Stealing Her Earl (Lions of the Sea #1)

A wife must accept her husband's mistress as a casualty of life.
We think not.
According to the Elmley Academy for the Enlightenment and Enrichment of Ladies of Exemplary Character, Subject: Aspirations to Marital Harmony, Rule Number 1:

Dear Lady, if some interloping woman steals your husband’s interest and affections, pray do not accept this as Providence or merely a husband’s divine right. And neither should you allow discontent to sink your spirits, or force you become a drudge, over-dependent upon the domestic pursuits of genteel women. Rise above your unpleasant circumstances and take this sure course of action:
You must simply steal him back!
Captain Quentin Stangate is a great source for the pride for King and country, unequaled in single-ship actions engaging Britain’s enemies. A popular and daring figure, he has the distinction of holding the record for capturing prizes and detaining ships laden with contraband treasures. Assigned to the Nore Command, a major operational command of the Royal Navy at Sheerness which is located on the northernmost tip of the Isle of Sheppey, it is his duty to protect English waters and enforce the blockade on goods from French and allied ports.
Following eight months of duty, he returns home to find his life suddenly pitched about like a leaky skiff on a raging sea. Upon the unexpected death of his elder brother, he ascends to the peerage, becoming the new Earl of Rushenden. Hardly the boon one might assume. Due to the earldom’s sad state of affairs he is forced to retire from seafaring to focus on restoring its depleted coffers and estates which have been left in rack-and-ruin. Radically contributing to his difficulties and the dire urgency for a speedy remedy of the situation, his beloved stepfather is facing debtor’s prison due to insurmountable gambling debts.
Unlike his stepfather and elder brother, Quentin is a sensible sort, a man of action. He immediately perceives what he needs is a well-dowered bride. But time is his enemy and in his haste to avert disaster he falls prey to two meddlesome old men intent on implementing their own agendas. And thus is easily maneuvered into marrying the Earl of Elmley’s spinster granddaughter, a reputed blue-stocking long on the shelf.
Off the Kentish coast on the small Isle of Sheppey, Miss Hamelia Hereford has lived in close proximity – but sadly, utter obscurity – to the man she has loved for as long as she can remember, Quentin Stangate, the new Earl of Rushenden. For years she’s nurtured an acute and secret affection for him but has achieved little success in catching his fancy until one perfect summer day when they meet briefly on the pebbled shore near Sheerness. Amid the brilliance of the sand and the sea sparks flare and magic happens.
Or so she’d presumed.
It seems the thralldom she’d experienced was one-sided, for eight months pass and Rushenden has yet to be provoked to call upon her.
Just when her flagging hopes are on the very brink of being completely dashed, out of the blue, Rushenden petitions for her hand in marriage. Oddly though, the marriage contract is signed in a clandestine meeting with her grandfather and her betrothed departs before she is even informed of her upcoming nuptials. And yet despite this autocratic handling of the matter the unexpected news is not unwelcome. In fact, she is in raptures at the prospect of becoming Rushenden’s countess. It seems her most ardent dream is at last within her reach.
But then everything begins to go dreadfully wrong...
Stealing Her Earl is a sizzling tale with humor and heart.