When Hope and Passion Collide — Anne Gallagher

Lady Hope Curtiss is the most reserved of all the Dunbury Ladies. Small in stature, fragile in appearance, no one believes she will ever find a husband, most of all her. Her one prospect is the second son of a Viscount, a man who will never amount to much. However, Hope is convinced there is someone out there for her -- someone special

A seemingly innocent conversation at a ball with a man she has no interest in, a light brush of his fingers across her cheek, leaves Hope's heart with unanswered questions, but in the blink of an eye, all that is taken away when Hope is kidnapped and brutally beaten. For six days and nights, Hope wonders if she has been forgotten.

Brian Thorpe, Earl of Helmsway, has been rejected by one Curtiss sister, and then practically trapped into marriage by another. He wants nothing to do with any of the Dunbury Ladies, least of all Hope. Unfortunately, he is the last person to speak to her on the night of her kidnapping. In order to clear his name, he sets out to rescue her.

Left to die in a remote wilderness, Hope is saved by a man whom she doesn't recognize. Her heart falls in love with him, but when she finds that Helmsway has been instrumental in her care, Hope is torn between her mystery man and her knight in shining armor.