Married to a much older man, Charlotte Wylde has no love for
marriage or her husband. He belittles her constantly in
front of the servants and allows them to behave the same.
Just as she is reaching the point of despair, her husband is
murdered.
Suddenly, Charlotte finds herself with nothing. All the
money she brought to the marriage is gone and she has no one
to turn to for help.
Alec Wylde has always taken care of his family. With his
sisters and a cousin living with him, he has very little
privacy to take care of all his business affairs. . With
the economy foundering and people being tossed off their
land, Alec is trying to save the world.
The last thing he needs is an elderly widow to care for when
he learns of his uncle's death. Charlotte is not the
elderly, ugly widow he expected. His shock when he meets
Charlotte is obvious but he invites her into his home with
only a few thoughts of what might happen between them. With
the current political climate, he doesn't need someone else
to disturb his peace of mind.
Charlotte is drawn into a life she never expected. Trying
her wings leads her to some difficulty.When her home is
broken into and ransacked, it becomes obvious that her
husband's death wasn't a random robbery. The two of them
will work to discover what happened.
It's so nice to have one of the premier Regency writers
return to the published world. Ms. Ashford has written a
superbly crafted story with elements of political unrest,
some gothic suspense and an interesting romance. It's very
easy to empathize with the characters and the dilemmas each
of them faces. Regency fans shouldn't ONCE AGAIN A BRIDE.
Pushed by her dying father into a marriage with one of his
friends, Charlotte Rutherford Wylde finds herself bound to
an old man who disdains and ignores her. Desperately
miserable, Charlotte considers taking drastic action, but
before she can confront him, her husband is murdered int he
dark London streets. wearied and widowed, Charlotte also
discovers that her dead husband has spent the fortune she
brought him, leaving her nearly penniless. And most
astonishing of all, Charlotte discovers he had an entire
family he never mentioned.
The fashionable Wyldes are as surprised to hear of
Charlotte's existence as she is of theirs. To the
charismatic Sir Alec Wylde, she is at first just another
obligation in his overburdened life. He has to grapple with
his dead relative's shady business dealing, an attempted
robber, and a suspicious Bow Street Runner. But it's not
long before Alec realizes that there is nothing he would
rather do than cherish the entrancing Widow Wylde. However,
secrets from both their pasts have different plans altogether...