Who would want such a woman? Obviously no one. For here she was, eighteen and now of age to set out on her own. But New Orleans was full of men with evil intent for one such as herself, and she saw no other choice but to take the only offer for survival she could find and become a mail order bride. What she didn't count on was becoming Sheriff Clayton Riley's Christmas present!

    She has been sold to the highest bidder so that she may produce an heir for the devilishly handsome and arrogant Earl and she is outraged. How can she have any respect or feelings for a man whose reputation is that of a complete wastrel and philanderer? She resolves to resist him at all costs yet Sophia is totally unprepared for the exquisite pleasure she experiences from her husband’s wicked hands as he introduces her to a world of sexual delight she had no idea existed. For Ralph, when his cousin had suggested he take a wife to heal the rift in his family, it had seemed the perfect solution to his problems. However, he hadn’t counted on choosing someone as spiritedly passionate as Sophia and something inside of him reacts to her in a way that disconcerts him. What started out as a necessary chore soon becomes an exciting challenge as he determines to do what he does best - seduce his young wife and put an end to the estrangement that exists between them. But why is Sophia’s good opinion becoming increasingly important to him? And why does he feel the compulsive need to convince her that he is not the unsavoury character she believes him to be?

     Lord Harry Marlow reluctantly attends a Christmas house party hosted by his brother and his sister-in-law, who also happens to be the woman he once longed to wed himself. He’s not pleased by the prospect of holly and mistletoe and merrymaking any more than he is with the reminder of the love he could have had. But his dismay doesn’t last for long when a mysterious stranger in the midst of a blizzard captures his interest. Lady Alexandra Danvers is unabashedly eccentric. Nothing and no man interests her more than her scientific pursuits. Until she meets the sinfully handsome Lord Harry, that is. When sparks fly between the unlikely pairing, scandal isn’t far behind. Will Lord Harry and Lady Alexandra find true love together by Christmas day? Length: novella Note: Previously appeared in the collection Seduced Under the Mistletoe. This is an extended version never before published.

     This first episode of The Montana Brides introduces Violet, Iris and Rose Kilburn, Heiresses to the Kilburn family cattle fortune. Rocking Horse Ranch runs five thousand head of cattle but all the ranch hands are getting old. The sisters need someone to run the ranch, so the eldest sister Violet hatches the idea of getting mail order husbands for the three of them. There’s only one problem. Cornell Pollard, the sisters’ guardian and the executor of their estate, doesn’t approve. Violet must challenge Pollard and her own role as his ally to find love and gain control over her own life. The sisters pick up their prospective grooms from the train station and bring them back to the Ranch. The men stay in a neighboring house until the minister comes at the end of the week to marry them all. Things quickly start to go wrong. Everybody starts butting heads, and Violet finds herself embroiled in a family drama the likes of which Rocking Horse Ranch has never seen before. Will Violet’s plan to get married end in disaster, or can she and her sisters find love with a group of strange men? Are these men what they appear to be, or is something more sinister at work?

    She'd been raised to bake in her parents' bakery, and after their deaths, she had planned to carry on the family tradition. Devastated to find out she was losing her family's business, she needed something to do to support herself. When she received a letter from her twin sister's husband in Arizona Territory, suggesting she come out to be the bride of his best friend who was opening a restaurant, it seemed like the perfect solution to her problems. Tripp had gone to the best culinary school in the country, and he knew exactly how to create the perfect meal. He spent hours and hours coming up with just the right menu for his restaurant, only to be told he couldn't get a loan for it unless he married. When his best friend came up with the solution of sending for his baker sister-in-law, it only made sense. Her ideas of the perfect menu were different than his, though. Would the two be able to stay together long enough to convince the bank he was a good risk? Would Sadie be able to convince Tripp that the two of them belonged together after all? The Wrangler's Mail Order Bride Clara had spent most of her life working in her friend Sadie's bakery in cold, snowy Chicago. Until Sadie lost the bakery and moved to Arizona to marry a man, sight unseen. Soon after, Clara was at a crossroads when her brother announced that he and his wife were moving to New York City and she should go with them. She’d also received a letter from Sadie asking her to be the bride of a friend of theirs, a horse wrangler. As Clara had just had an interesting experience with some horses in the cold, a move to warm Arizona Territory instead of New York City was a more appealing adventure. Hank had spent his life on the open trail, driving cattle across state lines for his father, a gentleman rancher. He’d spent many long days and quiet nights out under the stars, working with horses and molding them to be the best they could be. Now, he was ready to leave the trail and do what he loved—train horses. When his grandfather passed away, leaving him property that would be perfect for horse-wrangling, he thought his problems were solved. There was one catch, though—a big one. He couldn’t inherit the property unless he was married. Clara was suggested as a possible bride and he gratefully agreed. He had no idea his bride knew more about horses than he realized. And about people. When a tragedy threatens his fledgling business, Hank must decide between his father’s wishes that he stay on the trail, or his dream for his own future. Would his father succeed in tearing them apart or would Clara be able to convince Hank that the two of them belonged together after all? The Bartender's Mail Order Bride Nutmeg Archer has had enough of being invisible in a family of six girls—especially since the man she’s pining for doesn’t notice her, either. When she finds out he needs a mail-order bride in a hurry, she hatches a plan to get him to notice her, one way or another. Sam Allen gave up his career ambitions and left New York for Tombstone, Arizona, and a new start. He enjoys his job as a bartender—and is very good at it. But because he knew his mother would not approve, he told a white lie that he never thought would be found out. When his high-society mother unexpectedly decides to make a trip to visit, he needs to make that fib a reality—and fast. Sam is dismayed to discover that he has only one positive response to his ad—and to say that he is surprised by who it is is an understatement.

