women who amuse him with their provocative wit and attractions. He is a hero from the war with Napoleon and the Duke Wellington had twice awarded him the Gold Medal for Bravery. As he is the owner of one of the most famous houses in England, immensely rich and of high social standing, he is determined not to be married except for himself as a man. However, as his family are so insistent on his marrying for an heir to carry on the title, he drives to Lady Charlotte’s house to ask her to be his wife.

When he arrives to his astonishment Lady Charlotte informs him that she is going to marry the young Duke of Nottingham simply because he is a Duke. Furious and frustrated, he drives his phaeton away, but is stopped on the drive by a young girl who begs him to take her with him. The beautiful Serla Ashton is the niece of the Earl of Langwarde and Lady Charlotte’s cousin, who has been very badly treated because her mother ran away the night before her Wedding to a Royal Prince. Serla persuades the Marquis to take her to London and on the way he has the brilliant idea of saving himself from being laughed at for losing Lady Charlotte by announcing that he and Serla are engaged to be married. She agrees to the charade and with the help of the Marquis’s grandmother she becomes one of the beauties of the Beau Monde overnight.

How the Marquis is delighted at making people believe that it is he who has rejected Lady Charlotte rather than the other way round. How Lady Charlotte takes a bitter and frightening revenge on Serla and the Marquis and how they both eventually find the love they are seeking is all related in this exciting and unusual story by BARBARA CARTLAND.

Barbara Cartland was the world’s most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime, of which no less than 644 were romantic novels with worldwide sales of over 1 billion copies and her books were translated into 36 different languages. As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, theatrical plays and books of advice on life, love, vitamins and cookery. She wrote her first book at the age of 21 and it was called Jigsaw. It became an immediate bestseller and sold 100,000 copies in hardback in England and all over Europe in translation. Between the ages of 77 and 97 she increased her output and wrote an incredible 400 romances as the demand for her romances was so strong all over the world. She wrote her last book at the age of 97 and it was entitled perhaps prophetically The Way to Heaven. Her books have always been immensely popular in the United States where in 1976 her current books were at numbers 1 & 2 in the B. Dalton bestsellers list, a feat never achieved before or since by any author. Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime and will be best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels so loved by her millions of readers throughout the world, who have always collected her books to read again and again, especially when they feel miserable or depressed. Her books will always be treasured for their moral message, her pure and innocent heroines, her handsome and dashing heroes, her blissful happy endings and above all for her belief that the power of love is more important than anything else in everyone’s life.