Falling for the Marquess - Julianne MacLean Page 0,111
had been going on for centuries. With modern industrialization in America, however, Wall Street had come into its own. New Money was everywhere, and there was a freshly stocked market for brides who were not only wealthy, but beautiful and spirited as well.
But why were these American fathers willing to send their daughters and their hard-earned fortunes across an ocean to a country they had fought a war against one hundred years before?
As Marion Fowler states in her book, In a Gilded Cage, they longed for “the poetry of class.” They felt the chill from those with “old money” in America, who turned their noses up at a society that had earned its fortune, not inherited it. The “new rich” wanted respectability, refinement, and something more than mere economic standing.
Princess Diana’s great grandmother was an American heiress. In 1880, Frances Work of Newport married the Honorable James Burke-Roche, younger brother of an Irish baron. Burke-Roche had traveled to America and spent time in Wyoming, raising cattle, before meeting the woman of his dreams—the beautiful and very wealthy daughter of a Vanderbilt stockbroker. The couple traveled back to England where they had twin sons, one of which was Diana’s grandfather.
Winston Churchill is another offspring of a transatlantic marriage. His mother was Jennie Jerome of New York, who in 1874 married Lord Randolph Churchill, second son of the seventh Duke of Marlborough. He proposed to her when she was nineteen, three days after meeting her on board a cruise ship, at a ball held in honor of the Prince and Princess of Wales. In 1895, Randolph died. Jennie married two more times and devoted herself to her son’s political career. Jennie had two sisters who also married Englishmen.
I hope you’ll look for the other books in my American Heiress trilogy, based on three fictional American sisters: Sophia, Clara and Adele. Sophia’s book is To Marry the Duke and Adele’s story is called Falling for the Viscount. Read on for an excerpt from that novel.
After that, you might enjoy the spinoff trilogy about other members of the Duke of Wentworth’s family. That trilogy begins with Love According to Lily, the story of the duke’s younger sister. A complete booklist follows.
If you would like to stay informed about my future releases, or learn about my monthly autographed book giveaway, please visit my website at www. juliannemaclean.com and sign up for my email newsletter. I would love to send news to you. Lastly, if you would like to know when an ebook edition from my backlist goes on sale for 99¢ (or is occasionally offered for free), please go to my author profile on Bookbub and click the “follow” button. You’ll be sent an email whenever there’s a flash sale. I am also on Facebook and Twitter where I chat with readers every day.
–Julianne
In Love with the Viscount
Could this love nonsense really be worth the trouble?
To Adele Wilson the answer is clear: of course not! She has seen her two sisters dragged through scandal and heartbreak (not to mention every ballroom in London) to find the husbands of their dreams. And that’s why she said yes to the first British lord who requested her hand. And why shouldn’t she marry him? He is kind, honest, and not sentimental in the least.
Unlike his wilder, more mysterious cousin Damien Renshaw, Viscount Alcester. Ignoring Damien altogether would be easy if he were the sort of man intent on seducing his cousin’s betrothed. But he is clearly trying to resist her, and his suddenly proper behavior only makes him more tempting to the usually well-behaved Adele. Indeed, Damien seems to be bringing out another side of Adele, a heady, passionate, exhilarating side. It seems that fate is contriving to teach her — against her best intentions — exactly what this love nonsense is all about …
Excerpt from
In Love with the Viscount
Teaser Excerpt
Copyright Julianne MacLean Publishing Inc. 2020
Prologue
May 1884
Inside the lavish interior of the SS Fortune, steaming smoothly across the deep, dark Atlantic at night, Adele Wilson stood in her first-class stateroom and gazed uncertainly at her reflection in the mirror.
A heavy lump formed in her belly. Why? Everything was as it should be. Her mother was in the adjoining cabin to her left, her sister Clara to her right. Adele had just eaten a delicious supper at the captain’s elaborate table and was about to undress for bed and read a most thought-provoking novel before turning down the lamp and going to sleep.