’s lover before she married and secondly that her true father’s identity makes her the Empress’s half-sister! Groomed in her new-found status, Gisela agrees to exploit her likeness by pretending to be the Empress at an invitation to stay with an ageing Lord, while the Empress herself continues to indulge her love of hunting. But on arriving at the Lord’s most impressive Castle, Gisela is greeted by his dashingly handsome yet imperious heir, Lord Quenby. And so begins an all-powerful love that seems doomed to oblivion even before it sprang so unexpectantly into being –
Arriving at an employment agency in the West End of London in search for some way to support herself and her beloved old Nanny after her father’s gambling debts have left her in penury, the beautiful young Carina is offered a very unusual post in which she must take charge young of a young boy, the son of one, Lady Lynche.On visiting her at her lodgings Carina is dismayed to find that Lady Lynche, an Oriental lady, is at death’s door and so is reluctantly persuaded to take her child, Dipa, to his father in the English countryside.Arriving at the vast and imposing Lynche Castle in the depths of Gloucestershire, however, she finds that the child is far from welcome and that Lord Lynche, although more handsome than any other man she has ever seen, is living a dissolute bachelor’s life with his disreputable friends, who only want to gamble day and night at cards.As well as the ghosts that apparently linger behind The Castle’s imperious walls, the place is haunted by a sense of shame and misery, for what Carina knows not, but she is determined to find out.Slowly the veils of secrecy and mystery are peeled away and the darkness is lit up with the fire of love.
Returning home from France Robina Melville finds surprises awaiting her, not all of them pleasant. Almost immediately it becomes clear that the familiar surroundings of Trentham House are not the sanctuary that she hoped for, and she soon feels unwanted and alone.Still in mourning for her beloved mama and shocked by the changes in her father, Robina struggles to come to terms with all that she has lost. Alongside this her stepmother, the new Lady Melville, seems intent on marrying off her to the wealthiest suitor, regardless of Robina's wishes.A chance encounter with a childhood friend, the handsome new Earl of Hampton, provides Robina with employment as his secretary and a temporary escape from her stepmother's clutches.But when Robina is forced to flee in order to avoid the unwanted attentions of Lord Drury, she finds herself at the mercy of the Earl's dissolute brother, Ellis. With a stepmother who will stop at nothing to marry her off, can Robina discover her true heart's desire as well as regain the love of her father? Or will she be married off to the highest bidder and lose her freedom as well as her home?
Exceedingly lovely, grey eyed-beauty Lady Marcia Woode is the apple of her father’s eye as his only child. But unlike the other Society debutantes she is reluctant to be pinned down by marriage – indeed she has refused proposals from countless suitable suitors, the latest being from the richest Duke in the whole of England. Infuriated, Marcia’s father decides to force her to marry the illustrious French Duc de Roux, whose father was an old and distinguished friend of his. Arriving in France, Marcia is swept off her feet by the Duc’s awe-inspiring château, the magnificent gorges of the Dordogne and, best of all, his stable of fine thoroughbred horses, if not at first by the Duc himself, who is extremely tall and handsome. Impressive though he is, Marcia knows that he is not in love with her, nor is she with him. And she will not marry unless it is for love and love alone. And yet, almost in spite of herself, she realises that her heart has other ideas. When she finds out that the Duc’s decadent nephew, Sardos, is plotting his murder and then she discovers the Duc at his nephew’s gunpoint amid the stalactites and stalagmites of a prehistoric Dordogne cave, And with a courage born of love, she rushes to the rescue –
King Maximilian of Valdastien, handsome, clever but with a well deserved reputation as a ladies man, is under pressure from his Prime Minister to leave behind his bachelor ways, get married and produce an heir as soon as possible. Despite the fact that he vowed never to marry, with political unrest in Europe and encroaching danger from the Prussians, the King reluctantly decides to visit the surrounding countries to seek a suitable Queen. Meanwhile, beautiful but tempestuous Princess Zita flies across the alpine countryside of neighbouring Aldross on her dazzling horse Pegasus. Full of a fire.
