A Penniless Prospect

A PENNILESS PROSPECT

Book 1 of Unsuitable Matches series

Can a penniless runaway trust her noble rescuer not to betray her into a forced marriage?

Plain and penniless Miss Jessamyne Calderwood—Jamie to those who love her—is to be forcibly married to a vile old man in order to pay off her father's gambling debts. Desperate to escape, she dresses as a boy and runs away, helped by her stepmother's former maid. But, on the road, the pair are taken up by Richard, the masterful Earl Hardinge, who has his own reasons for wanting revenge on the Calderwood family.

Jamie manages to maintain her disguise as a backward gardener's boy on Richard's estate, but gets into hot water with both master and servants. Can she keep hiding there while her vindictive stepmother and her rejected suitor are searching everywhere for her? It's only for a few more weeks. Soon she will be 21 and her own mistress. But can her disguise keep her safe until then? And will the earl betray her to her despicable family if he discovers she is not what she seems?

Revised edition of the novel originally published by Harlequin S.A. in 2001