When Lady Coombs was widowed, she found herself in reduced circumstances. But the spirited Alicia chose to become a shopkeeper rather than impose on her overburdened brother. Unfortunately, along with this undermining her position in country society, Alicia now found herself and her adolescent daughter without protection and suddenly vulnerable to the unprincipled Sir Francis Tackar. Even the kind attentions of the Marquis of Stronbert were disturbing—to a woman who had suffered in marriage. Regency Romance by Laura Matthews; originally published by Dell