Showing results by narrator "Madeleine Brolly" in All Categories

Matthew Bixby despises social politics. Good manners and small talk weren’t prized in the slums, and despite having freed himself and his family of their poverty, Matthew never saw a need for such frivolous things. Until now. A war between the masters and workers is brewing, and if Matthew isn’t careful, it will destroy everything he’s built. But with so much of the battle being waged in ballrooms and parlors, he needs someone who can help him navigate society without adding to his burdens—a wife who won’t expect anything more than a partnership.

Sadie Vaughn has long admired Howard Gibson, but after his fiancée jilts him at the altar, she refuses to be his consolation prize. But his mother has other ideas. Convinced that Sadie is the perfect wife for her son, she’s determined to push them together by any means necessary—whether they like it or not. Howard may be a fool, but Walter Reed is not. Sadie is and always will be his first choice, but his debilitating shyness makes him seem more dour grump than lovesick beau, dooming their courtship before it even starts. And his mother is done waiting.

When Silas Byrnes married, he wasn’t expecting a happy ending for him and his wife. Theirs was a union of duty and not love, but fourteen years of marriage had been a misery for them both. Luckily the navy rarely allowed him time ashore. Now widowed, Silas has no choice but to return to a house that doesn’t feel like home and reclaim his children, who are determined to hate him as their mother did.

He thinks she's a maid. She thinks he's a penniless poet. ‘Tis the season for a misunderstanding! Julian Knight cannot believe his luck. Meeting his literary hero is a dream come true, but spending a month in the fellow’s home is bliss. A few weeks away from his life of ledgers and finances to bask in their shared love of poetry and hone his skill at the feet of a master. It couldn’t be more perfect…Until he mistakes their eldest daughter for the maid. Now, the lady is determined to make the holidays uncomfortable for him. There must be a way to get back into her good graces!