The Stanton Legacy

Life has not been kind to Charlotte Harding. Orphaned, impoverished and plain-looking, she depends on the charity of relatives who take her in when she has nowhere else to go. In their London home, she meets the rich and handsome Viscount Stanton who is promised to the beautiful heiress, Miss Powell. Charlotte is smitten with him on first sight, but the Viscount barely notices her except to note her unprepossessing looks and shabby dress.

Grace Stanton is beautiful, vivacious, and no innocent when it comes to men. Her carefree, happy life is disrupted when her family is summoned to the bedside of her grandfather, the dying Earl of Stanton, in England. There, circumstances force her into a marriage with the last person she ever thought to marry—Benedict Sedgwick, the newly appointed parish curate who wears threadbare clothes and blushes in the presence of women.

From an early age, Sarah Cranshaw has exhibited an unladylike interest in scientific pursuits. Whether it's memorising train timetables or stargazing on her telescope, such pursuits have earned her the nickname of bluestocking in her Oxfordshire village. But behind the eccentric demeanour she presents to the world, there lies a secret. For years, Sarah has been obsessed with the handsome but roguish Mr Templeton. She knows, of course, that she has little hope of earning his affection in return, but still she yearns for him.

Life is not a bed of roses for Lexie Forbes. Abandoned both by her husband and her lover, she resigns herself to a quiet life with her two young children. Until one day, everything changes. Her husband dies suddenly, leaving both his fortune and children in the guardianship of his best friend, Philip Templeton.

Daniel Stanton has been blessed with everything. He is charming, confident and handsome—and heir to the great Stanton fortune. At age 24, he has had his fair share of amorous adventures with women, as well as one tantalising experience with a man, leaving him wondering about his sexual inclinations. Those questions are quickly answered when he first meets Ambrose Cranshaw, his grandfather's estate manager. He wants the man, and what he wants, he usually gets. Not this time though.

Isabella Stanton had determined from an early age that the fact of having been born female would not stand in the way of her doing what she desired. Having inherited a substantial estate from her grandfather, she insisted on taking an active role in managing her affairs, including the tenancy of Netherwick Hall, the magnificent mansion on her estate.