A Lady for All Seasons

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single noblewoman who has lost her fortune (no thanks to her father’s terrible business dealings) must be in need (not want) of a husband. It’s the end of the 1820 London season, King George III is dead, and there are no suitable suitors in sight. Beautiful, cunning, formerly wealthy Verbena Montrose must devise a new plan to secure a position for herself and save her odious family from abject poverty. Fortunately, what she lacks in a dowry, she makes up for in the currency of gossip. When she hears an alarming rumor about her very dear, very queer friend Etienne that could put him at risk of ruin (or worse), she comes to his aid with a proposal—for a marriage of convenience, that is. But when Verbena discovers that a mysterious poet by the name of Flora Witcombe has been gaining popularity and publishing poems that hint she is onto their scheme, Verbena has no choice but to pretend to be a poet herself to confront her in a local salon. And—unexpectedly—be charmed by her. Flora agrees to rectify the issue she’s caused, not least of all because she’s terrified by and smitten with Verbena in equal measure. After all, she holds a secret of her she is also William Forsyth, a struggling fiction writer and fifth son of a minor noble family. And if circumstances don’t allow Flora to woo Verbena, perhaps William will. Faced with two suitors and a fiancé, Verbena, who has always had to know everything about everyone to survive in society, may need to learn more about herself to discover whether true happiness actually lies outside of society’s constraints.