The daughter of a humble country parson, Annabelle Quennell gets the chance to have a London Season—but all does not go as well as planned. When her godmother demands Annabelle marry the ill-mannered Captain MacDonald, she rebels—and loses her heart to the elegant but unscrupulous Lord Varleigh.
It’s a maiden’s miracle! Annabelle Quennell, daughter of a poor country parson, gets a chance at a London Season to snare a wealthy husband. But before she sets off, Mad Meg the Gypsy predicts trouble ahead! And it is nothing but woe that Annabelle finds. Godmother Lady Emmeline sponsors Annabelle’s spree-and demands she wed the oafish Capt. MacDonald. But things get worse when Annabelle fears she is losing her heart to Lord Varleigh - elegant, well-pursed, but who is taken by another mistress! What a pickle Annabelle had gotten into, and it only gets more sour by the moment! Blessed with beauty, Mrs. Manners had never bothered with the more practical (and to her, lesser) skills of grammar and spelling. So it is, in order to snag a second husband, namely the handsome Duke of Denbigh, she needed the help of Miss Verity Bascombe. Surely the modest chit would be honored to help write her love letters. Poor Verity! Her old school-girl friend remained as selfish as ever. But the lovely girl’s gilded pen soon had the duke most intrigued by the poetic Mrs. Manners! But alas, what began as a seemingly minor deception became a larger problem and Verity soon found herself enamored of the handsome duke, wanting him all for herself!
M. C. Beaton
M. C. Beaton is the pen name of bestselling novelist Marion Chesney. She was a prolific writer of historical romances and small village mysteries. Born in Scotland, the author began her writing career as a fiction buyer for a Glasgow bookstore and worked as a theater critic, newspaper reporter, and editor. The author wrote under various names, most notably as M. C. Beaton for her Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin series. She also wrote under the names Sarah Chester, Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Marion Gibbons, Jennie Tremaine, and Charlotte Ward. M.C. BEATON® is a registered trademark of M.C. Beaton Limited
