The Earl of Rutherford was handsome, rich and as adept at giving pleasure as he was avid in pursuing it. He was certain his conquest of Jessica Moore--a mere governess--would be swift and satisfying. But what he did not know was that Jessica planned to teach him a lesson in manners.

When Lord Darracott's eldest son dies in a sailing expedition, the old despot realises that he will have to send for the much despised grandson, Hugo. Hugo's father (the second son) had thumbed his nose on convention and had married the daughter of a weaver against his father's wishes. For this piece of impertinence, Lord Darracott, had barred son and family from Darracott Place and had forbade anyone to make any mention of either son or grandson in his hearing. But now, with the death of the heir, Hugo Darracott, much despised grandson of a weaver and son of an ungrateful child will become the next lord of all the Darracott lands, and the very thought of someone with so much unworthy blood in his veins stepping into his shoes is making Lord Darracott feel bilious.

New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens presents a brash, bold new series.They're battle-hardened, sinfully wealthy, completely unstoppable – and all male: Four officers of the Crown, fighting against a deadly foe known only as the Black Cobra.He is a man who has faced peril without flinching, determined to fight for king and country.She is a bold, beautiful woman with a scandalous past, destined to become an untamed bride.Together they must vanquish the ruthless enemy, while confronting the dangers of the heart…

Highland Pleasures 5.5 A WOMAN OF BREEDING MEETS A MAN OF NO STANDING…To redeem her family’s disgraced name, Lady Louisa Scranton has decided to acquire a proper husband. He needs to be a man of fortune and highly respectable in order to restore both her family's lost wealth and reputation. She enters the Marriage Mart with all flags flying, determined to find the right bachelor.But Louisa’s hopes are dashed when the Bishop of Hargate drops dead at her feet—and she is shockingly accused of murder! Soon, Louisa’s so-called friends begin shunning her, because the company of a suspected killer is never desirable in polite society.The problem comes to the ears of Detective Inspector Lloyd Fellows, by-blow of the decadent Scottish Mackenzie family and an inspector for Scotland Yard. He has shared two passionate kisses with Lady Louisa–and vows to clear her name. For not only does he know she’s innocent, he recognizes he’s falling for the lovely lady.Fellows is Louisa's only hope of restoring her family's honor—and it is he alone who intrigues Louisa in a way that may be even more scandalous than murder…

A GENIUS WITH A TERRIBLE LOSS...Gifted pianist Valentine Windham, youngest son of the Duke of Moreland, has little interest in his father's obsession to see his sons married, and instead pours passion into his music. But when Val loses his music, he flees to the country, alone and tormented by what has been robbed from him.A WIDOW WITH A HEARTBREAKING SECRET...Grieving Ellen Markham has hidden herself away, looking for safety in solitude. Her curious new neighbor offers a kindred lonely soul whose desperation is matched only by his desire, but Ellen's devastating secret could be the one thing that destroys them both.Together they'll find there's no rescue from the past, but sometimes losing everything can help you find what you need most.

But this time the gossip columnists have it wrong. Anthony Bridgerton hasn't just decided to marry-he's even chosen a wife! The only obstacle is his intended's older sister, Kate Sheffield-the most meddlesome woman ever to grace a London ballroom. The spirited schemer is driving Anthony mad with her determination to stop the betrothal, but when he closes his eyes at night, Kate is the woman haunting his increasingly erotic dreams…Contrary to popular belief, Kate is quite sure that reformed rakes do not make the best husbands-and Anthony Bridgerton is the most wicked rogue of them all. Kate is determined to protect her sister-but she fars her own heart is vulnerable. And when Anthony's lips touch hers, she's suddenly afraid she might not be able to resist the reprehensible rake herself…

Journeying from England to Scotland to wed a highlander, Lady Brenna was resigned to the arranged match. But when a band of fierce, painted warriors captured her en route, she fearlessly met their demand to marry their leader—the quick-tempered laird Connor MacAlister. She couldn't know that her capture was merely the first act of vengeance against her betrothed, Connor's sworn enemy... Nor could she deny that she had once proposed to MacAlister years ago, as a child charmed by his dazzling, unexpected smile. Now, chosen to bear the laird a son, Brenna is caught in the crossfire of a furious clan war—with the gallant hero she has come to love at its fiery center.

