Victoria Shelby's life took a dramatic change when her
successful banker father committed suicide rather than
confess his colossal financial failures. Victoria's sisters
leave to earn a small income from the respected positions
of companion and governess, while Victoria stays at home
caring for their mother on a limited income. As their small
amount of money evaporates, Victoria turns to her childhood
friend to beg assistance. Always having believed that the
boy next door was the cook's son, Victoria is flabbergasted
to discover he's the future earl.
Wanting to escape his hellish childhood, Lord David Thurlow
wove a fanciful tale to the young girl next door about his
life. When she arrives on his doorstep 10 years later,
David admits his lies but not his reasons. He's spent his
time trying to repair his family's reputation after his
father's scandalous behavior. David's behavior is above
reproach, but two families have rejected his marriage
proposals to their daughters, proving his efforts to
rehabilitate the Thurlow name have not been successful.
David needs respectability and what better way than to
marry an innocent young woman who is also above reproach.
Victoria enters into the marriage wanting to break through
David's façade of coolness and politeness and put joy and
spontaneity into their home. David resists, knowing that
only heartache can come when one loses control over his
emotions.
The first in a new series, THE LORD NEXT DOOR, is a tender
love story of forgiveness and regaining trust. Ms. Callen
bestows upon Victoria a gentleness to tame the battered
Thurlow family.
To rescue her family from financial ruin, lovely Victoria
Shelby has no choice but to marry. Her options for a
bridegroom are limited...until she remembers the shy
servant boy next door. Then she discovers that her
childhood friend is actually Viscount Thurlow--ruthless
businessman, future earl, and a man whose family is
shrouded in scandal.
After two rejected marriage proposals, David Thurlow needs
a wife who will give him an heir, someone who will not only
overlook his past but also be above reproach. Victoria is
the ideal candidate--quiet, unassuming, and in desperate
need of funds. But even as she strives to be the perfect
wife, David's slow heated lessons in the art of seduction
threaten to transform a "convenient" marriage into a
torrid
and passionate affair.
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