A Gamble with Hearts

In the Black Forest spa town of Baden-Baden for the profits to be had at the gaming tables, professional gambler and Englishman Quintus Tiverton is disturbed to hear the sound of an English girl being whipped savagely in a hotel room.
'It is none of my business,' he tells himself - but the sound of her weeping is inescapable and he goes to investigate. Instantly he is captivated by Selena Wade, the blue-eyed waif he encounters and, finding that she is being exploited cruelly by a 'domestic agency' proprietor who is listtle better than a 'Madam', resolves to save her.
And so naive Selena finds herself posing as the gambler's sister, as Tiverton tries to marry her off to someone suitably rich. Little does Quintus know that poor Selena's heart is already taken - and she only has eyes for him! Still less does he realise that he too is falling in love.

Barbara Cartland was the world's most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime, of which no less than 644 were romantic novels with worldwide sales of over 1 billion copies and her books were translated into 36 different languages.
As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, theatrical plays and books of advice on life, love, vitamins and cookery.
She wrote her first book at the age of 21 and it was called Jigsaw. It became an immediate bestseller and sold 100,000 copies in hardback in England and all over Europe in translation.
Between the ages of 77 and 97 she increased her output and wrote an incredible 400 romances as the demand for her romances was so strong all over the world.
She wrote her last book at the age of 97 and it was entitled perhaps prophetically The Way to Heaven.
Her books have always been immensely popular in the United States where in 1976 her current books were at numbers 1 & 2 in the B. Dalton bestsellers list, a feat never achieved before or since by any author.
Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime and will be best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels so loved by her millions of readers throughout the world, who have always collected her books to read again and again, especially when they feel miserable or depressed.
Her books will always be treasured for their moral message, her pure and innocent heroines, her handsome and dashing heroes, her blissful happy endings and above all for her belief that the power of love is more important than anything else in everyone's life.