Second Sight And Seduction…Daniel Mackenzie lives up to the reputation of the scandalous Mackenzie family—he has wealth, looks, and talent, and women love him. When he meets Violet Bastien—one of the most famous spiritual mediums in England—he immediately knows two things: that Miss Bastien is a fraud, and that he’s wildly attracted to her.Violet knows she can’t really contact the other side, but she’s excellent at reading people. She discerns quickly that Daniel is intelligent and dangerous to her reputation, but she also finds him generous, handsome, and outrageously wicked. But spectres from Violet’s past threaten to destroy her, and she flees England, adopting yet another identity.Daniel is determined to find the elusive Violet and pursue the passion he feels for her. And though Violet knows that her scandalous past will keep her from proper marriage, her attraction to Daniel is irresistible. It’s not until Daniel is the only one she can turn to that he proves he believes in something more than cold facts. He believes in love.

From London’s ballrooms to its sizzling bedrooms, award-winning author Jillian Hunter spins a seductive dance of desire and breathtaking romance.Lord Griffin Boscastle has no intention of ending his glorious career as a rakehell now that he has inherited a dukedom. Still, there are responsibilities he must discharge before his pleasures resume, including finding a bride, and depositing his incorrigible niece at a relative’s academy outside London. It is at this so-very-proper finishing school that flame-haired instructress Harriet Gardner awakens in Griffin emotions so dangerously intoxicating that he must avoid her at all cost. Yet when Harriet finds work in the townhouse where Griffin resides, her presence tempts him at every turn.Harriet has survived London’s streets far too long to let an arrogant duke woo a bride he doesn’t want when she desires him for herself, and she has seen too much of life not to recognize a man ripe for redemption. But just as Harriet finds the perfect cure for His Lordship’s devilish ways, a vindictive enemy intervenes, and the duke whom Harriet has plotted to save suddenly becomes her devoted protector.

Albert is dead and the queen is preparing to spend the rest of her life in mourning. Yet the last years of her reign are to be momentous years.Palmerston, then Gladstone and Disraeli, govern her empire through the high noon of its heyday.The court at Windsor, Balmoral, Osborne or Buckingham Palace is perpetually shocked by the Prince of Wales, forever in pursuit of horses, women and scandal, the heady harbinger of Edwardian years to come.

Four of the five daughters of England's Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were regal, genteel, and everything a princess should be. But one was rebellious, scandalous, and untamed.This is her story. . . .To the court and subjects of Queen Victoria, young Princess Louise—later the Duchess of Argyll—was the "Wild One." Proud and impetuous, she fought the constraints placed on her and her brothers and sisters, dreamed of becoming an artist, and broke with a three-hundred-year-old tradition by marrying outside of the privileged circle of European royals. Some said she wed for love. Others whispered of a scandal covered up by the Crown. It will take a handsome American, recruited by the queen's elite Secret Service, to discover the truth. But even as Stephen Byrne—code name the Raven—vows to risk his life to protect the royal family from violent Irish radicals, he tempts Louise with a forbidden love that could prove just as dangerous.In the vein of Philippa Gregory, Mary Hart Perry tells the riveting story of an extraordinary woman—a princess who refused to give up on her dreams, including her right to true love.

In this daring and provocative literary parody which has captured the interest and imagination of a nation, Alice Randall explodes the world created in GONE WITH THE WIND, a work that more than any other has defined our image of the antebellum South. Taking sharp aim at the romanticized, whitewashed mythology perpetrated by this southern classic, Randall has ingeniously conceived a multilayered, emotionally complex tale of her own - that of Cynara, the mulatto half-sister, who, beautiful and brown and born into slavery, manages to break away from the damaging world of the Old South to emerge into full life as a daughter, a lover, a mother, a victor. THE WIND DONE GONE is a passionate love story, a wrenching portrait of a tangled mother-daughter relationship, and a book that "celebrates a people's emancipation not only from bondage but also from history and myth, custom and stereotype" (San Antonio Express-News).

In the harsh wilderness of colonial Massachusetts, Martha Allen works as a servant in her cousin’s household, taking charge and locking wills with everyone. Thomas Carrier labors for the family and is known both for his immense strength and size and mysterious past. The two begin a courtship that suits their independent natures, with Thomas slowly revealing the story of his part in the English Civil War. But in the rugged new world they inhabit, danger is ever present, whether it be from the assassins sent from London to kill the executioner of Charles I or the wolves-in many forms-who hunt for blood. A love story and a tale of courage, The Wolves of Andover confirms Kathleen Kent’s ability to craft powerful stories of family from colonial history.

