Special Edition - To Marry and to Meddle by Martha Waters

A threepeat!  The best part of our year is always catching up with Our Friend Martha, who is now celebrating the release of her third book!   Lady Emily Turner has been a debutante for six seasons now and should have long settled into a suitable marriage. However, due to her father's large debts, her only suitor is the persistent and odious owner of her father's favorite gambling house. Meanwhile, Lord Julian Belfry, the second son of a marquess, has scandalized society as an actor and owner of a theater—the kind of establishment where men take their mistresses, but not their wives. When their lives intersect at a house party, Lord Julian hatches a plan to benefit them both. With a marriage of convenience, Emily will use her society connections to promote the theater to a more respectable clientele and Julian will take her out from under the shadows of her father's unsavory associates. But they soon realize they have very different plans for their marriage—Julian wants Emily to remain a society wife, while Emily discovers an interest in the theater. But when a fleeing actress, murderous kitten, and meddlesome friends enter the fray, Emily and Julian will have to confront the fact that their marriage of convenience comes with rather inconvenient feelings. Get To Marry and to Meddle from your local independent bookseller or from one of Martha's - she's moved to Maine, so her new bookstore is Print, and her (finally in person!) party will be at her old North Carolina haunt at Flyleaf Books.