Love With An Improper Stranger — Barbara Devlin

Book 7 in the Brethren of the Coast series.

After her father is killed on the battlefield, Lenore Teversham, along with her younger sister Lucilla, is stranded on the Continent and must rely on the generosity of a stranger for safe passage to London. While the journey brings with it the usual discomforts, as she detests sailing, the oh-so-rude captain inflicts pain of a different sort, as they clash in a test of wills at every turn. When a devious guardian auctions Lenore in marriage to the highest bidder, she wishes she had wed her shipboard nemesis, the arrogant captain who awakened something within her she can neither define nor understand, when she had the chance. Can Lenore find her way back to the man who claimed her heart?

When notoriously hotheaded Nautionnier Knight Blake Elliott, fifth Duke of Rylan, volunteers for a mission, his magnanimous gesture does not include acting as nanny to a couple of blushing sisters. At first, the cantankerous nobleman finds the young women quite amusing, yet he is drawn to the elder sister, as their verbal fencing becomes a hard habit to break. After Lenore suffers a wicked bout of seasickness, Blake nurses her back to health but loses his heart in the process. What happens when Blake alters his course and sets sail for an altogether delectable, more permanent destination?