In Fourteenth Century England, landless knights are forced to obey the ruthless monarch without question. Sir Andrew Brandham, knight of the Realm and captain of the Elite Guard of Ragnorsen Keep is called to do just that. When his best friend, Sir Erik Ragnorsen is commanded to nullify his marriage to the beautiful Rhianna Du Montefort because they have yet to produce an heir, Sir Andrew accompanies him to do battle with the will of the king. Erik is being forced to marry the daughter of a Scottish Laird in order to form a tenuous Peace between the Highlanders and England. The idea of divorcing his beloved wife to marry a loathsome Scot is beyond Erik’s vow of obedience and honor. He is imprisoned for his impulsive disobedience and Drew is left to form a scheme to save his friend. When he sees the Scottish lass who has been chosen for Sir Erik, he is instantly drawn to her and while his plan unfolds to aid Erik, Drew forms a friendship with Bronwyn, daughter of the Laird and High Chief of the Clan MacCollum. Bronwyn MacCollum was raised in the Highlands, where the past is steeped in traditions of the “Old Ways”. A long time ago, Bronwyn had a vision of her intended, but realizing he was an Englishman, she vowed to change her destiny. The English were always the enemies of her people and she would not bring danger to her beloved clan. Only, she becomes a pawn in the sadistic game of the King of England and Robert the Bruce and is being forced to marry an English knight after all. Upon seeing the man she is betrothed to, she knew her vision had been false because he looked nothing like the man who had invaded her dreams since childhood. With vehement disregard for the king’s decree, she declares her hatred for Sir Erik Ragnorsen and would rather risk war than to marry him. Only, when she meets Sir Erik’s personal guard, Bronwyn realizes that sometimes you cannot fight what is destined from the start. Sir Andrew Brandham was familiar; more than familiar. He was the man of her visions and nothing she could do could make her deny it. Bronwyn and Drew are filled with distrust and betrayal seeps into both of their hearts. They suffer through many storms that batter their hearts and souls like rocks at the edge of the tempestuous sea. Can their love survive the lies and heartache they are each guilty of? Can Bronwyn escape the Destiny and the pull of the Old Ways and create a path without Drew or will love help them both to embrace the course Destiny has chosen?

    Georgia Briscoe, a young woman from a good family, is unwillingly betrothed to businessman Drew Kemp when she falls for handsome British sailor Ellis Cowper. Drew had the charm to dazzle everyone around him, but when the couple are married, it soon transpires that Drew's charm is only skin-deep, and that he is in fact a greedy gambling addict with a penchant for other women, including Georgia's maid Maura and jealous sister Prudence. When Georgia and Maura become pregnant, both women decide to escape to be with the men they love, providing Prudence with an opportunity to seize Drew -- and much more besides. London, 1948. When Chrissie Kemp travels to the Lake District to visit her grandmother Georgia, she is not prepared for the shocking revelation that is about to throw her family into turmoil. As a last act of vengeance on her death bed, Prudence claims that Chrissie's mother Vanessa and her late father Aaran are brother and sister. As the truth unfurls, the passion, emotion and astounding love that occurred in San Francisco forty years ago is revealed, and three generations of the family are tested to their limits.

    When Highland patriot Connor Fraser comes to her aid, his steadfast dedication to king and country is challenged by his overwhelming desire to protect Cailin—even if he must marry her to do so. Accused of murdering one of her attackers and determined to rely on her own resourcefulness, Cailin dresses as a lad, intent on seeking refuge at the camp of Robert the Bruce. Can she elude an enemy from her past—a vindictive English lord bent on her utter demise—or will she fall prey to his carnal intent and be executed for a crime she did not commit?

    All it takes is a spark of Highland magic."Make me a lady, and I'll make ye a Highlander." –Mad Annie Tulloch, Scottish lass"Challenge accepted." –John Huxley, English gentlemanNo lady can tempt him more than the next shoreEveryone wants handsome adventurer John Huxley to settle down—family, friends, London society. Everyone except John. He's evaded too many scheming title huntresses to trust in happily-ever-after. Now, a vow made to a dying friend has him locked in a land dispute with a stubborn Scot who offers one way out: Win the Highland Games. John likes a challenge, but this one's impossible. Still, with training from the Scot's stepdaughter, victory might be within reach. He only has to teach the fiery, foul-mouthed, breeches-wearing lass how to land a lord. It seems "impossible" is just getting started.She's no lady—she's Mad Annie TullochEveryone calls her Mad Annie. True, her best friend is a ghost. And yes, her greatest talents involve cooking for giants and taunting ridiculously handsome Englishmen. But she's not mad—she's desperate. To save her friend, Annie must marry a lord. The trouble is, no lord will look twice at a hoyden like her. This calls for "Lady Lessons," and she knows just the uptight Englishman to provide them.When did a simple bargain become a battle of desire?Amidst cursed castles, caber tossing, and questionable chaperones, John and Annie's wildfire attraction threatens to send their plans up in flames. And when Annie's family is targeted by a dangerous enemy, John is tempted to stay, to fight, and to win the greatest prize of all: A fiery lass's tender, loyal heart.

