Thursday, December 29, 2011

The English Aristocrat's Bride (Harlequin Presents, No. 2465)

  • 2005 - Harlequin Presents - Paperback - 1st Edition
  • The English Aristocrat's Bride
  • Written By Sandra Field
  • The Passion Series - Book #2465
  • New - Collectible
An Unexpected Encounter

For a few moments on a moonlit balcony, Nicole Beaumont was just a beautiful woman catching the eye of the handsome Lord Devlinâ€"but she knew the illusion couldn't last. If the enigmatic aristocrat knew her secret, he'd realize that her disability left her unfit for love. So who could blame her for hiding the truth a little longer?

Devlin had never met a woman like Nicole. Her unique combination of innocence and wisdom left him utterly intrigued. Yet what was she hiding? For a man who did not trust easily, discovering her secret was devastating. Overcoming their pasts and forging a future would take faith, forgiveness and trust. And second chances could lead to new beginn! ings…

By the author of the acclaimed The Rise and Fall of the British Empire comes a “grand tour of the lives and impact of this truly remarkable breed.” (The Washington Times)

Aristocracy means “rule by the best.” For nine hundred years, the British aristocracy has considered itself ideally qualified to rule others, make laws, and guide the fortunes of the nation. Tracing the history of this remarkable supremacy, Aristocrats is a story of civil wars, conquests, intrigue, chicanery, and extremes of both selflessness and greed. 

Lawrence James also illuminates how the aristocracy’s infatuation with classical art has forged English heritage, how its love of sport has shaped its pastimes and values, and how its scandals have entertained the public.

Impeccably researched, balanced, and brilliantly entertaining, Aristocrats is an enthralling history of power, influence, and an extraordinary knack for survival.

You were living it up with Louis XVI and Marie Antoinet! te, and then the tides turned. Now the king and queen have lost their heads and you're stuck in a filthy jail without a morsel of pate to eat. Quelle horreur! Could anything be worse?
The Lennox Sisters--great-granddaughters of a king, daughters of a cabinet minister, and wives of politicians and peers--lived lives of real public significance, but the private texture of their family-centered world mattered to them and they shared their experiences with each other in countless letters. From this hitherto unknown archive, Stella Tillyard has constructed a group biography of privileged eighteenth-century women who, she shows, have much to tell us about our own time.
I must confess that initially I tried to skim this book. But it was far too good, and I ended up spending hours totally engrossed in the lives, loves, and letters of the Lennox sisters--Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah. Author Stella Tillyard gives a second life to these 18th-century aristocrats, whose ext! ended family included some of the most significant and colorful British political figures of the era. She mixes impeccable research, a sharp eye for detail, and a writing style that's both precise and lively to produce a biography of a clan that doubles as a panoramic history of the aristocracy in the 1700s.

Each sister's defining characteristics shine through her letters, portraits, and Tillyard's terrific storytelling. Caroline, the eldest, is deeply pessimistic, intelligent, and moral but fascinated by and attracted to "wickedness" (she eloped with the naughty-but-nice Henry Fox and lived happily ever after). Emily: beautiful, loving, dictatorial, and unbelievably fertile (22 children, 10 of whom survived into adulthood). Louisa was good, gentle, always unwilling to believe ill of anyone, and when she died, was mourned not only by family and friends, but also by the whole of the Irish town in which she lived. And Sarah--flighty, flirtatious Sarah, with whom the you! ng King George III fell blushingly and tongue-tiedly in love. ! Who, aft er disgracing herself and her dull, uninterested husband with the moody younger brother of Lord Gordon (of Gordon riots fame), finally found happiness and respectability, in her late 30s, with an understanding soldier. Unmissable. --Lisa Gee, Amazon.co.uk An Unexpected Encounter

For a few moments on a moonlit balcony, Nicole Beaumont was just a beautiful woman catching the eye of the handsome Lord Devlinâ€"but she knew the illusion couldn't last. If the enigmatic aristocrat knew her secret, he'd realize that her disability left her unfit for love. So who could blame her for hiding the truth a little longer?

Devlin had never met a woman like Nicole. Her unique combination of innocence and wisdom left him utterly intrigued. Yet what was she hiding? For a man who did not trust easily, discovering her secret was devastating. Overcoming their pasts and forging a future would take faith, forgiveness and trust. And second chances could lead to new beginnings…An Unexpected Encounter

For a few moments on a moonlit balcony, Nicole Beaumont was just a beautiful woman catching the eye of the handsome Lord Devlinâ€"but she knew the illusion couldn't last. If the enigmatic aristocrat knew her secret, he'd realize that her disability left her unfit for love. So who could blame her for hiding the truth a little longer?

Devlin had never met a woman like Nicole. Her unique combination of innocence and wisdom left him utterly intrigued. Yet what was she hiding? For a man who did not trust easily, discovering her secret was devastating. Overcoming their pasts and forging a future would take faith, forgiveness and trust. And second chances could lead to new beginnings…

The English aristocrat...

Blue-blooded millionaire Rafe Holden needed a wife, one who would agree to a loveless marriage. And he had a most suitable candidate in mind...

The wrong twin...

But she had an identical twin sister. Karyn ! aroused the kind of desire in Rafe that he'd been hoping to av! oid....< /p>

Or the right bride?

Rafe was no stranger to making ruthless choices. So would he decide to risk more than a marriage in name only, and take Karyn as his arranged bride?


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