Playful brides

Lady Lucy Upton's tongue may be too sharp to attract suitors, but her heart is good, and when her painfully shy friend Cassandra needs help, she devises a brilliant scheme to help her discourage an unwanted suitor, the Duke of Claringdon. Lucy will hide behind the hedgerow and tell Cass just what to say to discourage the Duke of Claringdon . . . but it turns out that he's made of sterner stuff than either of them anticipated. And Lucy is shocked to...

Certain that no man wants a bluestocking for a wife, Miss Jane Lowndes is careful to wield her books and her spectacles as weapons against matrimony. Convincing her ambitious mama that she's content to stay a spinster is easier said than done, however. It's a good thing that Jane is not above a bit of manufactured scandal if it will keep her from the altar and the argumentative, contrary Lord Garrett Upton . . . With the war over, Garrett is determined...

1816. Lady Alexandra Hobbs, the daughter of the Duke of Huntley, has intended to marry Lord Owen Monroe since she first glimpsed him from the window of her bedchamber, back when she was just a girl. But the duke has already chosen Alex’s infamously spoiled elder sister, Lavinia, for Owen. And now there’s no turning back. Owen has spent most of his bachelor years drinking, gambling, and skirt-chasing. He won’t see another pound from his parents,...