The Other Countess

by Eve Edwards Book 1 in the The Lacey Chronicles series.

First published 2010

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3.7(45)

England, 1582. Lady Eleanor Rodriguez of San Jaime possesses a Spanish title but no fortune, because her scholarly father has exhausted every patron and household willing to finance his attempts to manufacture gold. William Lacey, newly Earl of Dorset, has inherited the opposite problem: an English estate and noble obligations burdened by debts created partly through his late father’s support of the alchemist. Will believes that only marriage to a wealthy heiress can preserve his family’s position.

When Ellie and Will meet again at Elizabeth I’s court, resentment gives way to an attraction neither can afford. Court patronage, jousting, alchemical promises and competition for advantageous marriages place their choices under continual scrutiny. Lady Jane Perceval and Walter Raleigh complicate the contest between affection and duty, while Ellie must decide whether a title without money can provide any real security in a society governed by inheritance and reputation.