    His chiseled good looks and imposing physique are sure to impress the lady-in-waiting, and if it weren’t for his shocking American ways and wild reputation, her hand would already be guaranteed.Before the courtship can begin, Rafe realizes he must learn the rules of London society. But when four former Wallfowers try their hand at matchmaking, no one knows what will happen. And winning a bride turns out to be more complicated than Rafe Bowman anticipated, especially for a man accustomed to getting anything he wants. However, Christmas works in the most unexpected ways, changing a cynic to a romantic and inspiring passion in the most timid of hearts.

    A girl disguised as a boy.A villain with a brothel to fill.A hero wondering why he’s in love with a lad in breeches.Serving murder, mayhem and pies, Stealing Mercy is a romantic adventure set in 1889 on the eve of the Great Seattle Fire when more than the city is set on fire.

    But when her lightkeeper father rescues a young man from the lake, her sheltered world is turned upside down.Bestselling author Jody Hedlund's Out of the Storm is her first ever novella and introduces readers to Beacons of Hope, a new series set in the 1800s amid the romance, history, and danger surrounding the Great Lakes lighthouses of Michigan.

    Given the nature of the hostess’s eccentric relatives ,they will be played by a troupe of actors hired to impersonate a proper Victorian family. What a clever way to fool the prince! And gate-crashing, distractingly handsome first loves like Grayson Elliott are most unwelcome.   But nothing about Camille’s charade goes as planned. Tonight, at Millworth Manor, games will be played, motives will be revealed, the masks will come off, and hearts will be lost—and won—in the most romantic, magical season of all.

    But that plan falls into tatters when his mother sponsors his sister's friend and enlists him to dance with her at Almack's. The beautiful vixen he meets that night bears little resemblance to the shy, gangly girl who used to follow him around. Now, instead of avoiding Charlotte, he finds himself frustrated when she seems to notice everyone but him.

    Weary and injured, Sir Rylan de Bremont wants only to return home for Christmas after two long years away. But first he must deliver terrible news to a newly widowed lady.Lady Kayte Dufrane has been miserable in her marriage to a gruff lord far older than she. Rylan’s news gives her freedom, but she fears her late husband’s brother will claim her for his own. This strong, handsome knight might be the answer to her prayers if she can convince him to help her escape. Though Rylan has no desire to become embroiled in the beautiful Kayte’s dilemma, delaying his journey home, he can’t resist her pleas. Will his Christmas wish be filled with more than he bargained for?

    But her rescuer, the mysterious Anthony Sterling, immediately melts her heart and makes her dream of a life beyond her tiny, sheltered world. The more she gets to know him, the more she senses he is hiding something from her.When Captain Anthony Sterling was wounded in battle, he lost his leg, his fiancee, and any hope for happiness. Even the revelation that he is the heir to a fortune brought him nothing but bitterness. Then his chance encounter with the charming, innocent Phoebe makes him wonder if there may be a future for him after all. But first he must escape the shadows of his past.

    While Iain and Annie have discovered that the pleasures of marriage grow deeper with time, Morgan and Amalie find themselves at bitter odds. Meanwhile, Connor and Sarah have a newborn son to cherish.The family's preparations for the holidays are interrupted when Iain learns that Britain has not paid the Rangers for the summer's victorious campaigns. Unwilling to let men who fought under the MacKinnon name suffer deprivation at Christmastime, Iain, Morgan, and Connor leave the warmth of their frontier home for Albany. There, they find their happy Christmas, and even their freedom, at risk at the hands of a ruthless British officer who holds a grudge against them.With the men gone, Annie, Amalie, and Sarah do their best to prepare for the festivities despite differing traditions, a raging bull—and the gnawing fear that their husbands won't make it home in time for Yule.Events begin the day after the epilogue of Defiant ends. The story includes Joseph, Killy—and revelations about the fate of Lord William Wentworth.

    In her dazzling first Season, Lady Meredith Hargreaves gave her heart to Alistair Wakefield, the Marquess of Chetwyn, only to have it shattered when he proposed to another. And now that he's free to pursue her? It matters little, because she's on her way to the altar, heartbreak be damned.Chetwyn once set aside his dreams in favor of duty and honor. But as Christmas approaches, he is determined to put his own desires first and lure Lady Meredith back into his arms, where she's always belonged.First he steals a dance; then he steals a kiss. But when they find themselves alone in an abandoned castle during a snowstorm, reignited passion consumes them both. And Chetwyn will have one last chance to steal back Meredith's heart, once and for all.

    The only problem— a man is after her and will do whatever it takes to rob her of the fortune. Desperate to preserve her life and inheritance, Charlotte travels to Crooked Creek, Colorado in search of her uncle, the only man she believes can help her. Instead, Charlotte finds a young deputy in her uncle’s place, a man with uncommonly upright morals and lovely blue eyes… When Deputy Everett Myers first encounters Old Jez’s niece, he determines she’s nothing but trouble. But for the right price, Everett agrees to act as Charlotte’s protector. His only problem—Charlotte keeps getting in the way and complicating an already dangerous situation. Worst of all, Everett finds himself falling for her dark eyes and unmatched determination...