Showing results by author "Barbara Cartland" in All Categories

Vanda Sudbury and Robert, the Earl of Cunningham, had been friends from childhood. They knew all each other's faults and weaknesses and squabbled like brother and sister. So when her father tried to force a marriage between them, they were equally horrified. Fond though he was of Vanda, Robert was sure he could never love such a forceful, strong-minded female. She was equally dismissive of him as a husband.

Returning home from France, Robina Melville finds surprises awaiting her - not all of them pleasant. Almost immediately, it becomes clear that the familiar surroundings of Trentham House are not the sanctuary that she hoped for, and she soon feels unwanted and alone. A chance encounter with a childhood friend, the handsome new Earl of Hampton, provides Robina with employment as his secretary and a temporary escape from her stepmother's clutches.

Simona Bell, the lovely daughter of Lord Belgrave, has been invited by her friend, Karoline von Honentaal to stay with her family in Berlin. Simona finds that Karoline's father, the Baron, owns an amazing collection of art which interests her greatly. Alone for a moment, she finds her way into the Baron's private Sanctuary, where she admires an unusual Sedan Chair. Hearing voices and frightened she might be discovered, she slips into the Sedan Chair and closes the door.

Dorina's father had been an industrialist, an inventor and a genius who trained her to be his heir, sending her abroad to learn many languages. While she was in France she learned that he had died and she must now take over his business. But she does not feel ready, especially as she knows he has been trying to design a horseless carriage. For a while she keeps his death a secret, to give herself time to learn, and goes to work for his great rival, the Earl of Kennington.

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.

Shana, the beautiful daughter of Lord Hallam has not yet been a debutante as she has been helping her father write his autobiography. Although retired from the Foreign Office, Lord Hallam agrees to go abroad leaving his daughter alone in the country. Before he leaves, he asks Shana to run an errand to the landlord of the village inn known as the Rose and Crown, where she finds there is a crisis in the kitchen and offers to cook luncheon for the Marquis of Kilbrooke and his shooting party.

Narina Kenwin is the only daughter of the Bishop of St. Albans and since her mother's death she has been living with her father. She is very beautiful and is happy, but when riding in the woods she wishes she had someone special with her. Narina receives a letter from her great school friend, Louise, who is married to Prince Rudolf, the Ruler of the small Principality of Alexanderburg in the Balkans. Louise begs Narina to come to stay with her immediately and is sending a Battleship to take her to Alexanderburg.

Valeria Montford is beautiful, proud and romantic. When she meets the reticent Lord Waterford in France, everything goes wrong and she hates him for making her feel humiliated. Then she meets Sir Peter Cousins - devastatingly handsome, he is much more exciting and appears strongly attracted to her. Back in England, Valeria's beloved father tells her that a cad has defrauded him of his fortune and that she is his only chance of escaping penury. The rich Lord Waterford has offered to marry her and free him from his debts.

Lady Elvina, theal and in love. Any day now Captain Andreaw Broadmoor would propose to her. But then she overheard him saying that he did not love her and would only marry her for her money. Elvina fled, travelling to Cumberland, where she had heard that the Duke of Castleforde was looking for a governess for his unruly sister, Violet. Concealing her true identity, she presented herself as plain Mrs. Winters and in Violet, Elvina found a troubled, rebellious young girl who needed her help.

Michael Belmont is heir to an Earldom, but he is also the family black sheep, a charming gambler leading a dissolute life in France. He has quarrelled with his father, who has threatened to disinherit him. When he reads in a newspaper that his father has died, he does not even have enough money for his fare home. But then he meets the beautiful young Lady Verna, seeking a chauffeur to drive her car home to England. Michael volunteers and while they are on the journey he falls under her spell.

When Lord Rupert Brooke and his wife are killed in an accident, their only child, Titania, was forced to live with her uncle, the Duke of Starbrooke, who had Titania is broken-hearted leaving behind her horse which she adores and her Nanny who is the only person who really loves her. When she reaches Velidos, the King, who is the half-brother of Prince Frederick, finds her in tears and does his best to comfort her.

