Showing results by narrator "Helen Taylor" in All Categories

When Miss Coralynn Notley's father barters her off to the first titled gentleman to come along, she realizes she must flee her home or be forced to wed a despicable man. Driven by desperation, she applies for the position of housekeeper at Tanglewood Manor, the home of the handsome Mr. Jonathan Ludlow. The moment Jonathan sees Miss Notley, he is intrigued. She is far too young and inexperienced, yet there is something about her that that inspires a certain hope within him.

To the miserable atmosphere of the country house of Studham, home to the Fighting Fox family, Miss Ianthe Eames, a whirlwind, arrives. Known in London as the Fighting Foxes, Lord Edward Fox is at odds with his stepmother, Lady Fox, and her spoiled son Curtis. Studham is hardly a joyful place to live. As the Fighting Fox family await the arrival of a poor relation from France, Lady Fox is ready to berate her late arrival, Lord Edward Fox is resigned to ignoring her, Curtis is ready to patronise her - while the resident visitors are ready to sympathise.

There was no doubt about it, Felicity Oldfield’s grand London adventure had commenced. First, she had been abducted by a peer of the realm, released, then in less than a few hours she had arrived in London for the post of governess, been cast off without a sou, walked the streets of London alone, been pursued by a young gentleman, met a man of bad character who might have led her onto a path of ruination, saved by a rich and fashionable couple in their velvet-lined coach, and was even now being taken to her mad Aunt Ellingham where she expected to be treated appallingly....

Viscount Derriford likes to keep a low profile. He avoids ton parties and the ladies who frequent them whenever possible, preferring to spend time with his fellow bachelors. A predictable, undemanding existence suits him perfectly. Marriage has never been part of his plans; he is convinced he could never make any woman happy. However, when his aunt dies, leaving him a property in Somerset, this safe, untrammelled existence is threatened by a condition attached to his inheritance. He must accept all invitations proffered by the local gentry.

In her previous London Season, Jocasta had tripped through ballrooms delighting an army of admirers, one of whom (Lord Robert Paxton, heir to an earldom) had been invited by her papa to a house party at her home at Castle Fortune, to continue the acquaintance. Many things had happened at the house party, including the shattering of Jocasta’s naive confidence, when Paxton had preferred her younger sister, Portia.

Dignified, reserved, and every inch the gentleman, Laurence Westerby, the fifth Viscount Carteret, finds his ordered and predictable world turned on its head when a mysterious lady steps into his private parlor. He thinks her spirited, reckless, and undoubtedly in need of his protection. Confident, frank, and used to managing her own affairs, Miss Cassandra Fenton does not like the role of damsel in distress. Laurence seems determined to help her out of her immediate difficulties, however. His chivalry reminds her of all the reasons she is so unsuited to marriage.

When the eligible Mr. Allison is to come to Fenton Manor to woo Honoria, there is a problem. She doesn't remember what he looked like. Crippled by her timidity, she hardly looked at him when they'd met during her first London season. But he had spoken to her father, determined to ask her for her hand. Her siblings, Serena and Benedict, find this highly amusing, but after Honoria overhears a conversation between her parents about their finances, she realises she must marry Mr. Allison.

Unjustly labeled a flirt, Kitty Beaucroft is in need of a fiancé. Lord Philip Butler's father wants him to settle down before he can become a landowner. With no intention of following through, Kitty and Philip enter into a temporary engagement as a means to an end. Unfortunately, someone knows the truth and is determined to expose them. Will the ruse turn into a romance before it's too late?

Miss Emma Wynn has spent the last year at Ashwick Hall under the protection of Lady Westcliffe. Her uncle and brother think her dead and must continue to do so until she attains her majority. She must prove she is a fit guardian to re-establish herself and protect her brother. When permitted to visit her friend, Lady Eagleton, she is drawn to the reclusive Mr Carne. She suspects, however, that some scandal is attached to him, and she cannot afford to be tainted by association.

