Barbara Cartland

When compulsive gambler Sir Giles Staverley has lost his estate and all his money playing dice, he realises that he only has one thing left of value: his daughter Serena. In a final game, he stakes his daughter's hand in marriage, convinced that this time he will not lose. Unfortunately, however, he does lose; to the evil Lord Wrotham... (imdb)

The young lady Panthea Vyne falls in love with the handsome highwayman who saves her from her brutal husband. He kills him in a fair duel. Later, when Charles the 2nd is reinstated as King of England, she attends the royal court. But here she becomes the enemy of the king's former mistress and the plot against her thickens. (imdb)

Weary of her very public life in Paris, an aging courtesan takes her orphaned niece from her convent home and relocates to Monte Carlo to begin a new life. (imdb)