Showing results by narrator "Jannie Meisberger" in All Categories

It started with a duke. The mysterious Miss Meredith Thorn and her beloved cat, Fortune, open an employment agency to help gentlewomen down on their luck. Her first assignment? Finding a governess for the three young daughters of the Duke of Wey. Odd how all her matches end up in matrimony.

After spending the last 10 years following her late husband on campaign, the irrepressible Jane Kimball finds herself badly in need of a position to support herself. Marriage holds no appeal; she’s not likely to find a husband like her Jimmy again. But when Miss Thorn of the Fortune Employment Agency offers her a post with the Duke of Wey, Jane feels drawn to help the lonely widower with his three daughters. He may seem a bit aloof, but Miss Thorn’s cat, Fortune, approved of him. Why should Jane doubt a duke?

The perky Lydia Villers is determined to leave behind her life as a social butterfly and do what she’s always dreamed of doing, pursue a career in natural philosophy. A shame the only scientist available to assist her is the one man she had once hoped to wed. The brilliant Frederick, Viscount Worthington, Worth to his friends, has been betrayed once too often, including by the bubbly beauty who now wants to work at his side. How can he believe Lydia’s intentions are true this time? After all, someone is intent of sabotaging his efforts.

Lady Georgia Brunel, widowed a year, has been looking forward to her holiday in the Duchy of Venice with her companion, Millicent Brunel. The clockwork city’s annual art exhibition is in full swing, and old friends and new acquaintances make for an exciting social whirl.

It’s time for Georgiana to get married - but who will she choose? Darcy’s choice is Kettering Corby, marquess of Somersea, an old schoolfellow with a fair shot and an excellent seat, not to mention a fine title and a very fine fortune. Elizabeth favors Mr. Drake Midwinter, a local clergyman of neither rank nor fortune, possessing no recommendation but one: He loves Georgiana. More importantly, Georgiana loves him. As wealth and connections outweigh considerations of love and happiness, Elizabeth has to wonder: Has Fitzwilliam’s intractable pride returned?

Crushed beyond measure at the rejection of his proposal, Darcy struggles to explain both the facts and his feelings by letter to the only woman he will ever love. Can such a reticent man find the words to enable Elizabeth Bennet to know the man behind the mask? Will she read his carefully crafted epistle once he delivers it into her hand? Will he catch even a small glimmer of hope?

When Darcy and Lizzy meet at the Meryton assembly, Darcy is already engaged to another woman, and Lizzy has suffered the loss of someone she once loved. How will they find their way to each other, with these obstacles, and so many more, standing in their way?

In 1819, France is surrounded by armies. With Russia in the north, the Karlsruhe Confederacy in the east, and a pirate kingdom in the south, Napoleon cannot break out, nor can the English Navy seem to break in. Europe teeters on the edge of a sword. Celeste Blanchard, daughter of the Emperor’s disgraced Air Minister, is running out of time to develop an airship that can carry his armies to England and restore her mother to glory. But on a desperate test flight, she is blown off course…and washes up, half drowned, on the shores of Cornwall, in the heart of enemy territory.

After caring for a crotchety countess, Patience Ramsey wants a more purposeful position. So, when Miss Thorn of the Fortune Employment Agency offers her the post of assistant to amateur apothecary Augusta Orwell, Patience jumps at the chance. Then, her new employer introduces her at an Easter house party as the bride-to-be of her nephew Sir Harold Orwell. Miss Thorn’s cat Fortune may approve of Sir Harry, but Patience has no interest in borrowing the handsome baronet. She’s had her heart trampled on by false promises before.

When the thoroughly poised Charlotte Worthington requests that Miss Thorn and her cat, Fortune, find her a position, she never dreams the savvy employment-agency owner would reunite her with Matthew Bateman, her brother’s former bodyguard. Matthew is about to be knighted for an act of valor, and he and his sisters could use some polishing if they’re to enter Society after his elevation. Yet how can Charlotte maintain her calm, cool demeanor as their sponsor when she harbors a secret love for him?

The saucy Yvette de Maupassant is used to danger. She’s spent the last 10 years spying for England in Napoleon’s court. Now that her work has been discovered, she must hide, and what better place than the remote wooded estate of the Earl of Carrolton? Her friend Miss Thorn and that delightful cat Fortune place her in a position where she can pretend to be companion to the earl’s sickly mother. Yet one look at the earl has Yvette rethinking why she wants to stay. Gregory, Earl of Carrolton, is used to power.

Shy Ivy Bateman has always felt more comfortable behind the scenes than front and center. She is happiest caring for her family and baking sweet treats. She certainly never expected the wealthy Marquess of Kendall to propose marriage, especially a marriage of convenience. It seems his baby daughter needs a mother, and Ivy cannot deny the attraction of the role, or the attraction she feels for the handsome marquess.

The morning after the Netherfield ball, Elizabeth Bennet refuses an offer of marriage, setting off a row in the Bennet household that ends tragically. Faced with homelessness and untenable poverty, Elizabeth receives a different sort of offer - from quite an unexpected quarter - and finds herself considering the once-inconceivable prospect of going into trade.

Mary Rose has one goal for her mother’s annual Christmas Eve party: Convince her childhood friend Julian Mayes to marry her. With her mother wasting away and the doctor refusing to deal with a young lady like Mary, she needs the power of a husband. She has always admired Julian. Surely one moment under the kissing bough will convince him they were meant to be together. Newly hired by a prestigious London law firm, Julian Mayes is ready to shake the dust of the countryside off his polished boots. But he’s always had a soft spot for Mary.

Marya Santelyn, pampered daughter of the Merchant’s Guild, hides a secret. A power stirs within her, one that could destroy everything she holds dear, or save it. When her ability to see the future becomes too apparent for comfort, the spunky Marya takes matters into her own hands and runs, right into the arms of the enemy.

Something nasty has come through one of the ley gates. It walks upright. It talks. And it looks like an oversized cat, but as Merliss can attest, it doesn't smell like a cat.

Polished Jesslyn Chance has one of the most enviable positions in the little Regency coastal village of Grace-by-the-Sea. 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.

1943. World War II has torn the continent since 1939 and tested families, the Bennets included. Elizabeth and Jane nurse wounded soldiers and civilians in a London hospital. The other sisters volunteer as best suits their inclinations. Mr. Bennet rattles about Longbourn. Wickham sniffs about the edges of the estate—and the Bennet daughters.

Mage Kermon struggles to stay loyal to Mielitta, the Queen of the Warrior Bees, in the ongoing war between the oppressive Citadel and the vibrant Forest. His secret dual role in the Citadel is threatened when his students trespass into the mysterious world beyond the walls and, in the back-stabbing climate of Citadel politics, he’s the sacrifice everyone is prepared to make. Little do those around him know that the future of both Forest and Citadel depends on his survival.

Bee-shifter, bear-shifter, Forest spy and woman-lover; what's second nature to four unlikely friends is a death sentence in the Citadel. Take a wild flight with Mielitta into the forbidden Forest in this highly original epic eco-fantasy series. As she grows from despised servant to Queen of the Warrior Bees, Mielitta discovers that evil can wear a friend's face and an unlikely alliance is her best chance of healing the rift between sterile Citadel and vibrant Forest.