The only man who will dance with confirmed spinster Lady Margery is Charles, the Marquess of Edgecombe, a man Margery simply can’t stand. Lady Margery is ready to give up on finding a match, until the spendthrift habits of her father’s bratty young bride force her to try to snare a rich husband. But the Marquess has other plans for Lady Margery—and she never plans on falling in love.
At age twenty-three, the petite Lady Margery has already graced the rows of wallflowers for many a season. With the one exception of Charles, the Marquess of Edgecombe, the only man who ever dances with her, Lady Margery will have nothing to do with men; what’s more, she does not even particularly like Charles. Bored beyond words, she firmly decides this to be the end of it all and returns to the comfort of her only love, her home at Chelmswood. But she does not find comfort, not even there. It seems her middle-aged father has taken for himself a dim-witted brat of nineteen to be his bride. Forced into bankruptcy by his child-bride’s lust for luxury, Margery’s father determines to sell Chelmswood. But Margery will not hear of it and launches an all-out, military-like campaign to ensnare herself a wealthy husband and save her ancestral family home. Everything seems to be going according to plan until the unforeseen intervention of Charles sabotages Margery’s plan, giving them both a run for their money…
M. C. Beaton
M. C. Beaton is the pen name of bestselling novelist Marion Chesney. She was a prolific writer of historical romances and small village mysteries. Born in Scotland, the author began her writing career as a fiction buyer for a Glasgow bookstore and worked as a theater critic, newspaper reporter, and editor. The author wrote under various names, most notably as M. C. Beaton for her Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin series. She also wrote under the names Sarah Chester, Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Marion Gibbons, Jennie Tremaine, and Charlotte Ward. M.C. BEATON® is a registered trademark of M.C. Beaton Limited