HOW COULD SHE LOVE A MAN WHOM SHE COULD ONLY DESPISE?How could Lady Helen Wade possibly love a gentleman like William Mainwaring handsome and wealthy as he might be?How could she love this object of her two older sisters matrimonial designs?How could she love this cad who was shockingly involved with another man's wife?How could she love this rogue who shamelessly employed his seductive skills on an innocent young country miss he came upon in the woods…especially when he was so successful in planting Eros's arrows and when his willing victim was Helen herself…?******************************************************************* The Sinful SuitorMiss Helen Wade had been driven to the limits of self-restraint. Mr. William Mainwaring simply would not abandon his pursuit of her-and his campaign to reconquer the heart he had so sinfully won and then so shamelessly abandoned was casting a dark shadow over Helen's glittering London Season. Now, when he informed her that she had been acting most unladylike toward him, her patience snapped."Mr. Mainwaring," she informed him, "when I refused to dance or converse with you at the marquess's ball, I believed, I had made it clear that I had no wish to renew our acquaintance. And when you came to me with your insulting offer of marriage, I thought I had made it abundantly obvious that I both hate and despise you. I had no wish to see you last night, I had no wish to drive with you this afternoon-and I should be happy never to see you again."That, she told herself, should be that.Except that it wasn't…

At four in the morning, the night of his twenty-fifth birthday, Baron Montford finds himself quite sauced with a large group of gentlemen in his library. Spurred on by revelry, pride, and drink, Montford takes on a wager he'll soon regret: to successfully seduce the virtuous Katherine Huxtable within the coming fortnight. The Huxtables have recently fallen into a great deal of wealth and prominence, and Katherine Huxtable knows that she's been lucky in every way but one. Despite her great beauty and newfound life of leisure, Katherine believes she is not made for passion or romance. She has avoided any suitors and all men of the ton, Lord Montford most of all due to his notoriety of as a dangerous rakehell. With a sour reputation, Baron Montford certainly has a steep hill to climb - will he lose his wager or perhaps even his heart?

Henry and Catherine Tilney are content with their married life: a comfortable parsonage, their dogs, and one another. The idea of returning to Bath a year after they first met there seems like it can only add to their happiness; but Catherine finds that Bath still carries social dangers that she must learn to navigate. What is the nature of Henry's past relationship with a beautiful young woman? Why is a rakish baronet paying Catherine such particular attention? Is General Tilney going to marry the woman known in Bath as The Merry Widow — and what did she have to do with her husband's death? And will Henry ever be able to keep his Newfoundland out of the river? Revisit the winter pleasures of Georgian Bath with your favorite characters from Jane Austen's hilarious Northanger Abbey, and prepare for a bit of romance, a bit of mystery, and a very nice story indeed!

One of the most beloved romantic heroes in all of literature, Fitzwilliam Darcy remains an enigma even to Jane Austen's most devoted fans. No longer. With this concluding volume in the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy, novelist and Austen aficionada Pamela Aidan at last gives readers the man in full. These Three Remain follows a humbled Darcy on the journey of self-discovery, after Elizabeth Bennet's rejection of his marriage proposal, in which he endeavors to grow into the kind of gentleman he desires to become. Happily, a chance meeting with Elizabeth during a tour of his estate in Derbyshire offers Darcy a new opportunity to press his suit, but his newfound strengths are put to the test by an old nemesis, George Wickham.  Vividly capturing the colorful historical and political milieu of the Regency era, Aidan writes in a style evocative of her literary progenitor, but with a wit and humor very much her own. While staying faithful to the people and events in Austen's original, she adds her own fascinating cast of characters, weaving a rich tapestry out of Darcy's past and present that will beguile his admirers anew.

En dépit de ses origines bâtardes, le jeune Thibaut de Courtenay ne doute pas de sa bonne étoile : il est l'ami et l'écuyer en titre du prince héritier Baudouin IV. Jamais la cour de Jérusalem n'avait connu un personnage royal d'une telle noblesse ! Dès le début de son règne, en 1176, le peuple entier l'aime et le vénère comme un saint. Seul son génie est capable de tenir en échec les furieux assauts de l'armée de Saladin contre les terres chrétiennes. Hélas, une lèpre ronge le corps de Baudouin depuis qu'il a neuf ans ; il dépérit et partage en secret son pouvoir avec Thibaut. Mais qu'arrivera-t-il si le fidèle compagnon est fait prisonnier par l'ennemi et que le fragile roi se retrouve seul à protéger Jérusalem et tous les saints trésors qu'elle abrite ?