Showing results by narrator "Anthony Wren" in All Categories

The beautiful Lady Elva Chartham had returned to her family home in the country from her Season as a debutante as she had become disenchanted by the endless balls and empty-headed young suitors. She much preferred to be with her horses. Her father was away fishing and her beloved Aunt Violet came to coax her into returning to London to finish her Season. Elva was persuaded by Aunt Violet and in her London house, she overheard a conversation between her aunt and her cousin, the Duke of Sparkbrook, that would dramatically change her life.

There is nothing for it - we will have to marry for money! The Strathcarrons have lived in splendour in Lednock Castle in Scotland for many generations, but the family fall on hard times when their fortunes become depleted. An American guest, Larry Harwood, comes to stay and persuades the Earl of Strathcarron to travel to New York with him to make his fortune, leaving his wife, his son, Ewen and daughter, Moira, to the mercies of fate. Six months later the Earl returns a broken man, having lost the entire estate to the American's creditors.

Lady Novella Crownley has been teaching at a girl's school far from her ancestral home, Crownley Hall, and one day her mother asks her to return. She leaves at once only to find that so much has changed since her last visit home. Her beloved father, the Earl of Crownley, had died some years earlier, leaving her mother lonely and unable to cope on her own. Unknown to Novella her mother had remarried and the first time she met her new stepfather, Lord Buckton, she did like him at all.

Carina was alone in the world and unsure of what the future held for her. Then a troupe of musicians, called "Bertie's Beauties", had an accident outside her gates and she found herself swept up in their fate as she took over from their injured pianist. Now one of the troupe, she went to perform at the Duke of Westbury's castle, never suspecting that the Duke would turn out to be the young man she had met for a few dramatic moments many years before. To hide her identity she allowed him to see her only when she was masked.

Martina knew that Sir Hugh Faversham adored her. She was uncertain how she felt about him, but she knew she could always turn to him for help. So when her friend, Harriet, begged her for help to avoid a forced marriage, Martina went straight to Sir Hugh with her plan. She proposed that the two of them should "marry" with Harriet taking her place at the altar at the last minute. Afterwards nobody could be sure who was married to whom and they would all escape on Sir Hugh's yacht and sort everything out later.

Vanda Sudbury and Robert, the Earl of Cunningham, had been friends from childhood. They knew all each other's faults and weaknesses and squabbled like brother and sister. So when her father tried to force a marriage between them, they were equally horrified. Fond though he was of Vanda, Robert was sure he could never love such a forceful, strong-minded female. She was equally dismissive of him as a husband.

The Marquis of Wynstanton had become involved with one of the beauties of London Society - Locadi, Lady Marshall and when her husband died unexpectedly, the Marquis set out on a long journey to India and Nepal, as he wished to avoid any gossip arising about their liaison. After his return, he resumed the affair, staying on in London for some time when he should have gone straight to Wyn Castle and his country estate. Then he began to suspect that Locadi was using black magic to entice him to her and to induce him to propose marriage.

Lady Tamina Braithwaite is excited and happy to be secretly engaged to the handsome politician Edmund Newson. However, she is devastated when she discovers he is already betrothed to another girl. Determined to flee the country to heal her broken heart, she takes a job with Ivan, the Earl of Daventry, who is about to travel abroad and needs a secretary to help him with a book he is writing. Pretending to be plain Miss Waites, Tamina is unaware that the Earl has also recently been betrayed by a close friend.

Returning from finishing school in France, Louisa Hatton was full of enthusiasm for the life ahead. She was convinced it would be exciting and romantic. But her parents had already planned a very suitable marriage for her to Lord Westbridge, their new neighbour. He was a cold, hard man and he wanted Louisa despite her protests. Her parents would not support her. Her father owed Lord Westbridge money.

Eugenia Dovedale's father had been High Steward to the Marquis of Buckbury and after her father's unexpected death, Eugenia had to leave "Paragon" the family's beautiful and much loved cottage on the estate. She and her mother now lived uncomfortably with her Great-Aunt Cloris in London as they could not afford anywhere else. Mrs Dovedale maintained strong hopes of her daughter making a good marriage and improving their position.

Michael, the Earl of Danesbury was being hounded to marry Lady Alice Randall, a woman he did not love. Even the Prince of Wales was determined to force him into marriage. Michael fled to his dilapidated ancestral castle for the first time since inheriting his title. There he heard a girl singing and fell in love. She was Bettina, daughter of an eccentric Major, a genius with gardens plants and herbs. Determined to put the castle gardens in good order, Michael hired the Major and found himself becoming more and more enchanted with Bettina.

Lord Milton should have been a happy man, with an ancient title and a magnificent estate. But he was deep in debt and haunted by memories of the Crimea, where he had once been a soldier and taken part of the Charge of the Light Brigade. To take his mind off the past, he eagerly accepted the suggestion of a friend to become the manager of a hotel in Brighton, called the Paradise Hotel. He was seeking new discoveries, but he could not have guessed how startling his discoveries were going to be.

"How could you, Mama? Papa has not even been dead a year!" When the beautiful Lucia Mountford's mother remarries less than a year after her father's death on the Titanic, she is shocked when the family's fortunes suddenly go into rapid decline and her mother becomes ill. Deeply in debt, her stepfather borrows a considerable sum of money from the handsome but roguish Lord Winterton.

On the eve of his 65th birthday, Sir Nigel Ingram, Surgeon Vice Admiral, RN, has a massive heart attack and dies at his home in Salisbury, Wilts. His 35-year-old partner, Callum Ryan, is with him. After the funeral Callum has to arrange for a thanksgiving service at Salisbury Cathedral followed by a reception at The Salisbury Guildhall for nearly 500 people, such is the legacy of Sir Nigel’s remarkable naval career. Callum Ryan is now left with a void in his life to fill and, although an only child from Liverpool, feels lost with a touch of the "navy blues".

Francis, the Marquis of Wimborton needed an heiress. Lexia had money and her father wanted her to marry a Lord. But she was a spirited girl, raised in America and she wanted to choose her own husband. The Marquis was too proud to court her, especially as he believed her heart was given to Wayne Freeman, an American that her father had brought her to England to avoid. They unexpectedly became the best of friends, escaping together from family pressures and boarding a cruise liner in search of their dreams.

After Della had been orphaned she came to live in the country with her uncle, Lord Lainden, who rented a delightful house on the estate of his great friend the Duke of Marchwood. She was blissfully happy with her uncle and rode the Duke's horses every day. But a cloud was gathering on the horizon in the form of Jason, the Duke's only son and heir. Jason had returned to his ancestral home having led a very dissolute life in Paris and his father was desperate for him to settle down, make a good marriage and continue the Ducal line.

When the Duke of Barningforde was told by his second son, Alastair, that he had married an actress in Paris without his approval, he exiled Alastair from England with only a very small allowance. His wife, Grace, actually came from a good Scottish family and was not an actress, but had a very fine soprano voice and sang with a famous French orchestra. But the Duke would not listen and Alastair and Grace never again set foot in their homeland.