Follow the Drum (Masquerade Historical, 50)

She listened, horrified, as her cousin spoke. "It's true," Elmira warned. "Father is going to insist you marry the Earl of Chacewater. If you refuse he'll send you away!" Barbara's young heart twisted with anguish. To be wed to a man she had never met, a widower at least three times her age, was a thought that filled her with despair. She couldn't, she couldn't, she resolved, as gradually a bold plan began to form in her mind...a plan that was a foolhardy as it was courageous!