Book picks similar to
Once a Mistress by Rebecca Hagan Lee


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A Fool Again


Eloisa James - 2011
    Now, a few years later, she attends the funeral of her elderly husband (not the man she ran away to marry) and who does she see but The One Who Got Away! Can they make their love work this time around or will Genevieve be A Fool Again?

The Wild One


Danelle Harmon - 1997
    When he takes a bullet for boldly thwarting a stagecoach robbery, he is stunned to discover that the beautiful young woman he has heroically rescued, Juliet Paige, is his deceased brother’s American fiancée, accompanied by her infant daughter. Despite his brother the duke's refusal to acknowledge Juliet, Gareth is determined to do right by the courageous woman who crossed an ocean to give her baby her rightful name. But Juliet is wary of marrying this black sheep aristocrat, even while she is hopelessly charmed by the dashing devil. Never has she met anyone who embraces life so thoroughly, who makes her laugh, who loves her so well. And, even when it seems the odds are against them, Juliet has absolute faith that Gareth will go beyond the call of duty, risking his life itself to give her and her daughter a home — and a love that will last a lifetime.

Midnight Marriage


Lucinda Brant - 2010
    To his delight, he discovers she is everything he’d hoped for. Unaware they are already married, Deb is content with her independent life. Julian’s challenge is to have her accept him on his merit, even though she has no choice at all. The future of the Roxton dukedom depends upon it.Set in the opulent world of the aristocracy and inspired by real events, Lucinda Brant delivers another lavish 18th-century experience in her trademark style—heart-wrenching drama with a happily ever after.

Shattered Dreams


Laura Landon - 2010
    When he is offered breeding rights to the Marquess of Fellingsdown’s prize Arabian, El Solidar, if for two weeks he acts as companion to Fellingsdown’s sister, he doesn’t care if the reclusive Lady Elyssa has three chins and a dozen hairy moles, the prize at the end is worth anything he has to endure. But when he meets the elusive Lady Elyssa Prescott, all thoughts of gaining a prize Arabian colt disappear. He realizes he’s met the woman of his dreams - if only he can keep her from discovering the deceit that brought them together and convince her that her imperfections don’t matter to him. Lady Elyssa Prescott knows what it’s like to be ridiculed and shunned. But when Brent Montgomery lets her glimpse a world where her limitations aren’t important, she believes it’s possible for her dreams to become a reality. Until she discovers the man with whom she’s fallen in love was ‘hired’ to offer her everything she’s always dreamed of having.The cruel reality of a love built on deceit shatters both their dreams and threatens to destroy their lives forever.

No Rest for the Wicked


Cora Lee - 2020
    By day, he practices law at the Four Courts and gives reading lessons to the local children. By night he’s the man in the mask, prowling the streets of The Liberties defending the people—his people—from those who would prey upon them. But when his estranged wife appears on his doorstep with a summons from Sir Arthur Wellesley, both of Michael’s worlds are turned upside down. What will happen to The Liberties if he obeys Sir Arthur’s command to meet in Cork? Can he even trust the woman who married then left him five years ago?As a spy for Sir Arthur Wellesley, Joanna Pearson Devlin has executed this same mission flawlessly many times before: locate the subject, transport him safely, and present him to her employer. When Sir Arthur sends her out one more time to bring in her estranged husband, Joanna knows this mission will be anything except flawless. But Napoleon’s agents are everywhere, and Michael is an important part of the team Sir Arthur is assembling to stop them. For the sake of her country, Joanna heads to Dublin even as her discomfort grows. Will she be able to put aside her uncertainties and convince her husband to join the fight? Can they learn to work together again if he agrees?

A Scandalous Wife


Ava Stone - 2011
    However he wasn’t prepared when his cad of brother ruined and then abandoned a young lady. To right the wrong, Robert married the girl himself; but his chivalry only went so far. He didn’t want a wife, and most certainly not a scandalous one. So after repeating his vows, he sent her packing, off to a secluded estate and expected her to stay put. After years of mistreatment at the hands of her family, Lydia was prepared to be an accommodating wife; but her rigid and unforgiving husband asked too much of her. After languishing for years in her opulent prison, Lydia leaves her country estate for the glamour and excitement of London—and unfortunately her husband’s path.

