Elizabeth Royle's sisters have made excellent marriages in
spite of the circumstances of their birth. Rumors abound in
society that they are Prinny's unacknowledged illegitimate
daughters. Elizabeth ignores the gossip and concentrates on
her prophetic dreams. She envisions a handsome prince
coming to marry her before the summer is gone. Her sisters
try to discourage her unrealistic fantasy until Elizabeth
sees her dream prince at a jewelers. Discovering that he's
buying a tiara for his future wife, Princess Charlotte,
does not discourage Elizabeth. Her heart tells her this is
the man she will marry.
Sumner, Lord Whitevale, impersonates his cousin Prince
Leopold to confuse the assassins who stalk the prince.
Leopold and Sumner are as close as brothers, and Sumner
would sacrifice his life for Leopold. The masquerade has
never bothered Sumner until he meets the woman of his
dreams. Unable to tell her of the ruse, Sumner courts
Elizabeth, begging her to believe in him regardless of his
impending marriage to Princess Charlotte.
Elizabeth's head tells her the prince will marry the
princess out of duty, but her heart tells her fate will
surely intervene. After two assassination attempts while in
Elizabeth's company, Sumner tries to keep her at arm's
length with varying success. He must stay alive until the
prince is safe and then he can confess the deception.
Ms. Caskie concludes her Royle sister trilogy with a
romantic fairy tale of Elizabeth, who follows her dreams
and rejects the naysayers. Included are interesting tidbits
of history, such as a peer who uses the beheaded King
Charles I's severed vertebrae as a saltcellar to shock his
guest. It once again proves fact can be stranger and more
absurd than fiction.
And that is
exactly what Elizabeth Royle intends to do. After all, if
you can't be acknowledged as the daughter of a prince, the
least you can do is marry one.
When Elizabeth,
youngest of the notorious Royle sisters, comes face-to-
face with her future husband, a man she's seen only in her
dreams, she nearly swoons—especially when she discovers he
is a prince. But her ecstasy is short-lived as she quickly
learns that the man she longs for is betrothed to someone
else—a princess, no less. A lesser woman would give up,
but Elizabeth is a Royle, after all.
Refusing to
surrender her dreams of a royal wedding, Elizabeth takes
the position of lady-in-waiting to the fiancée, determined
to get close to her perfect match. But the lover she
desires is not who he seems . . . and only once she
discovers the true man behind the crown will she find the
perfect love she's been longing for all her life.
