The Husband List

Lady Gillian Marley needs a husband to claim the fortune left to her by her great uncle. A widow who had loved her husband dearly, Gillian had never planned to marry again. She asks her two childhood friends to come up with a list of prospective husbands. The only man on the list that seems even remotely suitable is Richard Shelton, Earl of Shelbrooke. So Gillian invites him to one of her salons and proceeds to propose. Since Shelbrooke is in need of money to repair his family’s fortune, dissipated by his father, Gillian is rather certain he will agree to her terms - a marriage in name only.

Richard’s own scandalous career had been cut short by his father’s death. For the past five years, he has been assiduously trying to repay his father’s debts, provide for his four young sisters, and preserve the family estate. His method is a bit unusual. Richard has created an alter ego, the famous French painter, Etienne-Louis Toussaint. Toussaint’s excellent paintings command a very good price. But Richard understands that no one would pay for a painting by an earl. Thus the disguise.

Richard is certainly attracted by the idea of sharing Gillian’s fortune. He is less thrilled with her terms. He wants her to want him, not just his title or his name. He insists that he will spend the two months before the deadline - Gillian’s 30th birthday - seducing her. But he finds her skittish in his presence and wonders if she might be more attracted to the kind of man he used to be, a man like the elusive artist. So he cooks up the plan of wooing the reluctant widow in both his personae, with all the attendant potential for disaster. Richard is astute enough at the outset to wonder if there might not be something wrong with his plan, but forges ahead nonetheless.