The heart wants what it wants… Diantha Halstow is unlike any other woman in Regency society. With her vast wealth, her demure face and her beautiful figure, she should be a very eligible young lady. But there is one problem – Diantha doesn’t believe in love, and she ensures that any love-struck bachelor knows it. Suitors may try their luck, but Diantha is not one to hold her tongue – something which makes her aunt, Lady Greenbourne, despair of her and her unladylike talk. Meanwhile, Rexford Lytham has inherited his uncle’s title of Earl of Chartridge and with it, the old man’s gargantuan debts. It seems that the only way to save Chartridge Abbey and its surrounding tenants is for Rex to marry a wealthy Lady. But Rex is as wary of love as Diantha is. His friends and brother, Major George Lytham, all conspire to match him with Diantha, while Lady Greenbourne believes that a sensible young man like Rex is perfect for the unromantic Diantha. Yet the two young singletons soon guessed their relations’ plot and conspired to foil it. However, Diantha is impressed by Rex’s honesty, and in turn, he is impressed by her reasoning. So they agree to marry in a union of convenience – Rex for her fortune and Diantha for his title and her freedom. But it seems Rex is hiding a dark secret, and Diantha is determined to find out what it is. While they set about fixing Rex’s estate and debts, and helping their friends and relations along the way, Diantha tries her best to get the truth out of Rex. Diantha knows it shouldn’t worry her – after all, neither of them are so unreasonable to fall in love with one another – surely? Or are they not as immune to love as either of them thought? As war looms once more over Europe, perhaps reason no longer matters… Lucy Gordon began working life on a British women's magazine, where she interviewed famous men like Sir Roger Moore, Sir Alec Guinness, Warren Beatty, Richard Chamberlain and Charlton Heston. But since 1984, she has been publishing her romance novels – twice winning the Romance Writers of America RITA Award for the Best Traditional Romance. She is now married to a Venetian artist and together, they have lived in different parts of Italy, though currently reside in her native England.
Author
Christine Sparks was born in England, UK. She wanted to be a writer all her life, and began by working on a British women's magazine. As a features writer, she gained a wide variety of experience. She interviewed some of the world's most attractive and interesting men, including Warren Beatty, Richard Chamberlain, Charlton Heston, Sir Roger Moore, Sir Alec Guiness. Single life was so enjoyable that she put marriage, and even romance, on the back burner, while she went about the world having a great time. Then, while on vacation in Venice, she met a tall, dark handsome Venetian artist, who changed all her ideas in a moment, and proposed on the second day. Three months later they were married. Her friends said a whirlwind romance would never last, but they celebrated their 25 anniversary, they are still married, still happy and in love. After 13 years on the magazine Christine decided that it was now or never if she was ever going to write that novel. So she wrote Legacy of Fire which became a Silhouette Special Edition, followed by another, Enchantment in Venice. Then she did something crazy gave up her job. Since then she has concentrated entirely on writing romances for Mills & Boon, Harlequin and Silhouette and has written over 75 books. Her settings have been European and her heroes mainly English or Italian. Christine now claims to be an expert on one particular subject. Italian men are the most romantic in the world. They are also the best cooks. A few years ago she and her husband returned to Venice and lived there for a couple of years. This proved the perfect base for exploring the rest of Italy, and she has given many of her books Italian settings: Venice (of course), Rome, Florence, Milan, Sicily, Tuscany. She has also used the Rhine in Germany for Song of the Lorelei, for which she won her first RITA Award, in 1991. Her second RITA came in 1998, with His Brother's Child, set in Rome. Eventually Christine Fiorotto and her husband returned to England, where they now live. She write and he paints, they have no children, but have a cat and a dog.
