Showing results by narrator "Anthony Wren" in All Categories

Daughter of the Earl of Longwood, a gentleman gambler, and the Countess of Longwood, a society beauty, Lady Yolanda Wood has an exciting if unconventional childhood travelling around the casinos and racecourses of Europe. But life changes dramatically after the tragic death of her father, and she and her ravishing mother are left penniless and alone. In mourning for her husband, and dependent on the kindness of selfmade millionaire Oliver Garrack, the Countess's gratitude swiftly turns to romance and Yolanda finds herself with a stepfather she neither likes nor respects.

The beautiful Martina Bradshaw has sadly lost both her beloved father and her loving mother. They live in the little Kent village of Preston Bailey where her father, a talented musician, had written his music, which had never been successful with the public. Now Martina has to find a way of making money to pay her household of Mrs.

The beautiful Konstantina Millbank has become an orphan after her adored parents have both suddenly died. In the autumn of 1892 she finds herself in a country East of the Danube en route to live with her recently appointed Guardian, the shadowy Countess Mordhile Megherny. Konstantina knows nothing of her Guardian except that she is a recluse who lives at Megherny Castle - the Castle where Konstantina’s own mother grew up, loveless and lonely. Much time has elapsed since then, but the past and its passions are far from dead.

Leonora Cressy and her school friend Isobel have sworn never to fall in love. They prefer their books to men and scorn other girls whose heads are full of storybook romance. Leonora is convinced that no man could be as perfect as her late father. Little does she know that life has decided to put her conviction to the test. Her mother comes to tell her that she has a new stepfather and she does not like the sound of him at all.

Keeping up appearances for her older brother, and his Society lifestyle while also caring for their young brother and sister is becoming too much for the beautiful Minerva as they have very little money and the bills are mounting every day. So when Tony confesses that he owes the terrifying gambling debt of two thousand pounds to his friend, the Earl of Gorleston, with an unsavory and raffish reputation, she is mortified. In utter desperation, Minerva dresses herself up as a highwayman, creeps into The Castle and tries to blackmail the Earl at gunpoint.

Sir Robin Dunstead returns from India after his father's death to find that he now owns two of the largest ancestral houses in the country both containing superb art collections, but the houses and the pictures are in a very poor state of repair. Unfortunately Sir Robin's father had sold everything that was saleable in both houses and everything of value is entailed for future generations of Dunsteads. Robin is left with no income and finds he has not enough money to buy food for himself and sister Alena.

The Duke of Lavenham learns from a letter that the beautiful Lady Penelope who he finds fun and amusing, is telling her friends that she is going to marry him. The Duke is horrified as he has no intention of marrying anyone for many years to come and he hurries to visit Penelope to discuss the matter with her and tell her that he has no intention of marrying anybody. As he is leaving the house, a young girl sobbing hysterically jumps into his carriage and begs him to take her away.

After Della had been orphaned she came to live in the country with her uncle, Lord Lainden, who rented a delightful house on the estate of his great friend the Duke of Marchwood. She was blissfully happy with her uncle and rode the Duke's horses every day. But a cloud was gathering on the horizon in the form of Jason, the Duke's only son and heir. Jason had returned to his ancestral home having led a very dissolute life in Paris and his father was desperate for him to settle down, make a good marriage and continue the Ducal line.

When Shona became secretary to the Marquis of Chilworth, all she was told was that they were going abroad so that he could write a book. She never suspected the dark secret in his heart or the terrible thing he meant to do. As they travelled on, she learned more about the tragedy that drove him, and she faced the fact that she was falling in love with a man whose heart was in the grave. Haunted by memories of his dead wife, the Marquis tried to shut out the possibility of a new love.

The Duke of Norlington and his sister Lady Latasha are living quietly in the country very happily with their horses. The Duke receives a letter from an old Oxford friend who is now His Royal Highness Prince Kraus of Oldessa, a small Principality in the Balkans. The Prince asks the Duke if his sister would consent to marry his brother, Prince Stephan, as she is related to the Royal family, thereby giving Oldessa British protection from the Russians who are vying to take over as many States as they can in the Balkans.

