Branches of Love

After years of escaping etiquette lessons in favor of the stables, Christine Devon's grand debut in London is only weeks away, though her deportment lacks the sophisticated polish she needs to achieve her goals of a lofty marriage. Desperate to take her place in society, she needs someone to instruct her in proper behavior. Thomas Gilbert, newly returned from Italy, is ready to begin his dream of founding a horse farm. But during his time away, the estate's finances have dwindled to almost nothing. A chance meeting between them may solve both their problems.

Banished from home by her angry father, Julia Devon travels to Bath to fulfill her role as family spinster by assisting her cousin, Lady Macon, in caring for her dying husband. Nathaniel Hastings's life runs in a predictable pattern, until a routine visit to one of his ailing patients brings him face to face with Julia, the woman who broke his heart five years before in London. Julia and Nathaniel find themselves unlikely allies as they work together to tend to the family's needs, fend off Lady Macon's scheming brother-in-law, and avoid confronting the pain of their shared past.

He vows to never risk his heart again. She hides her love to avoid rejection. A marriage of convenience is not what either of them wished for. Overlooked by society and underappreciated in her family, Ellen Bringhurst has resigned herself to spinsterhood and a life of reading. Until her match-making friends contrive to reintroduce Ellen to the man she has secretly loved since their shared childhood. As the younger son to an earl, Marcus Calvert must wed in order to inherit his estate. Still nursing a broken heart, he prefers a practical approach to matrimony rather than romantic love.

Lady Virginia Macon, the recently widowed baroness of Heatherton, has an impossible decision to make. Her late husband's unscrupulous brother demands guardianship of her sons. The courts are on his side, unless she marries someone willing to stand in her late husband's place. Locking her heart away and devoting herself to her children is the only way Virginia can countenance such a decision. Wearied by the world, Lucas Calvert, wealthy earl of Annesbury, is tired of being alone. When he learns of Virginia's plight, he knows he can save her and her sons.