Cressida

A young lady may be beautiful, wealthy, known as the most heartless and dashing flirt of Society, almost engaged to a handsome Marquis, and still remember with acute dislike the man who jilted her six years before. So Cressida Calverton is vastly displeased to hear that Captain Deverell Rossiter has returned from his distant adventures, made a great fortune and become the new social lion. When she meets him in the office of her financial adviser, she finds it only natural to treat the distinguished Captain with a distant hauteur to show he no longer mans anything to her---and then fall to quarreling with him.

Cressida resents him even more when he begins to pay attention to blonde, demure Kitty Chenevix, a poor relation of her chaperon. To cut our Rossiter the Honorable Drew Addison, the rich social arbiter, also takes up Kitty. Cressida come to feel Rossiter's very presence is an insult and is so furious when she hears he is buying her ancestral home she journeys into Gloucestershire to stop that, but only comes to swords' points with him since the money is already paid.

During a country dance at Maybridge ball, Rossiter becomes engaged to Kitty. The agreeable Marquis is pressing his suit with Cressida, but she has learned a well-kept secret and knows she must do something about the domineering Rossiter; but what? Amid the swirl of emotions, cross-purposes and plots, violent action erupts to resolve the tangle.

High-spirited, independent Cressida, who stubbornly refuses to admit where her heart is leading her, is a delightful heroine. Her clashes with the equally witty, determined and stubborn Captain Rossiter are lively and amusing. A glittering background of Regency England and fascinating minor characters add life and color to this engaging love story, told in Clare Darcy's usual enchanting style.