The Kinder Heart
Rothman, Marcy Elias
A Curious Courtship

Lady Barbara Worth had good reason to mistrust men. Her own brother, Marlow, left her impoverished while he dissipated their family fortune gambling, wenching, and worse. Her former suitors had abandoned her to solitude, and she was resigned to languishing on the shelf, when Captain Tarn Maitland thrust himself into her tranquil life.

Lady Barbara knew very well she should disbelieve Maitland above all others of his perfidious sex. What malevolent motive led this wealthy, handsome, irresistible man, who openly flaunted his beautiful mistress while keeping his past a dark secret, to seek Lady Barbara as his wife? And a question even harder to answer for the besieged Lady Barbara: how could she say no to the commanding captain when her heart and soul fairly cried to say yes?...