The Rake and The Spinster

Abandoned in childhood by feckless parents, Lady Magdalen Drewe has devoted her life to her younger sisters. A fashionable houseparty at Falconthorpe, seat of an eccentric duke and duchess, offers a perfect opportunity for Yvette to select a husband and Allegra to mend her troubled marriage. As always, Maggie plays chaperone, and when her eagle eye spots the notorious Earl of Keverne circling Allegra with prey clearly on his mind, she resolves to send him packing. But Keverne has another target in mind. To Maggie's astonishment, he swoops in her direction, undeterred by her sharp tongue or firm orders to take himself elsewhere. Instead, he takes her elsewhere, to his house by the ocean, sleekly covering his tracks and hers. No one will miss her for a fortnight, he says, during which he will try to fulfill her every dream. So of course, she shoots him. And after that, things get really complicated.