Royal's Bride

Set in 1854 England, this steamy trilogy opener from bestseller Martin (_Heart of Courage_) is an enjoyable mixture of tension and romance. Royal Dewar, the dashing duke of Bransford, promised his dying father that he would marry for money and restore the family fortune, and he dutifully proposes to wealthy Jocelyn Caulfield. His heart, however, belongs to Jocelyn's penniless but beautiful cousin, Lily Moran. Fiercely independent Lily tells Royal of her criminal past, but instead of spurning her, he asks her help with a scheme to recover the money his father lost to a swindler. As Lily and Royal struggle to resist their passion, haughty Jocelyn finds unexpected love with a man below her station. Though the conflict ties up too neatly and plot holes diminish the suspense, the romance smolders enough to make the next books worth waiting for. (Sept.)
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Though he is a tilted nobleman, Royal Dewar is singularly unlucky…forced to choose between his soul mate and his salvation.

After years abroad, Royal has returned to Bransford Castle to find his father dying and the family treasury nearly empty. Then the old duke wrests a final promise from his guilt-ridden son: that Royal will marry heiress Jocelyn Caulfield and restore the estate to its former glory. However, it is not his fiancée who quickens Royal's pulse, but rather her beautiful cousin Lily Moran.

Penniless Lily knows that nothing can come of their undeniable attraction—but there is a way she can help Royal. Enlisting some questionable characters from her past, Lily concocts an elaborate ruse to recover some of the Bransford fortune from a notorious confidence artist. As the dangerous scheme unfolds, Lily and Royal are thrown together in pursuit of the very thing—money—that keeps them apart….