    The Bride sweeps readers back to the savage beauty of medieval Scotland.... By the king's edict, Alec Kincaid, mightiest of the Scottish lairds, must take an English bride. And Jaime the youngest daughter of Baron Jamison, is his choice. From his first glimpse of the proud and beautiful English lady, Alec felt a burning hunger stir within him. This was a woman worthy of his fearless warrior's spirit. And he aches to touch her, tame her, possess her...forever. But with the wedding vows, Jamie pledges her own secret oath: She will never surrender her love to this Highland barbarian. He was everything her heart warned her against -- an arrogant, brooding scoundrel whose rough good looks and seductive embrace fire her blood. But when strange accidents begin to threaten Jamie's life and an old rumor that Alec killed his first wife spreads anew, something far more dangerous than desire threatens to conquer her senses. With all the storytelling power and insight into the human heart that have made her one of the bestselling authors of our time, Julie Garwood takes readers on an unforgettable romantic journey rich in humor, suspense, and historical detail.

    With her flame-bright red hair, sharp tongue, and strange gift of second-sight, no man wanted her. But the devil would take her. Bartered as a bride to her father's long-sworn enemy, the nobly born Highlander Duncan MacKenzie of Kintail, she had no choice but to enter a marriage with a man rumored to have murdered his first wife and said to possess neither heart nor soul. Forbidding and proud, Duncan MacKenzie wanted only one thing from his new bride—to use her special gift to determine if young Robbie was truly his son. He never expected the MacDonnell lass to stubbornly follow her heart, chase away the darkness in his castle with light and laughter, and ignite a raging fire in his blood. How dare she defy him, and tempt a devil like him to feel what he feared most of all—love! From an exciting new voice in romantic fiction comes a story as tempestuous, colorful, and passionate as medieval Scotland itself...Devil in a Kilt.

    But never could she give herself completely to the handsome and dangerous laird Jamie MacKinnion - the most feared man in the Scottish highlands.The captive prize of Jamie's sword, Sheena struggles in vain to escape the desire awakened by his touch. And though pride insists she hate her dashing enemy, Sheena's heart begs her to yield...and to surrender to Jamie's passionate love.

    The youngest daughter of an English lord at war, she is shaken by the arrival of a mysterious stranger to her father's castle. Could this breathtaking man be Emily's yearned-for lover? Indeed, Draven de Montague, Earl of Ravenswood, has come for Emily...but romance has nothing to do with it.In the Tender Embrace of an Enemy...Draven would never have entered the home of his most hated adversary had not the King himself ordered him to take in his foe's daughter for a year to forge bonds of peace between their two feuding houses. Worse still, here is a lass whose exquisite loveliness could tempt Draven to betray his sworn vow never to let another close to his heart. Emily knows the searing heat of her passion could burn down the defenses of this proud warrior. But will the surrender of the sweet nectar of his lips and his bold, sensuous caress ignite a blaze so hot it consumes them both?

    Five years after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Lepanto, a ship steals unnoticed into Venice bearing a deadly cargo. A man more dead than alive disembarks and staggers into Piazza San Marco. He brings a gift to Venice from Constantinople. Within days the city is infected with bubonic plague—and the Turkish Sultan has his revenge. But the ship also holds a secret stowaway—Feyra, a young and beautiful harem doctor fleeing a future as the Sultan's concubine. Only her wits and medical knowledge keep her alive as the plague ravages Venice. In despair the Doge commissions the architect Andrea Palladio to build the greatest church of his career—an offering to God so magnificent that Venice will be saved. But Palladio's own life is in danger too, and it will require all skills of medico Annibale Cason, the city's finest plague doctor, to keep him alive. But what Annibale had not counted on was meeting Feyra, who is now under Palladio's protection, a woman who can not only match his medical skills but can also teach him how to care.

    Treachery. Revenge. Redemption. Certain themes resonate across the centuries. Odin’s Shadow is the first book in a series of three about a young Irish woman and the two Viking brothers who love her. The novel is set against the harsh backdrop of the Viking era in the 9th century, a time when the sight of a Viking longship sailing up the coast of Ireland would chill the blood of any man, woman or child. One young Irish woman, however, is not afraid of these Northmen, and a fateful encounter with one of them changes the course of her life forever. Selia is a girl on the verge of womanhood, frustrated by the confines of her gender and resentful of the freedom her brother boasts of. She is intelligent and resourceful in a time when neither is valued in a female, and longs for an escape from her sheltered existence. Selia is fascinated by the tales of Viking raids told by her maidservant, and her hunger for independence is fed through the stories of heathen ferocity she hears at the woman’s knee. A decision to sneak to the city’s harbor to view the Viking longships leads to an encounter with Alrik Ragnarson, a charismatic Viking warlord whose outward beauty masks a dark and tortured mind. With the knowledge that her father is about to announce her betrothal to a man she doesn’t love, Selia marries Alrik and within a day is on the longship bound for Norway and a new life. As Selia’s relationship with her new husband grows, her friendship with his brother Ulfrik grows as well. The tension mounts between the two men, and as Alrik’s character flaws come to light Selia begins to have misgivings about her hasty marriage. Ulfrik’s desperate love for Selia causes him to reveal a secret from the past that threatens to destroy them all, and Selia is left to make a heart rending choice between the two Viking brothers.

