Karen Robards - Banning Sisters (01-03)

Scandalous (2001)
(The first book in the Banning Sisters series)
A novel by Karen Robards

England, 1810: When Lady Gabriella Banning receives word that her half-brother, the Earl of Wickham, has died on his tea plantation in Ceylon, she faces the reality that she and her younger sisters, Claire and Elizabeth, are suddenly penniless. The family's riches will pass to the next male heir -- a distant cousin -- and the Banning sisters are doomed unless Gabby thinks fast.

Which she does. Pretending that Marcus is still alive, Gabby arranges beautiful Claire's London season. She'll keep up the pretense just long enough for Claire to marry a fabulously wealthy nobleman. But when a handsome gentleman arrives at the door and claims to be Marcus, Gabby's plan backfires. For if she exposes this mysterious stranger's deceit, she exposes her own. Bound by secrets and lies, Gabby and the roguish adventurer strike sparks off each other -- and soon London society is abuzz over the scandalous pair of "siblings" who appear to be falling in love....

Irresistible (2001)
(The second book in the Banning Sisters series)
A novel by Karen Robards

Claire Banning fulfilled every debutante's dream when she married a rich nobleman. Soon, however, the celebrated beauty realizes she wed a dissolute wastrel. Bitterly hurt and desperately lonely, Claire vows nonetheless to take her expected place in society. Then on a journey home to her husband's estate on the coast of Sussex, she is abducted, and her life -- and her heart -- are changed forever.

Hugh Battancourt -- a dark and dangerous nobleman who long ago turned his back on the ton and now leads a life secretly dedicated to his country's service -- is determined not to be swayed by his prisoner's beauty as they share a cabin on a ship bound for France. Lives depend on his retrieving from her a letter full of secrets she intends to turn over to the enemy. But even as Claire and Hugh engage in a battle of wits and wills, captor and captive find themselves drawn irresistibly to each other. Is it possible, Claire wonders, that she could discover the true meaning of love that has eluded her with this handsome stranger? One who will lay his life on the line in order to protect her from someone who is intent on placing Claire in the path of danger?

Shameless (2010)
(The third book in the Banning Sisters series)
A novel by Karen Robards

Lady Elizabeth Banning, the youngest and most headstrong of the three Banning sisters, is a shameless, hardened flirt with a reputation for jilting fiancés. Perhaps she is reluctant to marry because of her father's appalling treatment of his wives and daughters, or perhaps because she's headstrong and likes to do as she pleases. When a mysterious man helps extricate Beth from a potentially scandalous situation that arises after she throws over another fiancé, Beth doesn't realize she has become a weapon that government-sanctioned assassin Neil Severin can use against her brother-in-law Hugh, the Duke of Richmond.

When Neil attempts to abduct Beth in order to force a confrontation with Hugh, one of her angry former fiancés beats him to it. As Neil rescues Beth from a medieval fortress on the Scottish border, he and Beth escape harrowing dangers and fall in love. And clever Beth comes up with a way to protect Neil from the official death sentence against him - she marries him.