10 Short Historical Romance Books (Under 300 Pages)

He was her target. She was his diversion. Falling in love was never something they wanted.

As a con woman who has spent her entire life fending for herself on the streets of London, Rose Wakefield knows how to scam a gentleman out of his money without ever getting caught. That’s until she knocks on the wrong earl’s door and is faced with Carver Ashburn, Earl of Kensworth, and not the notorious rake she thinks she is approaching.

Carver is a good man, but even a good man will not pass up an opportunity to escape his grief. What better way to avoid his feelings than to play into a con woman’s ruse and offer to marry her?

Things only grow more complicated when Carver sweeps Rose off to his family estate, and circumstances force them both into continuing the ruse. Carver needs to protect his family, and Rose needs to protect herself—and her heart.

With so much set against them, will Rose and Carver have a chance at love and freedom? Or is the possibility of more heartache not worth the risk?

A vow to remain unwed ​and a bargain designed to find her a husband.

What could possibly go wrong?

Elsie and her two best friends made a childhood vow to never marry.

But when Elsie begins her first season in London, her mother presents her with an irresistible bargain: if she says yes to each and every man’s invitation and still remains unattached by the end of the season, she will receive her inheritance and become a free woman.

She is thrown into the spotlight by increasing attention in the newspaper gossip articles, and keeping her end of the bargain seems impossible—especially when her best friend’s tyrant of a brother, Lord Cameron, begins to make advances that Elsie literally cannot refuse.

The gossip grows increasingly malicious, leaving destroyed reputations and broken homes in its wake, and Elsie can’t seem to escape its focus. But it’s her own blossoming feelings for Lord Cameron that pose the greater threat. If she can’t keep him out of her heart, she’s sure to compromise the bargain, break her vow, and lose her one shot at freedom for good.

She needs to be protected. He’ll take on the job…for a price.

Christina MacKinnon is secretly relieved to be a widow. She is equally desperate to distance herself from the clan of her dead husband, but as the heir to his estate—one she needs in order to support her siblings—she must first stave off both the advances and threats of the man next in line to inherit. It seems the only person she can turn to is a nearby stranger who seems inclined to help her. But he has a request…

Freshly returned from the war, Lachlan Kincaid has one aim: to see justice served to the MacKinnons for betraying his family years ago and depriving him of his inheritance. While biding his time at a nearby inn, he discovers the death of the MacKinnon laird, whose widow has inherited everything. The way to accomplish his goal is becoming more evident, but the path is murkier than he could have foreseen.

As Christina’s and Lachlan’s lives intersect, it becomes clear that their separate aims may well only be achievable if they join forces. But to do so is to court more danger, and it requires a sacrifice Christina isn’t sure she’s prepared to make.

A false engagement. A mysterious coast. Two reluctant hearts.

Much to her father’s dismay, Miss Amelia Buxton aspires to become a spinster, just like her eccentric aunt. Growing up with parents who married for every reason but love, she has never seen a joyful marriage. When Amelia requests a summer trip to the legendary waters of Brighton, her father allows her the excursion, but with one requirement: she must return engaged, or agree to the proposal of the man of his choosing.

Crawling with tourists, Brighton is not the town Adam Claridge once loved. When his sister Eleanor disappears without warning, Adam is desperate to bring her home. In his search, he happens upon Miss Amelia Buxton, a young tourist who proves vital in his search for Eleanor. But Amelia is conducting a search of her own—a search for a husband, and Adam has little choice but to offer a fair trade: he will play the role of Amelia’s betrothed in exchange for her assistance in finding Eleanor.

Convenient at first, Amelia and Adam’s arrangement quickly plummets into disarray. Falling in love had not been part of their bargain.

Isabel Reed has promised to marry for love. At present, her heart belongs to the one companion she knows accepts all her eccentricities—her horse. So when her older brother threatens to trade the animal on a whim, Isabel must force aside her progressive beliefs and bargain to entertain her brother’s flirtatious, albeit handsome, friend, Lucas Lincroft, in exchange for keeping her horse.

