The Heiress of Winterwood

[Book One] of the Whispers on the Moors Series

     The Heiress of Winterwood is an intriguing idea that begins, really, with a very uncustomary proposal. A proposal, first of all, from a woman living in the nineteenth century. And she proposes to a man she has never met.

     We are introduced to Amelia Barrett of Winterwood, and the Sterling family of Eastmore Hall. Amelia is within reach of a very large inheritance as a result of her father's death, with the condition that she must be married before she turns twenty-four, lest the fortune go to someone else. In this case, however, Amelia Barrett's concern is not with the money of her inheritance, but a different matter entirely. Were she to follow with her uncle's plan she would be wed well before her twenty fourth birthday to a man of seemingly ideal character and upbringing. But then of course, there is the matter of the child.

     In the process of her courtship with Edward Littleton, Amelia cares for a pregnant Katherine Sterling. This woman's husband, Graham, is a captain of the navy whom she hasn't seen since shortly after they married. When Katherine dies after giving birth, the child, Lucy, is left in Amelia's care. Amelia promises Katherine just before she dies that she will care for her daughter to her last breath, but when Edward Littleton refuses to allow the child to remain at Winterwood after they marry, her entire future is thrown into disarray. The only way for her to keep her promise to Katherine, and to maintain the funds to do so, is for her to marry Graham Sterling in time to keep her inheritance.

     Never mind that his wife died only months ago, and now as he returns from his duties to meet his daughter for the first time he is proposed marriage by a brazen and headstrong woman he has never encountered before. She presents the proposal as a business arrangement - nothing more, nothing less, with the promise that Graham may go about his life however he pleases so long as she may continue caring for baby Lucy, whom she has come to love as her own child.

    Even if he were to agree to her, how many others will try to stand in her way?

--Elise--

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