Victoria Holt

To all appearances, Anna Brett was a quiet, capable young woman whose only ambition was to carry on the profitable antiques business bequeathed her by a spinster aunt. And so she was -- until the memory of a cherished moment with a blue-eyed stranger suddenly returned to haunt her with savage intensity. It was then …

When Kate Collison, to help her ailing father, completes his portrait of the powerful Baron de Centeville, her only thought is to be a dutiful daughter. But when the Baron presents her to Parisian society as the painter, Kate finds herself basking in the recognition . . . until she discovers that the Baron has plans …

Caroline Tressidor's innocent discovery of the identity of her real father leads to her disinheritance and blocks her possible marriage to Paul Landower, who must find a wealthy wife in order to save the family estate