Angela

It is part of an anthology. I am almost certain one story was by Merrill Lovelace and another by Julia Justiss.

Here is what I remember: The hero is on night duty somewhere in France or Belgium, I guess towards the end of the war. His brother has passed and he has inherited an earldom/viscountcy. His brother left a widow and tow daughters. Hero gets shot by a sniper and brought to camp.

He is deadly afraid of dying before settling his SIL and nieces as the heir next in line is either a meany or a spendthrift. His officer friends come up with the idea of him marrying and at least settling all finances onto his own potential widow with a view that his own widow would look after SIL and the nieces. And if he lived, they could annul the marriage.

With the regiment is another officer whose wife and daughter are billeted with him. The daughter is a widow and the heroine. She was married to an Lord of some kind who had married her with a view of her inheritance and in the hope that monies would be dispensed quickly. When that did not happen, he was rather mean to the heroine. I am not sure from where the inheritance would have come, only that it had ties to trade.

His friends persuade the heroine to go along and the medic and she do what they can for the hero, keeping him alive until the doctor could come (not sure where he had been).

Hero begins to very much like the heroine and refused to get an annulment, even after he discusses it with her. So he tries it the sneaky way by prolonging their time together and asking her to come to port with him where a bishop reside who could give the annulment.

The heroine decides to snatch a night of bliss, pretending to be her own maid and when the hero the next morning things all is well, she kind of implies that she is in love with the doctor.

Hero lets her be and boards the ship back for England. The doctor is on it too. Hero makes a few snarky remarks which the doctor can't understand but things he is wishing him well for the future with his bride who is of course not the heroine but is waiting at home for the doctor.

Hero returns to the hotels and all ends well.

Can someone help? I know I have the book, I just can't find it. Thanks All.