Hardy's Hope

When Captain James Hardy proposes marriage to the refined Adella Hardcastle, he is humiliated and retreats into brooding unhappiness, made worse by having to chaperone his sister as she tries in vain to find a husband during the London season. Though he is hotly pursued by the marriageable young ladies of the ton, James won’t hold out his battered heart to be crushed again. So when startlingly pretty Mercy Ayles is thrown in his path, he dismisses her as another vapid heiress. Their dislike is mutual, but when they are thrown together during a hot and steamy summer at his country estate of Whitecliff, Mercy’s spirit and wit melt the ice around James’ heart, turning it into a puddle of frustrated lust.

Mercy Ayles has a pretty face and an inheritance to go with it, but she feels like a hunted animal pursued by a pack of hounds. Weary of the flattery of men who see only a fortune, she shuns the marriage market. But when she meets James Hardy at a picnic, she grates at his indifference. Forced to stay at his Brighton estate, Mercy is drawn to the handsome, strapping Captain, though her pride prevents her from acknowledging her desire for a man whose heart is given to another. But one fateful afternoon, on a windswept beach, Mercy and James stumble upon a wounded young man who is dazzlingly and charismatic. His origins are a mystery, and it soon becomes apparent that James might have a rival, sparking fierce jealousy. As James grapples with his feelings, Adella crashes back into his life, forcing him to make a choice.

When he does, there are disastrous consequences, leaving James back where he started - facing marriage to a woman who is not entirely willing to have him as a husband.