Product Description "Graceful and exciting ... the best kind of 'escape' story." —LIBRARY JOURNAL What seems a marriage of convenience... When young newlywed Lady Nell Cardross begins to fill her days with fashion and frivolity, the earl has to wonder whether she really did marry him for his money, as his family so helpfully suggests. And now Nell doesn't dare tell him the truth ... Is getting trickier all the time...He thought he was marrying for love, but between his concern over his wife's spending sprees, rescuing her impulsive brother from one scrape after another, and attempting to prevent his own half sister from a disastrous elopement, it's no wonder the much–tried earl can't see where he's gone wrong ... "Georgette Heyer has done it again ... It's the sheer fun of reading on a high entertainment level. For such an experience, April Lady is tops. It's downright delicious." —CHICAGO SUNDAY TRIBUNE Review "The Sourcebooks editions are probably the best compromise possible and they are indeed very beautiful and well-made editions that I hope will stand the test of time, worthy of Heyer's work." - Austenprose From the Inside Flap What with the concern over Lady Cardross's heart and pocket, the much-tried Earl almost misses the opportunity to smooth the path of true love in his marriage. About the Author The late Georgette Heyer was a very private woman. Her historical novels have charmed and delighted millions of readers for decades, though she rarely reached out to the public to discuss her works or private life. She was born in Wimbledon in August 1902. She wrote her first novel, The Black Moth, at the age of seventeen to amuse her convalescent brother; it was published in 1921 and became an instant success. Heyer published 56 books over the next 53 years, until her death from lung cancer in 1974. Heyer's large volume of works included Regency romances, mysteries and historical fiction. Known as the Queen of Regency romance, Heyer was legendary for her research, historical accuracy and her extraordinary plots and characterizations. Her last book, My Lord John, was published posthumously in 1975. She was married to George Ronald Rougier, a barrister, and they had one son, Richard. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. One There was silence in the book-room, not the silence of intimacy but a silence fraught with tension. My lady's blue eyes, staring across the desk into my lord's cool gray ones, dropped to the pile of bills under his hand. Her fair head was hung, and her nervous hands clasped one another tightly. In spite of a modish (and very expensive) morning-dress of twilled French silk, and the smart crop achieved for her golden curls by the most fashionable coiffeur in London, she looked absurdly youthful, like a schoolgirl caught out in mischief. She was, in fact, not yet nineteen years old, and she had been married for nearly a year to the gentleman standing on the other side of the desk, and so steadily regarding her. ‘Well?' She swallowed rather convulsively. The Earl had spoken quite gently, but her ears were quick to catch the note of implacability in his voice. She stole a scared look up at him, and dropped her eyes again, colouring. He was not frowning, but there was no doubt that he meant to obtain an answer to the quite unanswerable question he had put to his erring bride. Another silence fell, broken only by the ticking of the large clock on the mantelpiece. My lady gripped her fingers so tightly together that they whitened. ‘I asked you, Nell, why all these tradesmen –' the Earl lifted the bills and let them fall again – ‘have found it necessary to apply to me for the settlement of their accounts?' ‘I am very sorry!' faltered the Countess. ‘But that doesn't answer my question,' he said dryly. ‘Well – well, I expect it was because I – because I forgot to pay them myself!' ‘Forgot?' Lower sank her golden head; she swallowed again. ‘Under the hatches yet again, Nell?'