Royal Bridesmaids


Stephanie Laurens - 2012
    Then she learns she's paired with Robert Knightley . . . the fiancé who walked away.Gaelen Foley: The Imposter BrideLady Minerva must ensure her country's princess is wed to handsome Prince Tor. Then the bride bolts, and bridesmaid becomes—bride!Loretta Chase: Lord Lovedon's DuelWhen Chloe Sharp hears the handsome Earl of Lovedon say her sister's royal marriage is a match made in money, she challenges him to a duel—for love and honor.

Silver Storm


Cynthia Wright - 1979
    The irresistible Captain Raveneau agrees to take her to Virginia to find her childhood sweetheart, but fate has other plans. Through intrigue, misunderstandings, and swashbuckling sea battles, Devon and Andre are swept away by a love that won’t be denied.

A Question of Love


Angeline Fortin - 2011
    Cultured. Perfect. It was a lesson that proper Evelyn Ashley-Cooper had learned flawlessly over six oppressive years of marriage. Even when widowhood freed her from the prison her life had become, Eve still floundered under the veneer of perfection that her domineering husband demanded, unable to unleash the lively girl she once was from the confines of her prim exterior. But when her long-lost first love Francis MacKintosh, earl Glenrothes reappears in her life, Eve is tempted by the desire to escape her proper façade and the longing to truly live once again. Discovering that enticement alone cannot overrule years of tyranny, Eve struggles between her old self and the new, between yearning to be with him and a determination never to put herself under the thumb of another man - even one she discovers she still loves as much as her Glenrothes. Since meeting a vivacious, young Eve many years before, Francis MacKintosh has become a man embittered by life, by a wife who has made him a cuckold to the whole of Scotland and by a humiliating divorce that has rained scandal down upon the heads of himself and his family for years. Never had he thought that he would find Eve, his Eden, once again or that he would dare push aside his disdain of the fairer sex, to trust and love once more. But for Eve, for the love and happiness he is suddenly certain they can find only in each other, he finds himself willing to take a chance. If only he might convince his true love to do the same! Francis' seduction and ability to blend her proper side with the spirited Eve of years past lure the countess back to him but just when happiness seems but a step away, their mutual pasts will come crashing down around them attempting to tear them apart and Eve and Francis will have to risk their lives for a future together. The question remains, will their rediscovered love be enough to conquer all?

Guardian of Darkness


Kathryn Le Veque - 2012
    The Lady Carington Kerr is sent to Prudhoe as a hostage to ensure her father’s good behavior, and a more reluctant hostage there never was.Small and dark, with emerald eyes and a luscious figure, she is as gorgeous as she is fiery. Enter Sir Creed de Reyne. A gentle giant of a man, he is, by nature, calm and wise. He is the ice to Carington’s fire. As Carington resists the attempts to keep her in her English prison, Creed is placed in charge of the captive as both jailer and protector.But Creed is also as reluctant a protector as she is a hostage; six months prior, he had been given the important assignment of escorting Isabella of Angoulệme from France to England as the bride of King John. Isabella, a woman-child of twelve years, was smitten with Creed from the start. When he spurned her advances, she fabricated a story of Creed’s indiscretions against her and brought the king’s wrath upon him. Creed fled to Prudhoe and straight into another assignment guarding a firebrand of a young woman.Creed soon discovers that Carington is far different from the petty child who would become queen and against both his judgment and his wishes, he falls for the Scots lass. Suffering through tragedy and triumph, Creed and Carington have a love that only strengthens with each passing moment. Even when Creed is forced to flee for his life and leave Carington behind, their only thoughts are of being together again.With Isabella and King John closing in, Creed and Carington must fight for their very survival as two countries and a kingdom seek to separate them.