The Earl of Bracken is meeting his good friend Captain Charles Kenwood at his Club in St. James's Street. He has just returned from a visit to Syria where he had been introduced to Sheik Abu Hamid, the owner of the most magnificent Arab horses the Earl has ever seen. They are both keen to buy horses from the Sheik who is reluctant to sell unless his greatest wish can be fulfilled.

Can you fall in love with someone before you meet them? Valona, the eighteen-year-old daughter of the deposed Prince of Piracus believes she can. Beautiful, spiritual and aching for adventure Valona is convinced that the perfect man exists because she has seen him in her dreams; all she has to do is find him. With no royal bride to offer the elderly King, it seems the only way to save Larissa from the threat of the encroaching Russian army is for Valona to take her place.

For years, Celina Storton had been in love with Robin, the Earl of Torrington, but he spent his time in Paris, pursuing beautiful women and the more the merrier. Then his mother's illness forced him to return to England, where she demanded that he marry quickly, as she had not long to live. She had chosen his bride for him - Celina. He was horrified by this threat to his liberty, but since Celina was an old friend and as he loved his mother, he agreed.

Charles Arram, the son of the Marquis of Arramford, their next-door neighbour. Because the Earl is so rich, he is afraid that his daughter, who at eighteen is exceedingly beautiful, will be pursued by fortune-hunters. Malvina is horrified at the idea. Her father is suddenly summoned to Scotland and Malvina decides she will travel with her Nanny to Paris, where she will be able to see Charles Arram without him knowing he is being spied on. During the journey Malvina meets the brother of one of her French school friends and he tells her of the extraordinary parties that are given in Paris by the courtesans.

1820 is a worrying time for His Royal Highness Prince Lászlé as the might of the Prussian Empire moves ever closer to the boarders of his independent principality, Opava. Concerned for the welfare and happiness of his subjects, he reluctantly sends his beautiful daughter, Princess Zoleka, on a secret mission to the neighbouring state of Krnov, which is in crisis. Masquerading as Lady in Waiting to Princess Udele, the heir to the throne, Zoleka is horrified to discover that Krnov is in political turmoil.

Lady Novella Crownley has been teaching at a girl's school far from her ancestral home, Crownley Hall, and one day her mother asks her to return. She leaves at once only to find that so much has changed since her last visit home. Her beloved father, the Earl of Crownley, had died some years earlier, leaving her mother lonely and unable to cope on her own. Unknown to Novella her mother had remarried and the first time she met her new stepfather, Lord Buckton, she did like him at all.

The beautiful Lady Elva Chartham had returned to her family home in the country from her Season as a debutante as she had become disenchanted by the endless balls and empty-headed young suitors. She much preferred to be with her horses. Her father was away fishing and her beloved Aunt Violet came to coax her into returning to London to finish her Season. Elva was persuaded by Aunt Violet and in her London house, she overheard a conversation between her aunt and her cousin, the Duke of Sparkbrook, that would dramatically change her life.

Michael, the handsome Earl of Monkford, returns from fighting in the Napoleonic War to find that his beloved home, Monk Hall, once a Monastery, has become thoroughly dilapidated from lack of money. tAnd his estate has been sadly neglected with broken down farms and barren fields. tHis mother, the aging Countess, and his cousin, the beautiful Linka, who he grew up with, have done their best to keep everything going with much difficulty.

The beautiful Princess Vasila, an orphan, who has been looked after by Baroness von Bergstein in a Grace and Favour house, is astonished when an Equerry arrives to take her to Windsor Castle to see the Queen. She is not told until she arrives that Prince Gadelov of Saralovia, which is a small Balkan State, has appealed to Queen Victoria to give him a Royal British wife so that he can be protected from the grasping Russians. When the Queen tells Vasila that she is to marry Prince Gadelov immediately, she is horrified and very frightened.