In an inn, on the way to her first London Season, Katerina Fortune hears something that gives her a chance to escape her fate. Acting on impulse, she hires a gig and presents herself to a reclusive gentleman to offer herself as a bride. For Katerina, the eighth daughter of Castle Fortune (her Yorkshire home) has no intention of letting her father sell her to the highest bidder in town.

Miss Euphemia Fleet, on her way to join her dear Felicity and her husband, is still fearing that she may be a burden to them. She meets Baron Balfour on the road, and after an accident to her only gown, finds out that she resembles his dead wife in stature when he offers her a change of clothes. But the shock of seeing Euphemia in the gown brings on an old illness, and she is forced by her kindly nature to stay with him, though his loud voice and blunt conversation terrifies her. Something stirs in Euphemia as they become acquainted....

Soon after her twin Leonora's marriage a bereft Marguerite Fortune is going home to Castle Fortune, with only her self serving male relatives for company. But Baron Fortune, her papa, has a diversion planned on the journey…one that concerns getting his last daughter wed.

London, 1860. Midnight Gunn is no ordinary detective - born during a solar eclipse as Halley's Comet blazed a trail through the sky, his supernatural birthright is both a help and a hindrance when solving crimes. Detective Inspector Arthur Gredge of Scotland Yard is the only one who knows Gunn's secret. When the body of a young aristocrat is discovered in a backstreet alley, Gredge enlists Gunn’s help in a race to discover the identity of the notorious Spring-Heeled Jack - the monster that is terrorizing London.

Elizabeth Bennet is hiding a forbidden power. She can speak to draca, the fire-breathing creatures kept as status symbols by English gentry. But Mr. Darcy has noticed, and he has his own dark secret.

Lady Lewisham is an independent woman of means who has just emerged from her year of mourning. But as a young, beautiful, single widow (with an intelligent mind to boot), it seems she is a target for unwanted attention from ill-fitting suitors and mindless tittle-tattle from the gossip-mongers. Little does Sophie know, however, that when she encounters the handsome but devout bachelor Sir Philip Bray, her life is about to change. Could Sir Philip be the hero she thinks she does not need or want?

Leonora, one of two beautiful Fortune twins newly arrived in Town for their Season, had one aim in view: The Honourable Linton Carswell. She first met him at her home, Castle Fortune, three years ago, and now at 17, has arrived to claim her prize.

Four very different women, all wanting to escape cold and dreary London for different reasons, come together to share a month's holiday in an Italian medieval castle. There’s timid Lotty Wilkins, terrified of her domineering husband; sober and religious Rose Arbuthnot; rigid and judgemental Mrs Fisher; and the breathtakingly beautiful but disillusioned and unhappy Lady Caroline Dester. They are lured to the castle by the advertised 'wisteria and sunshine', but they end up finding there so much more than they had bargained for.

Seven years ago, Miss Hayes’ world was turned upside down when she lost her father, her betrothed, and any prospect of a comfortable future. Too proud to live upon the charity of others, she became a teacher at Miss Wolfraston’s Seminary for Young Ladies. She has no wish to reenter the society that turned its back on her. But she has spent five years nurturing her pupil, Miss Charlotte Fletcher, and when she is asked to be her companion for the summer, her affection for the young lady overcomes her reservations.

Lucille Abbey runs her London secretarial agency with utmost efficiency. When, therefore, a certain Professor Hallam rejects three girls sent by her to apply for the post of his secretary and they each pronounce him "impossible", Lucille herself sets out to interview the Professor at his home in Hampshire. He is, she finds, eccentric—even impossible; but he represents a challenge and, what is more, an excuse to delay what promises to be a trying holiday in Paris. She stays on to tame and to organize him—a less formidable task than she had imagined; in fact, she grows fond of him.

London 1818: Destitute, disillusioned, and desperate, Lady Rosalind Marlowe sets the tongues of Regency London wagging when she becomes the "Mayfair Thief". Targeting only those who had won large sums of money from her father, bleeding him dry and causing him to take his own life, she decides to teach them a lesson. She takes something valuable from each, leaving her calling card with a bible quote behind. On her last outing, she is caught red-handed.