Now she is sixteen and a half, beautiful young Lady Imeldra is eager to leave school and resume her exciting life with her father the Earl of Kingsclere, who is renowned in Society as something of a “man about town”. She is dismayed when he announces that his rather decadent lifestyle is not conducive to the necessary task of presenting Imeldra formally to Society and finding her an appropriate suitor – and that he is sending her to live with her strait-laced and disapproving grandmother. Rebelling, she enlists the help of an old family friend William Gladwin, who is currently building an Orangery at the neighbouring estate of Marizon, and passes herself off as Mr. Gladwin’s grand-daughter so that she can stay at Marizon. Although the house and its estate is incomparable in its beauty and grandeur – and its brooding, cynical Master the Marquis is equally handsome – Imeldra has the feeling that something is amiss. And, seeking to know more of the mysterious Marquis, she finds that she has fallen in love.
Hugo, the Duke of Wynchester enjoys many affaires de coeur and his latest lover, the beautiful but scheming and spoilt Olive Lady Brandon, is trying to blackmail him into marriage by forcing her husband to divorce her. Storming angrily from her house, Hugo finds a strange stowaway aboard his carriage. It transpires that this frail elfin beauty is none other that Janeta Brandon, Olive’s step-daughter, and that she is fleeing the marriage her stepmother has arranged to an old man known to beat not only his servants and horses but also his late wife. When the Duke realises that Janeta means to kill herself rather than face a loveless marriage, he is struck by a cunning way to rescue them both by announcing their ‘engagement’. They are then married in a quiet ceremony in the Duke’s private Chapel. It is only when Janeta saves him from death by poisoning by the hand of her stepmother that the Duke realises that he has been in love with her from the moment he first saw her. But surely the scorned Olive’s fury will ensure their love is doomed before it can blossom.
Jilted by her fiancé Tim, Mela MacDonald felt nothing but despair. Desperate to heal her wounded heart she travels from Canada to war torn England, to work for her Uncle, an important government official in the war effort. But on her arrival she finds her Uncle has been murdered – set on unravelling the mystery of his death, she teams up with Peter Flacton, an up-and-coming politician. As their investigations put them in a compromising position, and still too miserable to care what happens to her, Mela makes a reckless decision. But what she hadn’t counted on was meeting Tim again. Told in her own words, Mela describes how they solve the mystery of her Uncle’s death and how she discovers where her true love lies, in this passionate adventure of love and intrigue.
Brought up in London by her widowed mother and her step-uncle and Guardian, Sir Uriel Reece, the beautiful Rosaleena knows little about the estate in Ireland she is about to inherit together with the lovely Rosscullen House. All she knows is that it is the place where she was born and where her father, the late Lord Rosscullen, died. She knows when he died and where, but how is a complete mystery. To Rosaleena amazement the subject is never discussed in Sir Uriel's household - indeed, it is a matter that is actively avoided by everyone and no one will tell her the truth of what happened. Now, on the eve of her twenty-first birthday, Rosaleena is about to meetthe man who will bring her face to face with her unknown past - the enigmatic and mysterious Colonel Joyce. When Rosaleena invites the Colonel to her birthday ball at Sir Uriel's London house and he graciously accepts much to the strangely virulent disapproval of Sir Uriel, she sets in motion a sequence of events that will turn her life upside down. Journeying from fashionable London Society to the rugged mountains of a remote part of Ireland, Rosaleena will discover not only that true love never does run smooth but that it is by its nature never tame. After many twists and turns and disappointments, she gradually discovers the horrifying truth about her father's death and how eventually she finds her heart's desire is all told in this intriguing tale by BARBARA CARTLAND.
When a strange Priest calls to inform him that his young and very beautiful Ward, Zia Langley, whom he has never troubled to meet, wants to be a nun and asks for his permission, the dashing and handsome Marquis of Okehampton is irritated at this distraction from his wild love life. The Marquis is particularly involved with Yasmin Caton, the enchantingly lovely wife of a distinguished Peer, who is much older than her and is believed to be close to death. She is determined to marry the Marquis when her husband does die and uses every wile she can think of to force him up the aisle. And when the strange Priest demands the transfer to the Convent of all Zia’s worldly goods and, knowing that Zia has inherited a vast fortune, the Marquis smells a rat. Insisting on visiting this Convent to meet his Ward, he travels to Cornwall in his magnificent yacht. He is introduced to a very ugly young woman, whom he realises is an imposter, before whisking away the real Zia Langley to his Park Lane mansion in London. But just as the Marquis discovers the real Zia’s stunning beauty and realises that he is falling in love, the evil Priest kidnaps her and is demanding an impossible sum for her release. Can the Marquis save his Ward and their very special love in time?
