Noble Hearts

Eliza Southwell

As an actress with no family and nothing to lose, I leap at the chance of a new part-only it's not on the stage. Out of money and work, I take the role of a wealthy young widow's companion as she travels to England to assume control of her husband's estate and meet his family for the first time. Once she's settled, I'll head to London, where fame surely awaits.

I didn't expect her to die on the second day at sea!

When I have an idea, I act on it-even though I may come to regret it later. It's a simple matter to swap our papers and put on her fine clothes, then let the ship's steward think that it was my poor lady's maid who passed away.

But when I see the grand estate of Fernwood and meet my "sister-in-law," I find my dreams of London stardom melting away. Frannie is the sister I've always longed for. Rupert Denton, God rest his noble soul, sounds like a man I would have easily fallen in love with. I finally feel like I have a home and a family, and as his "widow," I'm the only one who can protect Fernwood and its inhabitants from the vultures circling it.

I believe I'll be content to play the role of Mrs. Rupert Denton for the rest of my life.

Rupert Denton

I was only married a week before I left my rich and well-connected new wife for Canada-and I was pleased to do so. I married hastily to prove a point to my ailing father. Now he's dead and gone, and I'm saddled with a woman I don't love-or even like.

When my ship sank and most of the crew and passengers were lost, I was reported among the dead-something I didn't know until over a month later, when I'd fully recovered. Thoughts of my poor sister's suffering and my "widow" having free run of my accounts caused me to waste no time returning to England.

Imagine my surprise when the young woman who faints into my arms is not the cold, refined woman I married, but a rather endearing beauty with a ready smile and genuine warmth in her eyes.

This isn't the woman I married-but she may well be the wife I need. As the capable mistress of Fernwood and the jewel on my arm, she will show those who doubt me that I'm ready to lead.

If only I can convince her to stay in this business arrangement now that it's clearly becoming so much more...