[Regency Charades 05] • The World's a Stage

All the world’s a stage for Peter Barton, a wandering actor now posing as a gentleman in Regency high society. But his carefree existence is jeopardized when a matchmaking mama tries to snare him for her dowdy daughter. To avoid entanglement and exposure, Peter needs a mistress – or at least someone willing to play the part.

The stage is no place for a lady, but when proper young lady Amy Greenlow is left destitute with a young sister to support, she dares to reinvent herself as the actress “Amadora” and takes the London stage by storm. But all Society knows that actresses are women of no virtue, and a ruthless Marquis is determined to make Amadora his latest mistress and won’t take no for an answer. To discourage his advances, Amy agrees to play another part, that of Peter Barton’s mistress.

For Peter and Amy, the public performance of their pretend affair is the role of a lifetime. Falling in love was never part of the plan.

(Author’s note: The World’s A Stage is set in the same universe as A Feather To Fly With, and Peter Barton was a secondary character in that earlier work. But this novel is a stand-alone story, and can be enjoyed on its own without having read Feather. This novel is a traditional Regency, and contains no sex scenes.)