The Widow's Gambit — Anthea Malcolm

EVEN A CONFIRMED BACHELOR IS NO MATCH FOR...The Widow's Gambit

It was a scandalous scheme, but it was high time the eldest Neville sister made a match and desperate measures were in order. Although Claudia was a diamond of the first water, the orphaned Nevilles lacked the funds to engage the chaperone so necessary for a London season. So the ever-resourceful Livia added several years to her age, invented a deceased husband, and became the respectable Widow Royce. Livia had no desire for a season of her own and was certain she'd never regret abandoning her girlhood ...until she met dashing Nicholas Warwick. And all at once, the willful widow found herself snared in a web of her own weaving!

Nicholas Warwick had seen many a spirited miss, but the Neville sisters were too much by half! The youngest ran unescorted about London like a hellion, Claudia had the ton at her feet at her first ball, and that Mrs. Royce was the most infuriating creature he'd ever met. Half the time he had the urge to wring her neck--the other half was spent wondering if she'd be as stubborn and prickly in his bedroom as she was in his parlour! Black-garbed widows with sharp tongues were not usually in his repertoire, and Warwick vowed the redoubtable Mrs. Royce would not be allowed to disrupt his household...or his jaded bachelor heart!