The four daughters of a horse-mad Scottish viscount arrive at their guardian's home with four beautiful thoroughbred horses to be used as their dowries. Tess, the oldest, immediately warms to the slightly shabby and dissipated duke. Tired of worrying about the lack of money and her younger sister's inappropriate romance, Tess embraces the brotherly affection Rafe offers. Rafe agrees with Tess that marriage is her best option. Luckily, Rafe's friend, the Earl of Mayne, offers a marriage based on their short acquaintance, after all Tess' dowry is Something Wanton, a possible Derby winner. Tess tamps down her attraction to Rafe's other friend and accepts the earl's proposal.

Mr. Lucius Fenton drops into his friend's home, prepared for his usual visit of horse races and good brandy. Encountering four nubile young women at Rafe's home, Lucius prepares to flee. He does not want a wife, and Rafe will need to foist these women upon anyone, especially his friends. Upon meeting Tess, who's a beauty with a hussy's mouth, Lucius feels his blood chill and then turn to ice as he meets the others -- the witty and seductive Annabelle; the passionate Imogene, who looks like a saint; and the least threatening, Josie, a plump and logical girl. At Rafe's plea, Lucius stays, feeling an impending doom descend upon him.

At the home of a drunk, whose close friends consist of a titled lecher and a plain sir who's a merchant, Tess snares the lecher. Confusion rules Tess and she does not feel triumphant. It takes a sister's unwise decision to force Tess to confront her choice for the future.

MUCH ADO ABOUT YOU is a thoroughly riveting tale that explores the interplay between sisters. It's an engaging journey into their lives as they come together and then tear apart. Ms. James serves up laughter and tears as she writes an eloquent and beautiful romance.

Book Summary

Teresa Essex has a unique lot in life. Actually…she’d rather prefer that lots were not mentioned. She knows far too much about playing the odds: her widowed father gambled away any spare penny owned by their family. Shillings that should have been spent on gowns and governesses for Tess and her three younger sisters were spent keeping her father’s horses in proper condition for the race track.

When their father dies, the sisters become the wards of the Duke of Holbrook who knows far more about brandy snifters than children. But Tess’s challenges have just begun. With nothing more than a horse each for a dowry, and a drunken duke as a chaperone, she and her sisters must achieve respectable marriages.

In the manner of romantic heroines from the time of Jane Austen, Tess must make a decision whether to marry for financial, prudent reasons, or to follow her heart. But unlike those tales in which heroines prudently make the correct decision, whatever that might be, here fate steps in and Tess must learn a hard lesson: not how to play at love, but how to play at that most serious of pursuits… Marriage.