Elizabeth Chater Regency Romance Collection #1

A SEASON FOR THE HEARTMiss Melpomene Rand’s only refuge from a life of monotony and cruelty is the extensive library left to her by her grandfather. The fantastic notions and romantic heroes in those books are the only things that distract her from the abuse of her adopted family. But then a mysterious stranger, the Earl of Austell, finds they have a mutual malady of boredom, and he endeavors to rescue them both.THE DUKE’S DILEMMAAfter losing their parents in an accident, older sister Leslie Endale runs off with her two younger sisters and her brother Daryl, the nine-year-old heir to the Endale estate. She’s trying to rescue her siblings from their wicked cousin, March Wardell, who wants to do away with the young heir and capture the earldom for himself. Leslie leads the young orphans to the ruined mansion of the Duke of Kenelm, Drogo Trevelyan, who abandoned the estate after his father died. When Drogo discovers the Endale children in his home seeking refuge until they can reach their Great-aunt in London, the duke becomes frustratingly entangled with the children’s plight, and with Lady Leslie. THE RANDOM GENTLEMANBelinda is arranged to marry the Duke of Romsdale, but rather than acquiesce to tradition, she flees to Devon. She soon discovers that the duke is in pursuit of her, and, disguised as a gypsy, endeavors to win what he believes is his birthright: her heart.THE MARRIAGE MARTAthena always has her nose in a book despite her grandmother insisting she find a husband. Her grandmother comes up with a plan: take her to London, transform her from an ugly duckling into a swan, and marry her off to the first bachelor too dumb to recognize her intelligence. Her plan backfires when Athena meets the duke, and a social blunder turns them into instant enemies. As her grandmother had feared, her Bluestocking smarts thoroughly threatened the duke, and his campaign to slander her in polite society may mean she’ll never be married.