Denning-Mainwaring - La série

The town of Granby could hardly be more excited at the news that Ferndale Manor is to be opened again and that its new owner, Mr Mainwaring, is both wealthy, handsome and single. In particular, Miss Cecily Rowe and her parents view the visiting party with their eyes firmly set on matrimony -- for who should deserve to be the wife of such an elegant young man more than pretty sixteen-year-old Cecily? Only one member of the Rowe household does not share their high spirits. Elizabeth Rossiter, born a lady but forced to seek employment as a governess, has tasted the delights of suitors and parties in a former existence in London, and now wishes only to be left alone and unobserved. But events conspire against Elizabeth as local society embarks on frenzied activity once more, bringing her face to face with the one person she wished never to set eyes on again: Robert Denning, Marquess of Hetherington. The man who six years earlier told her he loved her ... and then broke her heart.

Lady Helen Wade is not interested in living the proper life of a proper young lady. She prefers to slip away to her own place in the woods, where she can wear comfortable clothes and let her hair down and go barefoot while she dreams and paints and communes with nature. There she meets the rich and handsome William Mainwaring, newly arrived owner of the property upon which the woods stand. William, nursing a broken heart, is enchanted by the simple country girl whom he knows only as Nell, and returns a number of times in the hope of seeing her again. A brief, passionate affair ensues before guilt sends William abruptly away so that he can avoid further temptation to ruin her. When they meet again, Helen and William are both in London, and he knows her for who she is. How can he persuade her that he is not the heartless cad she believes him to be when he knows he behaved badly? And how can he persuade her that he loves both Nell and Helen—and that somehow he is worthy of her love?" * * * How could she love a man whom she could only despise? How could Lady Helen Wade possibly love a gentleman like William Mainwaring, handsome and wealthy as he might be? How could she love this object of her two older sisters' matrimonial designs? How could she love this cad who was shockingly involved with another man's wife? How could she love this rogue who shamelessly employed his seductive skills on an innocent young country miss he came upon in the woods ... especially when he was so successful in planting Eros's arrows and when his willing victim was Helen herself...?