Eugenia Dovedale's father had been High Steward to the Marquis of Buckbury and after her father's unexpected death, Eugenia had to leave "Paragon" the family's beautiful and much loved cottage on the estate. She and her mother now lived uncomfortably with her Great-Aunt Cloris in London as they could not afford anywhere else. Mrs Dovedale maintained strong hopes of her daughter making a good marriage and improving their position.

Francis, the Marquis of Wimborton needed an heiress. Lexia had money and her father wanted her to marry a Lord. But she was a spirited girl, raised in America and she wanted to choose her own husband. The Marquis was too proud to court her, especially as he believed her heart was given to Wayne Freeman, an American that her father had brought her to England to avoid. They unexpectedly became the best of friends, escaping together from family pressures and boarding a cruise liner in search of their dreams.

Michael, the Earl of Danesbury was being hounded to marry Lady Alice Randall, a woman he did not love. Even the Prince of Wales was determined to force him into marriage. Michael fled to his dilapidated ancestral castle for the first time since inheriting his title. There he heard a girl singing and fell in love. She was Bettina, daughter of an eccentric Major, a genius with gardens plants and herbs. Determined to put the castle gardens in good order, Michael hired the Major and found himself becoming more and more enchanted with Bettina.

The Marquis of Kexley is just falling asleep beside the beautiful Isobel Heywood, when in a soft voice she suggests that they should be married. Only by pretending to be asleep does he escape answering her and then he realises that because she is a widow, she is extremely dangerous in that she is free for him to marry her. In his other affaires-de-coeur, the women were already married, so he was safe, and he avoided debutantes with ambitious mothers like the plague. Because Isobel is so possessive he thinks it best to leave London at once.

She was fleeing from an unwelcome marriage and so was he. When Selina sought shelter with the Marquis of Castleton, she never dreamed that it would lead to them being chased across Europe in a powerful yacht. Before long she was embroiled in a rollicking adventure. Dressed as a man to avoid detection, Selina fell into one scrape after another, yet always knowing that the Marquis would rescue her. But she was despairingly sure that he saw her only as a child and she was beginning to long for more.

Hugo, Earl of Ruven, is sailing home after ten years in India, where he served with his regiment. His grandfather, the old Earl, has died and Hugo has inherited the title and estate of Castle Ruven. He has also inherited his late brother's fiancee, Felice de Lisle. No one who sees the handsome man standing at the rail with his face turned toward the approaching coast suspects the truth. During one of the first battles of the Indian Mutiny, Hugo was severely injured. The new Earl of Ruven is returning home blind.

The handsome Viscount Trent finally makes up his mind to accede to the pleadings of his family and get married. He is twenty-seven and for a long time they have been begging him to take a wife and produce an heir to his illustrious title, his famous stately home and his vast estate. On the whole he finds debutantes extremely boring and has enjoyed a number of affaires-de-coeur with older married women. However there is one girl, Marigold Marlow, he considers outstanding and she is the acknowledged great beauty of the Season.

Can money buy you happiness? Impoverished Lady Viola and her twin brother David Northcombe find that their fortunes change dramatically when their entrepreneurial father dies unexpectedly, leaving them a vast fortune that will change their lives forever. Returning home to England, still reeling from their dramatic change in circumstances, fate seems to have smiled on them when the handsome, but impoverished, Duke of Glentorran dramatically rescues them from the perils of the sea off the coast of Scotland. Barbara Cartland was the world's most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime.

Lord Milton should have been a happy man, with an ancient title and a magnificent estate. But he was deep in debt and haunted by memories of the Crimea, where he had once been a soldier and taken part of the Charge of the Light Brigade. To take his mind off the past, he eagerly accepted the suggestion of a friend to become the manager of a hotel in Brighton, called the Paradise Hotel. He was seeking new discoveries, but he could not have guessed how startling his discoveries were going to be.

After the death of her great-uncle, orphan Lady Rosanna Donnington was overwhelmed to learn he had left her his vast fortune. It was then her life changed and she became the target of unscrupulous fortune hunters. But she was determined to marry only for love. When the loutish Sir Walter Fenwick insisted she marry him, Rosanna decided enough was enough. She fled London and journeyed to Donnington Hall, her new country estate.