Courting Scandal

Arabella Swinley was once the diamond of the ton, a rare blonde beauty with an exquisite knack for the art of flirtation and a reputation for rejecting an unprecedented number of suitors. Faced now with a dwindling number of offers for her hand, she and her scheming mother are in a panic: if Arabella can’t secure a moneyed husband soon, they’ll be at the mercy of the debt collectors and left to fend for themselves. When a titled gentleman many decades her senior proposes, Arabella resigns herself to a loveless but secure marriage—even as her eye, and her heart, keep returning to the ruggedly handsome and most unacceptable Marcus Westhaven.

Marcus, an adventurer just back from years exploring the Canadian wilderness, is the most unconventional man proper society has ever tolerated, and penniless to boot. With an amused and defiant smirk, he makes no pretense about his scorn for the shallowness and money-hungry ways of the ton—until he finds himself fighting an undeniable attraction to the very beautiful and very proper Arabella, a woman who is the embodiment of everything he despises.

With Arabella on the verge of making a disastrous marriage and Marcus torn between his principles and his passion, the two are bound by a growing desire that can only lead to heartbreak and scandal. And as their passion flares, they must open their hearts to the realization that no matter how sincere their intentions, denying their long-held beliefs may be the only way for them to find true and lasting love.

“If you believe that love makes us better people, then this is the book for you!” —Reader Review

This is a fully revised edition of a book originally published as Belle of the Ball.