    Desperate for an heir, he proposed a handfasting: a Scottish custom whereby a man can lawfully take a woman into his bed, then, after a year and a day, the couple can either wed or part. Any child of that union is deemed legitimate. Jane had no choice but to surrender to the invader's knowing touch...Fearless on the battlefield, Lynx was afraid to love. But Jane slowly stole into his heart. And as the fires of war raged around them, amid treacherous foes and brilliant intrigues, who would have thought that two such unlikely partners would fall in love--or that their breathless passion for each other would outlast...

    When Court turns on the evil general, Pascal orders him killed, but Court narrowly escapes and exacts revenge by kidnapping Pascal's exquisite Castilian fiancée.Can she deny her passions?Lady Annalía Tristán Llorente despises her towering, barbaric captor almost as much as she does Pascal. Her inexplicable attraction to the Highlander only fuels her fury. But nothing will stop her from returning to Pascal—for if she doesn't wed him, she signs her brother's death warrant, as well as her own.Can there be love between them?From the moment Court discovers that Anna's prim façade masks a fiery, brave lass, his heart's ensnared, and he dares to defy the curse that has shadowed his life—to walk with death or walk alone. But Pascal vows that he'll hunt the two, never stopping until he's destroyed them both.

    If she marries, she wants to be loved for the educated, independent woman she is. But when a strong, silent—and spectacularly handsome—Highlander saves her from a violent attack, her heart is stirred. Who is this man? And if he asks for Hannah’s hand, will she be able to resist him?Love is the most powerful weapon of all.Alexander Lochlannach, Laird of Dunnet, has no time to lose. The Highlands are in an uproar as clans battle for land—without mercy—and Alexander can’t afford to fall for the wildly attractive, strong-willed Hannah. What’s more, he has a desperate secret, one that could destroy them both. But as their attraction turns into an all-consuming passion, Alexander has no choice but to prove to Hannah that he’s the only man for her—body and soul…

    Battling the French in a no-holds-barred combat, they forged a new brand of honor, became a new breed of men...MacKinnon's RangersIain MacKinnon had been forced to serve the British crown, but compassion urged him to save the lovely lass facing certain death at the hands of the Abenaki. He'd defied his orders, endangered his brothers, his men and his mission, all for a woman. But when he held Annie's sweet body in his arms, he could feel no regret. Though he sensed she was hiding something from him, it was too late to hold back his heart. In love and war, there are times when the only course of action is...Surrender.

    BOLD. BRAVE. Laird Gavynn MacEuann's a man of action and skill. Both in battle and with the lasses. Notorious for towering strength and matchless features, he takes what he wants and never loses - but conquering this particular castle is easy compared with claiming and then controlling the beautiful, spike-tongued lass he frees by mistake.STUNNING. SPOILED. STUBBORN. Lady Brielle Dilbin is headstrong. Proud. She'd rather molder in a dungeon than accept her father's will. If the mud-covered Highlanders would give her a moment, she'd tell them so. Or make their leader understand. Or do something other than deal with passions and forbidden lusts that no gently-bred lady should have to endure; especially connected to the man who orders her silence and then demands obedience as well. --short story originally published in the Mammoth Book of Scottish Romance, Jan 2011EXCERPTShe'd be the death of him yet.Gavynn ducked his head before pulling back up and sliding his hands along his hair to sluice water, ignoring where the lass stood, arms wrapped about her while she shivered in place. The burn was hip-deep on him. Cold, clean, fast moving, and difficult to hear over. Gavynn amended that. He couldn't hear much over his own heartbeat. All of it made him vulnerable. This wasn't a good idea, but he hadn't had one since meeting her. His chest and belly were tender with bruising, his muscles throbbed with the work he'd forced on them, and the woman's linen under-dress was as useless as a film of white mist would be.She was true beauty; in form as well as face. Well-formed. Lush. Curved in all the proper places. Possessing heavy, hand-filling breasts, a narrow waist, and hips well-rounded to greet and satisfy a man. When she'd bent forward to wash her face, his groan almost made it through clenched lips. Gavynn grabbed hand-scoops of water, angrily splashing cold and wet all over. Then he bent his knees, dipping to his armpits in chill. All in an effort to divert the pressure building in his groin as blood filled the area, engorging and hardening, and angering him with how little his mind controlled anything.Nothing worked. He couldn't keep his eyes and thoughts off her. Gavynn lifted his head to the twilit sky, close to howling his frustration. And when he brought his head back down he got a full dose of his utter stupidity. He hadn't even heard them. Gavynn sent the curses soundlessly before rising to face a solid wall of armor-clad men atop horses. They carried torches. Possessed full weaponry. And all he claimed was the sword at his back.