The Reluctant Duke's Dilemma


Trisha Messmer - 2020
    She longed to be free. Pressured by forces beyond their control, will they give in to forbidden desire?England, 1823. After establishing a successful practice in America, Dr. Harry Radcliffe swore he wouldn’t set foot on British soil again. But when he’s named the Duke of Ashton after his callous brother’s sudden death, he begrudgingly returns to the pretentious world he detests. And his pledge to his dying mother to find a wife is thrown into chaos when he meets his stunning sister-in-law.Margaret Radcliffe finally escaped her abusive marriage. Yet her late husband’s final cruel act left her penniless, with her only option to remarry... the one thing she vowed she’d never do again. But the new duke’s startlingly familiar features awaken yearnings she thought long-forgotten, dangling the heartbreaking whisper of a passion impossible to fulfill.Although convinced the accusations that she murdered her husband are only salacious gossip, Harry's real torment comes when he wishes for a union that would make them outcasts. But even when they finally submit to their simmering attraction, Margaret’s dream of happily-ever-after may be derailed by society’s schemes.Can a scandalous affair turn into a lifetime of love?The Reluctant Duke's Dilemma is the suspenseful first book in The Hope Clinic Regency romance series. If you like swoon-worthy heroes, uplifting humor, and heroines beating the odds, then you’ll adore Trisha Messmer’s tale of tortured hearts.

Heart of a Knight


Barbara Samuel - 1997
    After an arduous exile to flee the darkness and danger sweeping her lands, Lady Elizabeth D'Auvers returns home to Woodell Castle, yearning only for her looms and her quiet life. To her astonishment, she finds the castle and farmlands thriving, thanks to Lord Thomas of Roxburgh, a knight errant whose size and strength offer protection to Elizabeth's castle and its people. Yet chilling thoughts trouble her mind--for there is something mysterious about this man.

Borrowed Dreams


May McGoldrick - 2003
    Her only hope is a marriage—in name only—to the notorious widower the Earl of Aytoun. THE GROOM Devastated by the tragic accident that killed his wife and left him gravely wounded, Lyon Pennington, fourth Earl of Aytoun, is tormented by the accusations that blame him for the catastrophe. Filled with despair, he lets his mother lure him into a marriage of convenience—for the sake of a good-hearted woman on the verge of financial ruin.THE DESIREUnder Millicent’s gentle gaze, Lyon begins to regain his strength and his wounded heart begins to heal. And soon Millicent discovers that beneath his unruly beard and grim demeanor, Lyon just may be the most handsome—and caring—man she’s ever encountered. For the first time in her life, she realizes that she is alive—alive with a smoldering desire for the one man she’ll love forever…

Masquerade


Victoria Vale - 2015
    Her prospects are promising by the standards of London society, yet, not one of them causes her heart to flutter, or her head to fill with scintillating, forbidden fantasies. Those feelings are reserved for Camden Rycroft, Duke of Avonleah—a man who isn’t even aware of her existence.While attending a scandalous Vauxhall Gardens masquerade, Margaret finds herself in the duke’s arms. His promise of a night of pleasure is tempting, but is it worth it when Avonleah is a known rake notorious for his short attention span and avoidance of marriage?Camden Rycroft is intrigued by the masked vixen he encounters in the Gardens. After one night with her leaves him hungry for more, his desire for her turns into a fiery obsession. Despite the scandal that could ensue from their affair, he finds himself unable to extract himself from a situation destined to end in pain. When faced with losing Margaret to a potential husband, will he rise to the occasion, or risk living without her?

The Look of Love


Meara Platt - 2019
    A dingy old book tucked away in an old Regency London bookshop holds magic and love for those who use the 'recipes'! When Lady Olivia Gosling finds The Book of Love in a musty bookshop, she is most eager to try out its love “recipes” on someone safe. Did she say safe? Well, Beast isn’t really safe, but with her odious guardian about to marry her off to one of his unsavory friends, Olivia needs her childhood friend to fall in love with her... fast. If Beast can love her, then any man she chooses will surely do the same. Alexander Beastling, Duke of Hartford, is known as Beast among the ton. He is big and muscled, and there is a dark aura of mystery about him that he makes no effort to dispel. Now that he’s returned from battle, he’s appalled to learn of the marriage plans Lady Olivia’s loathsome guardian has for her. Beast has decided that he will help her find a proper husband, even if it means putting up with her ridiculous experiments taken out of a book she refers to as The Book of Love. Olivia calls them magical recipes for love. Is it possible they actually work? Because suddenly, Beast can’t seem to get Olivia out of his mind... or his heart. Read for FREE in Kindle Unlimited!