Lucas is on the brink of madness—after a year’s worth of visits, he loves Isabel and is ready to propose. When it seems like she has finally come to feel the same, he foolishly believes he’s won her heart.

After a botched proposal from Lucas, Isabel makes it her mission to prove his affections for her are misplaced. But Lucas is determined not to give up his pursuit, and as Isabel comes to know him and his heart, she must work to save herself from losing not only her horse, but the most equal love match she never thought possible.

Dreams are precious commodities in the Blue Ridge Mountains of 1918, and Laurel McAdams is attempting to make hers come true, but sometimes life in the mountains has a way of squandering dreams. As she attempts to avoid matrimony, she is secretly saving for her future with the sole purpose of becoming a teacher and bringing consistent education back to “her people”.

Having failed his British father again by being unable to fight in the Great War, Jonathan Taylor joins his uncle’s missionary endeavors as a teacher in a two-room schoolhouse in Appalachia, but nothing prepares him for the rugged wilderness, narrow-minded natives, and…Laurel McAdams. Her joy and friendship prove a guiding light in the middle of his new responsibilities and tempt his timid heart toward a future she never expected.

But when Jonathan’s teaching methods lead to dangerous outcomes and Laurel’s dream is threatened by an unexpected choice, will these two learn how to find hope and maybe even love beyond the heartache? Can Jonathan and Laurel create a new dream from the shattered pieces of the old ones or will bitterness and brokenness keep them apart?

Grace Sinclair has been callously cast out of her home. And though taken in as an orphaned child by the vicar and his wife, her unsurpassed beauty makes it impossible for her to remain in the vicar’s household with two daughters of their own about to enter Society, the vicar and his wife see Grace as nothing but competition.

Thankfully, Grace’s estranged Aunt Bell has agreed to take her into her home in London. But Grace soon learns her situation has just gotten much worse. It takes only a moment’s acquaintance for Grace to ascertain that her aunt has married a detestable rake. And Aunt Bell, recognizing the danger of having her lovely niece too near her husband, gives Grace an the young woman has two weeks to find a man to marry, after which she will be turned out.

With no experience in the art of attracting a husband, Grace quickly realizes that a worthy suitor might not be so easy to ensnare.

He was only supposed to find her sister. Falling in love wasn’t part of the agreement.

Miss Dinah Ashmore has a problem. Her sister has gone missing, and the constable isn’t taking it seriously. She decides to take matters into her own hands by hiring a Bow Street Runner, not understanding the danger she has put herself in.

Nathaniel Calvert, Earl of Hawthorne, is an agent of the Crown. His assignment is to root out a radical group and bring them to justice. When Miss Ashmore mistakes him as a Bow Street Runner and explains her plight, he suspects that the missing sister might be connected to his case.

As Nathaniel works to stop the threat on the Crown, he realizes that Dinah isn’t content with just being brushed aside. She is determined to be part of the effort to bring her sister home, no matter what the costs are. When Dinah’s actions cause her life to be threatened, Nathaniel must keep her safe as he attempts to ignore their growing attraction. And when the truth is finally revealed, will Dinah be able to accept Nathaniel’s lies and trust that love will conquer all?

Sophia has three suitors vying for her hand, but the scandal behind her birth could ruin her reputation and her chance at love.

Sophia never expected to grow out of her awkwardness and be nicknamed society’s darling Golden-locks during her first London Season. Now, three of the most eligible men of the ton are invited to her house party in hopes of securing a most advantageous match. Shortly before they arrive, Sophia stumbles upon her birth record and an alarming discrepancy. She is determined to discover the identity of her real mother at all costs. Can she choose someone to marry before her secret is out, and her reputation is ruined forever?

Terrance is the second son of an Earl with no great inheritance and no abundance of charm. When pitted against his brother and his best friend as a suitor for Sophia’s hand, Terrance isn’t even going to pretend to be a contestant. Again and again, fate throws Terrance into Sophia’s path until Terrance realizes two things: Sophia is hiding something, and despite his stubborn nature, he is most definitely in love with her. If he chooses to fight for her, he’ll risk losing the brotherhood he’s relied on all his life.