The Country House Courtship (56 page)

In her debut novel Linore Rose Burkard tells the intriguing story of Miss Ariana Forsythe, a young woman caught between her love for a man who doesn't share her faith and her resolution to marry only a fellow believer in Christ.

Trouble at home sends the young woman to her aunt's townhome in the fashionable Mayfair district of London. There she finds worse troubles than those that prompted her flight from home! Ariana is soon neck-deep in high society and at odds with Mr. Phillip Mornay, London's current darling rogue. Then a scandal changes Ariana forever. Her heart, her faith, and her future are all at stake in an unexpected adventure that gains even the Prince Regent's attention.

Will Ariana's faith survive this test? And what about her heart? For it's Ariana's heart that most threatens to betray the truths she has always believed in. When she finds herself backed against a wall, betrothed to the wrong young man, how can it ever turn out right?

Jane Austen readers and fans of Regency romances everywhere will love
Before the Season Ends.

Readers who loved the author's first book,
Before the Season Ends
, will delight in this charming sequel set in Regency London.

As Ariana Forsythe plans her wedding to Philip Mornay, she must adjust to the realization that she is soon to become the wife of an extremely wealthy man. She wonders if it's wrong to rejoice that her future husband is rich. But she promises herself to use her new position to do what she can to aid the numerous street waifs she sees all too often in London.

During a tour of her future home—the house in Grosvenor Square—Ariana makes plans to redecorate according to her tastes. But when Philip arrives home later, he is informed that an expensive silver candlestick and a miniature portrait of George III have gone missing. Moreover, each time Ariana visits the house, accompanied by a friend or relation, another item disappears.

Shortly thereafter Ariana is abducted leaving Phillip to unravel the pieces of the mystery. Where has his future bride been taken, and by whom? For what reason? How does Ariana's faith play a role?

Finally, after the safe return of his intended, how does Phillip—a man of intense discrimination in his tastes—find the many alterations in his house? And what on earth is behind the sudden influx of bills from every charity in London, all thanking him profusely for his uncommon generosity? Will he have second thoughts about his future bride?

England, 1810…

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William, a confirmed bachelor, becomes guardian to three children. When the girl's nanny proves abusive, William seeks counsel from his sister and her husband and meets Marianne—who changes his beliefs about women and God.

 

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Anne's father, the sword-flourishing, full regimental-wearing “Colonel,” is unwell. But the only real battle is Anne's—living as a gentleman's daughter on a pauper's means.

When newcomer Robert Weston visits their cottage while inspecting his new estate, Anne accidentally topples into his arms from a ladder. The Colonel, mistaking the scene, demands honor for Anne and a hasty “marriage” takes place to calm him.

But the Colonel's recounting of events does painful damage to Anne's reputation. As Anne and Robert struggle with the situation, admiration grows. Could a real marriage cure the heartache caused by a false one?

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HREE

When Londoner Alexander Tate is thrown from his horse, he loses his vision. After placing patches over his eyes in hopes that rest will restore his sight, the doctor recommends that Tate leave the city to convalesce in the fresh air of the country.

Tate's aunt Harriet offers to go with him to Collingbourne, where she meets the Steele family. Warm and caring, the Steele siblings are surprisingly generous to the newcomers. Tate doesn't need his vision to know that when this family reaches out, the unexpected is bound to happen. And happen it does when Tate finds himself falling in love. Just one question remains. Will one of the beautiful Steele sisters love him in return?

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Edward Steele is at last on his way home and determined to be in Collingbourne before Christmas—but that was before he met Denley and Osborne.

Sailing from Africa to England, Edward meets these two very different men aboard ship. Osborne chooses to ignore everyone while Denley and Edward find themselves much together. But as their journey continues, Denley begins to feel unwell. By the time the ship stops in Lisbon, Portugal, he is very sick indeed.

Not able to ignore his traveling companion's plight, Edward abandons his goal of going home and disembarks with Denley and Osborne. He never dreams that his association with them will lead to the mysterious Nicola Bettencourt, a woman who captivates and confounds him in equal measures.

“The strength of the series lies in the manner in which Wick artfully presents the reality of needing a relationship with Christ. This uncompromising view has characters grappling with their own feelings, in light of the gospel.”

—C
HRISTIAN
L
IBRARY
J
OURNAL

Advowson
—In English law, holding an advowson is having the right to present or appoint a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice (a church office, such as a curacy, or vicarage, or rectorship) in a parish.

Mr. Mornay holds the advowson to Glendover, and is given “honorary” (ie., fictional) rights to the nearby parish of Warwickdon for the sake of Mr. O'Brien by a big-hearted author.

Benefice
—The term benefice, or “living,” is used in the Church of England to describe a parish and, literally, its benefits (namely, the church and the parsonage house, a glebe or land, if it is attached, and so on).

The benefice at Warwickdon is replete with a furnished parsonage, a sizeable glebe, and even a carriage for the clergyman's use, as said author could not see leaving Mr. O'Brien high and dry in the country without an equipage. He will, however, encounter the necessity of purchasing carriage horses, himself, which he must do on his own, out of the resources allotted him.

Curate
—full title is “Perpetual Curate.”
An ordained minister, a curate is a person who is invested with the care, or
cure
, of souls of a parish. In the Church of England, a curate was generally hired by a vicar or rector and lived upon a set wage, with no benefit of tithes. He performed all the duties of a parson, and was hierarchically beneath the vicar, who in turn was beneath a rector.