Love in the Afternoon

She harbors a secret yearning.As a lover of animals and nature, Beatrix Hathaway has always been more comfortable outdoors than in the ballroom. Even though she participated in the London season in the past, the classic beauty and free-spirited Beatrix has never been swept away or seriously courted... and she has resigned herself to the fate of never finding love. Has the time come for the most unconventional of the Hathaway sisters to settle for an ordinary man—just to avoid spinsterhood? He is a world-weary cynic.Captain Christopher Phelan is a handsome, daring soldier who plans to marry Beatrixs friend, the vivacious flirt Prudence Mercer, when he returns from fighting abroad. But, as he explains in his letters to Pru, life on the battlefield has darkened his soul—and its becoming clear that Christopher wont come back as the same man. When Beatrix learns of Prus disappointment, she decides to help by concocting Prus letters to Christopher for her. Soon the correspondence between Beatrix and Christopher develops into something fulfilling and deep... and when Christopher comes home, hes determined to claim the woman he loves. What began as Beatrixs innocent deception has resulted in the agony of unfulfilled love—and a passion that cant be denied.