No Money, No Manors

Miss Cassandra Wenlock has Liverpool money, no title, and very good ears. Standing behind a hedge, she overhears the Ferrant brothers planning to marry their bankrupt earl off to a local heiress. Cassandra offers the brothers a better deal: her fortune, her head for business, and her bed, on one condition. She marries all three. The earl calls it vulgar. The soldier calls it interesting. The clergyman, who has loved her since they stole apples, says nothing at all, which is its own answer. One autumn, one embezzling solicitor, one furious local heiress, and one private chapel ceremony the bishop will hear about later. Cassandra is going to save the estate, marry the brothers, and turn a profit on apples and slate before Christmas. Nobody is going to stop her, least of all a man who refuses to read a contract.