With little to live on but her romantic daydreams - which frequently starred the dashing Marquess of Fleetwater - Jean Lindsay lived a rather dismal life with her nasty, drunken uncle. Jean was always the object of ridicule, that is, until news of her unexpected inheritance spread. Suddenly her worn dresses became ''quaint'' and her forthright manner turned magically to ''charming,'' but to Jean's horror, someone wanted her dead! With the marquess nearby to save her pretty neck, Jean felt quite safe . . . and quite smitten. As for her hero . . . how had an unsophisticated child from a Scottish manse turned his head and his heart askew?

She must have been mad. She was on her way to marry a man she had never set eyes on! It was true. The lovely young widow, Lady Charteris (Delphine to her friends), had agreed to abide by her parents' wishes and marry the Comte Saint Pierre. Delphine's parents had long since died in the French terror, but when she learned of their wishes for her, she believed it her duty to respect their wishes. Delphine would marry, but it would be a marriage in name only. But when Delphine saw Jules Saint Pierre, she got the shock of her life. He was the same man she had seen juggling in the streets at a local fair. What was he doing as the Comte Saint Pierre? Was he posing? Had she made some terrible mistake?

Tongues were set wagging when Elizabeth Markham's glamorous young parents were killed, leaving their only child to the unspeakable class of poor relation. Forced to live with her cruel, miserly uncle Julius, Elizabeth was forbidden to participate in the season's festivities. Elizabeth realized that marriage was her only escape, and she decided on a daring plan: she would trick her way into the Duke of Dunster's exclusive house party and snare one of the eligible bachelors sure to be happy to dance with her. Elizabeth's plan succeeded swimmingly, as she flirted with everyone with the exception of the arrogant Lord Charles Lufford, who was considered by those in the know to be quite a catch. She ignored Charles thoroughly until her uncle discovered her deception and it was, of all people, Charles who saved her - by announcing their engagement! But Elizabeth's troubles were far from over. In her absence she had come into an inheritance that her uncle, along with another sinister party, would rather see her dead than receive.

When the Earl of Devenham returns after ten years to marry Mary Anstey, Mary's younger sister, Emily, comes up with a bizarre scheme to prevent the unhappy wedding

MUST ONE SISTER SUFFER IN POVERTY WHILE THE OTHERS LIVE IN THE LAP OF LUXURY? Must one indeed, thought Harriet Clifton. Inviting herself to her widowed sister Cordelia's posh London townhouse for the Season was surely the only way to meet a mate—and escape draughty old Pringle House forever. The vain Cordelia was meanwhile casting her net for the notorious Marquess of Arden, a man who preferred paying a mistress to wedding a wife. Who would have believed that the Marquess would succumb to Harriet's countrified charms? or that Cordelia would stoop quite so low to try to conquer him at her sister's expense?

The Misses Penelope Yarwood, Euphemia Perkins, and Letitia Helmsdale all smugly informed her that the Marquess of Cleveden was at once the most eligible and the most elusive catch in the London marriage mart. Society's most dazzling beauties had failed to win him over yet, and a newcomer like Fiona didn't stand a ghost of a chance of having him look at her twice. That was all that fiery-tempered Fiona needed to hear, and she bet - far more wealth than she possessed - that she would snare the maddeningly elusive marquess before the season's end. Now Fiona faced the risk of losing a wager she could not repay - and more, the even greater danger of losing her heart. ABOUT THE SERIES Lovers are joined by force - by family pressure, by societal pressure, and cultural mores, but Chesney's heroes and heroines never seem to want to give up on their search for the real thing. They are willing to go through almost anything in their hunt to find love - they'll jump through hoops to avoid the tricks of outsiders who thrust them together for fortune (that doesn't exist), they'll dance their way into the hearts of the most eligible bachelors using all of their charms, and if it takes even lessons in love (the title of one of these page turners) then so be it. The Love Series is all about love in its various forms, from lukewarm to searing hot and we're along for the ride. ABOUT THE AUTHOR From 1977 to the early 1990s, Marion Chesney wrote over one hundred romance novels. Now writing as M. C. Beaton, she is the bestselling award-winning author of two internationally successful mystery series - HAMISH MACBETH and AGATHA RAISIN. She lives in the United Kingdom.

Lady Lucinda Esmond's swine of a father was forever fleecing young bucks in London's gaming halls - until he met Captain Mark Chamfrey who, having been once cheated, would not be made a fool of again and promptly kidnapped ten-year-old Lucinda for ransom! But, when Chamfrey thought better of it and returned the girl, Esmond nonetheless exacted his own price: Chamfrey could redeem himself and save his skin by marrying his little victim nine years hence, just time enough for Chamfrey to inherit a title and fortune. Lucinda's father could not have foreseen what a beauty Lucinda would become, nor that Chamfrey, a newly made Marquess, would actually welcome the fulfillment of what was supposed to be his punishment! ABOUT THE SERIES Lovers are joined by force - by family pressure, by societal pressure, and cultural mores, but Chesney's heros and heroines never seem to want to give up on their search for the real thing. They are willing to go through almost anything in their hunt to find love - they'll jump through hoops to avoid the tricks of outsiders who thrust them together for fortune (that doesn't exist), they'll dance their way into the hearts of the most eligible bachelors using all of their charms, and if it takes even lessons in love (the title of one of these page turners) then so be it. The Love Series is all about love in its various forms, from lukewarm to searing hot and we're along for the ride. ABOUT THE AUTHOR From 1977 to the early 1990s, Marion Chesney wrote over one hundred romance novels. Now writing as M. C. Beaton, she is the bestselling award-winning author of two internationally successful mystery series - HAMISH MACBETH and AGATHA RAISIN. She lives in the United Kingdom.

Harry, to Isabella Chadbury's relief, agrees their marriage will be in name only. Neither knows the other's disguise is contrived in vain to thwart impending nuptials. Isabella is no selfish ice princess, nor Harry a mincing dandy, rather a prime Corinthian. A search for buried treasure, vengeful thwarted suitor, and unexpected passion bring the hearts together.

Lord Percy Hunterdon despaired: he had inherited a Gothic horror of an estate along with a pair of fifteen-year-old brats to marry off. It was no secret to him that finding husbands for these two vile young ladies would require the utmost expertise: the care of a governess of superior caliber. When Jean Morrison spied Lord Hunterdon's advertisement, dreams of an unmarried viscount and a magnificent castle danced in her head. She imagined him as Byronic and brooding, pacing the battlements with a black cloak wrapped around his manly shoulders. And naturally, he would fall madly in love with her. Her dreams immediately burst apart at the seams when she saw the dank, dirty Trelawney Castle and encountered for the first time the evil dispositions of her new charges. Still, despite all of this, the golden hair and dancing eyes of her employer conjured up fantasies that were most unseemly for a governess of distinction.

Fanny and her bridegroom had been tricked! Both sets of impoverished parents had decided to recoup their losses by marrying their offspring to that of a rich neighbor. The truth was, both were penniless. Charles wasn't the dark rogue of Fanny's girlish fantasies, but he was chivalrously determined that she should meet someone more appropriate than he. And Fanny wanted Charles to find a woman of means. But as each set out to find a partner for the other, they both began to suspect that true love might have nothing to do with riches.