[Matchmaker Series 01] • A Valentine's Affair

A spinster’s heart, pierced by Cupid’s dart…

*‘Oh, if St. Valentine’s legend were only true. Then my fate of spinsterhood would be banished forever,’* dreamed Lady Helena.

Lady Helena Delaport, spinster sister of the young Duke of Sunderland, is twenty-nine years old and has never experienced being “in love.” She always dreamed romance would bring her strolls through the gardens and hand-crafted Valentine’s Day cards, but she knew she would never have either of those desires. She was too old for anyone to fall in love with and not special enough for heartfelt valentines. Deep down, Helena adored St. Valentine’s Day and all the love and romance it represented.

In Lady Helena’s readings, a legend of St. Valentine’s Day spurred her hidden devotion for the day of sweethearts and love poems. According to her beloved books, the first gentleman an unmarried lady beheld on the day was to be her valentine.

Dark-haired with emerald green eyes, dashing Lord Robert Kendall meets Lady Helena at a dinner party along with his brother and wife, the Marquess and Marchioness of Manchester. Lord Robert is intrigued with Lady Helena and finds himself smitten with her beauty and independent streak. *‘She looks more elegant than any painting I have ever seen! How I long to touch this living art, a woman whose words are so curt, personality so fiery, and a Venus who can look this beautiful in a simple, modest white dress. Lady Helena is not real; she is an angel sent to guide me,’** thought Lord Robert.

Lady Helena finds herself falling for Lord Robert, yet he is six-years her junior. Out of anguish, She sends a letter of correspondence to “Aunt Ellie’s Advice Column for Ladies” in the *Weekly Chipping Observer *asking for guidance as she bears her heart: *‘To my surprise, a man has fallen in love with me, and I may have fallen in love with him! I am much older than he and I worry he will grow up to realize he does not love me. Even if it wasn't to happen, I cannot give him an heir to his holdings because of an injury from my childhood. I cannot go to anyone with this problem, Aunt Ellie. Not my sister or her husband, the man’s brother. What am I to do?”’*

The shame of her confession caused the undeniable. Charles Delaport truly had become the Duke of Sunderland, and his first true act as Duke was to banish his spinster sister from Delaport Manor for life for displaying behaviours unbecoming.

How will the elderly spinster’s embarassment affect the man who would forever carry her heart after her letter is printed in the local advice column?

How will a separate letter from the grave Lord Robert receives from his solicitor affect his love for Lady Helena?

Will the local town’s matchmaker Aunt Ellie weave her meddling magic to unite true love’s desire for the ultimate St. Valentine’s Conquest?

Follow the story of Lady Helena and Lord Robert as a red parchment valentine and a Lord’s accident reveal a beloved’s intention and the heart of a spinster.

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