Joan Smith

Tall and sandy haired with golden, feline eyes, Valerie is the perfect model for the heroine in her eccentric aunt’s latest romance novel. But the plot of life quickly proves far richer than fiction. When Valerie arrives at her aunt's country estate, she suddenly finds herself in the midst of society parties and chicanery. Secret passages hide stolen jewels, and money changes hands as fast as Val changes gowns. Distant French cousins and dashingly attractive—if poor—scholars turn out to be as intangible as ghosts and as flimsy as certain fortunes. It all proves to be as illusive as love.