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The Whitford Crew: Historical Gilded Age Romances

Anyone But the Earl

New York City, 1896. Octavia Sewell has everything she could want: beautiful dresses, a place in Society, and an English earl on the verge of a marriage proposal. Correction: Octavia has everything her mother could want for her and no idea what she wants for herself. There’s one thing she’s certain about, though: she’d rather compromise herself with just about anyone than be forced into a marriage she dreads.

W. Clifton is always prepared to assist a lady, especially when it’s the sister of a friend he’s known since his college days who turns up at his office. But while Octavia Sewell is obviously mixed up in something, she seems unable to say exactly what her troubles are. With each subsequent meeting, though, Clif finds himself more interested in helping her for reasons that are increasingly personal and far less chivalrous.

When Octavia flees from a disastrous evening with the earl, she runs straight to Clif. In seeking to protect herself from a man she hates, though, she may have hurt the man she loves. Has she lost her chance for future happiness, just when she’s finally figured out what it looks like?

Head Over Wheels

Worcester, Massachusetts, 1897. Regina Prince needs money. Without an investor to get her father’s bicycle motor company up and running, she and her younger sisters will soon be going without food, let alone the fripperies of fashion. The only financier to return her letters is a man she’s sure she hates—which means she has no hesitation about blackmailing him.

Walter Ellis needs to find a worthwhile investment opportunity before his father demotes him to a mail clerk, or worse. The Prince Velomotor Company might be small, but there’s potential in both the motors and the fierce determination of the founder’s daughter. He can’t remember exactly what he did to offend Regina, but once the woman starts ordering him around, he finds that he wants to prove himself to her even more than he wants his father’s approval.

Regina travels to New York with Walter, so she can make sure he’s fulfilling his side of their bargain. Soon, though, she’s acting as his fiancée—and wishing there was more truth to the relationship. As the web of blackmail, extortion, and family obligations around them grows ever more tangled, will Regina and Walter ever be able to find a clear path to a future together?

The Words and the Bees

New York, 1897. The study of insects has been Cecilia Downing’s lifelong passion, but when both her professional and domestic hopes are dashed, she finds herself wondering if she is an entomologist—or merely an entomologist’s discarded mistress?

Cecilia retreats to her family’s home in the Hudson Valley to rest, regroup, and maybe research ant species, only to find that her uncle has hired her childhood friend to redesign the estate grounds.

Daniel Carter hasn’t seen Cecilia in nearly twenty years, and—thanks to the terrible stray dog he’s definitely not adopting—their reunion is a rocky one. His work at her uncle’s estate is the project which will catapult his landscape design career to the next level, and he’s not about to let Cecilia, or his growing attraction to her, derail his work.

The more time Cecilia spends with Daniel, the more intrigued she is. Her childhood playmate has grown up handsome and clever, with a wicked talent for rhymes, but the innocence of their childhood days is long gone. Can Cecilia risk letting her guard down, or will she once again find herself advancing a man’s career at the expense of her own?

Book 4?

This series is on indefinite hold while I pursue other projects.