Money may not be able to buy you love but without it an Earldom is an empty title as black sheep of the family, Michael Belmont, could discover to his cost. Heir to a huge country estate, filled with antiques and the finest furniture, Michael's gambling debts and dissolute lifestyle result in a desperate quarrel with his father, who threatens to disinherit him. When his father dies suddenly, Michael has sunk so low that he does not even have enough money for his fare home. With his allowance gambled and his fine clothes pawned Michael is a man in despair. But all that changes when he meets the beautiful Lady Verna, who is seeking a chauffeur to drive her car home to England. Not knowing that her willing volunteer is actually an Earl, they strike up an unlikely friendship and before the journey ends he has fallen under her spell. Captivated by her independent spirit and positive outlook Michael knows that their love will reform him, and suddenly there is brilliant new hope in his life. All he has to do is win the trust of her father, wealthy Lord Challoner, and convince him of his suitability as a husband – but the shadow of the late Earl's threat looms large. With so much uncertainly the only thing they can be sure of is their love. As Michael tries to turn his life around and win the hand of the woman he adores can Lady Verna convince her father that love is enough to live on? Meanwhile Michael's cunning younger brother, Anthony, has his eye on the estate. Their father's favourite, he may not carry the title but he is determined to take everything else from his brother including the bride.
Lord Milton should have been a happy man, with an ancient title and a magnificent estate. But he was deep in debt and haunted by memories of the Crimea, where he had once been a soldier and taken part of the Charge of the Light Brigade. To take his mind off the past, he eagerly accepted the suggestion of a friend to become the manager of a hotel in Brighton, called the Paradise Hotel. He was seeking new discoveries, but he could not have guessed how startling his discoveries were going to be. First he decided to abandon his title and pass simply as John Milton. Then there was the mysterious young lady, who arrived suddenly and begged him to hide her from a man who was hunting her. Finally there was the aggressive Sir Stewart Paxton who was seeking her, full of fury and threats. To Cecilia the Paradise Hotel was a paradise indeed once she had met John Milton. She had no idea where the rocky road was taking her. She only knew that she must escape her evil guardian, Sir Stewart, who was ruthlessly intent on marrying her for her fortune. And John was the only man who could help her. Lord Milton came to understand how wonderfully attractive she was, how gentle and sympathetic to the nightmares that still troubled him. He would give his life to protect her and make her his own. But then he made a terrible discovery about her, and it seemed as if a life together was impossible. What happened when Sir Stewart pursued them, and how Cecilia found a man who loved her for herself instead of for her money, is all told in this romantic and unusual story by Barbara Cartland.
Horribly wounded after robbers murdered her dear father and left her for dead, the lovely young Atayla is alone and destitute in Morocco at the Tangiers Mission. So when her only friend, Father Ignatius, tells her of a French lady, the Comtesse de Soisson, who wishes to pay someone to escort her young daughter home to her estranged father, the Earl of Rothwell, she jumps at the opportunity. After a long and tiring journey, she arrives unannounced at Roth Castle with young Felicity and Atayla is dismayed by the violent unwelcoming reception she receives from the dashing but disdainful Earl, who assumes that she has some shady ulterior motive in coming to The Castle. Atayla is at the mercy of a man who hates her and soon it seems she is to be banished from The Castle and from the young girl she has come to care for. But then the EarlÕs passions are inflamed in a terrible misunderstanding and his hate is suddenly transformed to an all-consuming love.ÊÊ
In Britain’s Great Depression jobs are almost impossible to find. And the best innocent, bewildered and beautiful young Fiona can find is as a ‘dance hostess’ in a nightclub frequented by High Society – as well as London’s seedy lowlife. Between fighting off drunken thugs, old men and lecherous Lords, she learns the harsh realities of life in this shady nocturnal world and loses her heart – hopelessly – to a man who’s promised to another. And, her adventure takes her from London to Monte Carlo and back, she discovers how dangerously close to the gutter is all this ‘glamour’.
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