Almost A Bride
(Jane Feather)
A veteran gambler presses his luck once too often when he proposes a marriage of convenience to a spinster determined to marry for love.
Jack Fortescu, Duke of St. Jules, has won and lost more money than most men see in a life time. He knows that Lady Luck favors the one who is most determined to win and Jack is most determined to win; especially when he plays against Frederic Lacey, Earl of Dunston. The Duke has a score to settle with the Earl. According to St. Jules, Dunston owes a debt that can never be repaid. However, the title of Earl, the Lacey fortune, estates and all contents (animate and inanimate) will have to suffice. Jack goads the Earl into betting all his worldly goods (in writing) on the outcome of a card game. When the Duke wins, the Earl kills himself.
Arabella Lacey has three consuming passions, her idealism, her independence and her orchids. She decided long ago that she would only marry her soul mate. After her parents died, she moved in with her half brother. They lead separate lives. Arabella takes care of estate business while her brother gambles, drinks and flouts almost all rules of convention and propriety. Although she knew her half brother was destined for a bad end, she didn?t realize he was going to ruin her as well. Decadent as he was, even Frederic Lacey didn?t think of his half sister as ?estate content? but the wager did specify animate and inanimate.
One day, a Duke arrives and claims that Frederic had bet everything and lost to him. But instead of throwing her out on the street, her brother?s creditor offers to marry her. She doesn?t take him seriously, but Lord Fortescu seems determined. The new Earl of Dunston?s certainty is more than a little annoying. When Arabella rejects him, Jack patronizingly tells her to reconsider her situation. Only a mad woman would refuse his offer.Arabella is one mad woman.
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