Wagered in Winter (The Wicked Winters Book Five)

Patricia Veryan was born in England and moved to the United States following World War II. The author of several critically acclaimed Georgian and Regency series, including the Sanguinet Saga, she now lives in Kirkland, Washington.

A Loveless WeddingWhen the Honorable Trevor Jeffries loses everything at cards, there's only one way to cancel the debt--by marrying his opponent's unwanted ward, Miss Caitlin Woodbridge, a country girl fresh from the schoolroom. Their forced union proves to be a glum affair; and Trevor, leaving Caitlin well provided for, hastily escapes from it by enlisting for the Peninsula and urging her to seek an annulment. A Passionate ReunionSeven years have transformed Caitlin into a nonpareil of style and charm, adept in the enrichment of her long--lost husband's estate. Though her senses flame at the sight of her handsome bridegroom, she cannot forget his abrupt abandonment and long silence. But before she will surrender to him his heritage, and her heart, Trevor will have to vie with half the young bloods of London in an ardent courtship--of his own wife!

As her father's only child, Elsinora must take a husband to help her run the manor of Lyndower. Although capable of managing the place herself, no one trusts a woman to lead. She can be a wife and mother, nothing more. But she's determined to choose the man for herself and she has just the one in mind—handsome, clever, chivalrous and kind-hearted.She hasn't met him yet, but he's out there. Somewhere.However, when her father returns home drunk one evening after a game of tavern dice, Elsinora soon discovers that sobering him up is not her only problem this time. The scarred Norman beast with the crude manners and insulting tongue—the one who brought her father home slung over the rump of his horse, has won not only the manor of Lyndower as his prize after a night of gambling. He's also won Elsinora.