The Wagered Bride

‘The Wagered Bride’ by Teresa McCarthy is a clean regency romance. It is also the second book of The Clearbrook Series. There are four sons and one daughter in the Clearbrook family. The first book dealt with the oldest brother and the sister and is called The Rejected Suitor.

Lord Stephan Clearbrook is the youngest brother. He has a weakness for drink and cards. He found himself in a card game with a rich citizen named William Shelby. In the game, Stephan bet the deed for Creighton Hall, which belonged to his mother’s family and was given to him only earlier that day (so the deed was in his pocket), and lost the game! Shelby said that he will be at Harmstead’s ball where he would be willing to give Stephan a chance to win back the deed in a card game there. When Stephan again loses at the Harmstead’s place, Shelby offers him a way out. If Stephan will marry Shelby’s oldest daughter, then he will forgive him what Stephan owes him and give him the deed as a wedding present.

Elizabeth Shelby, William’s older daughter doesn’t want to marry a titled man just so she can gain a title. She wants to marry a man for love and she believe she loves Sir James Theodore Fennington. (Yes, he is back to cause more trouble to the next Clearbrook bride!) So, with the help of Fennington, they plan to elope! Of course she doesn’t realize that he only wants her for her money. She gets her younger (and overly dramatic) sister, Millicent or Milli, to help by standing outside the window while she sends out her trunk and climbs down a rope. Milli, knowing that her sister isn’t a climber, asks a gentleman who is wandering outside for help.

After the card game and Shelby’s blackmailing him into marrying the daughter, he storms outside. A girl approaches him and asks him for help. Milli tells how her sister is planning to elope with a gentleman that is all wrong for her (obviously) that she will surely fall and hurt herself. When Milli names Fennington, his hackles raise and he knows that he will not only have to catch her, but convince her not to run off with the man. Just wait until he finds out that the female he is helping happens to be his future bride!

This is a wonderful story and is best read after reading the first story in the series. And if you like Milli’s character, then you’ll be happy to know that she will appear in the fourth story. Get it in e-book format.