Bride of Hearts — Janet Lynnford

One midsummer night, a brooding lord saves a woman as beautiful and mysterious as a fairy girl from an assassin's arrow. It is their first encounter -- but it is not to be their last....

Matthew Cavandish returns from two years at sea to discover that a lady of ethereal beauty has taken his rebellious teenage son under her wing. He soon rescues this lady from certain death, and she reciprocates with a keen insight into his heart ... but vanishes into the night without revealing her identity...

Cordelia Wentworth can't imagine why anyone would want to kill her. While she's sparked controversy at court by ignoring social rank at her unique card parties, her unconventional ways are hardly enough to mark her for death. Her only comfort is the child she has grown to love as her own--the child of the uncompromising baron who is now charged with protecting her life ....