As a tour guide at a beautiful historic mansion, she tells visitors about its original owner, Charles Whitley. An inventor and businessman in the early 1900s, he rose from poverty to wealth…only to disappear without a trace. Charles was always intrigued by the future. He just never expected to go there. But when he repairs a mysterious clock he bought on his travels, he’s transported to the twenty-first century, with his home decorated for Christmas and overrun by strangers. Charles is determined to find a way back to his own era, especially when he learns about what happened after he left. But as Megan introduces him to the wonders of smartphones, pizza, and modern holiday traditions, they both feel a once-in-a-lifetime connection. Could it be that, somewhere in time, they belong together?

    But after a year of searching, he has given up hope of finding the right woman. Anticipating a quiet Christmas with his mother, Roland is frustrated to learn she has organized an entire house party to help him find a bride. Cassandra Bell arrives for the house party with her twin sister Vivian, who has set her heart on winning a proposal from the eligible Mr. Hastings. But when Vivian grows ill, she begs Cassie to switch places with her and keep the other conniving ladies away from Mr. Hastings. Cassie reluctantly takes on the role of her poised and proper twin, but things become much more complicated when Roland begins to take an interest in the spunky and unconventional Cassie...PROMISE ME AGAIN by Annette LyonSecret wedding plans. A powerful brother who will go to any lengths to stop them. Can love truly conquer all? Miriam and Jacob have loved each other for as long as they can remember. They want to wed, but Jacob's older brother Norman forbids it. Deciding to do so secretly without his blessing, Miriam and Jacob make plans to marry on Christmas Eve at a church several hours’ journey away. Despite their efforts, Norman’s long reach finds them. Miriam’s love is tested to the very limit when she is forced into a devil’s bargain with him. She agrees only to spare Jacob pain, but can their hearts find their way back to each other no matter what—or who—stands in their way?A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY by Jennifer MooreThe war is over, but Lucy Breckenridge’s plans for a perfect Christmas are ruined when Captain James Stewart brings news that her father will not return in time for the holiday. Determined to not miss yet another Christmas with her father, Lucy starts on a journey for London with her trusty maid and manservant. Learning they have gone, James follows, hoping to stop her before she discovers the true reason for Colonel Breckenridge’s absence. Along the way, the two join in local holiday celebrations and learn that families have flaws, friendship requires trust, and Christmas traditions can be created in the most unexpected places.

     Two sisters, Katie and Jane, and their impoverished cousin and companion, Sarah, struggle with life's constraints and difficulties to find love and happiness, despite their mother's wishes. Won't you join them? They need your support! Sarah’s Magical Christmas Sarah Powell is a beautiful but impoverished young woman. She is unlucky in love and trapped in a position she hates. Working for her cruel aunt as a ladies’ companion to her wealthier cousins means she will never find romance or happiness. Stuck in a life of servitude, she has no reason to think her life will ever change until she meets a mysterious gentleman, Mr. Charles Langford of London. Charles Langford breezes into her life with a charming smile and a disdain for following the rules of Regency Society. Without position or title, he has no prospects but he shows her that sometimes all you need is a little Christmas magic to be happy. Everything seems to be a dream come true, until she discovers all is not perfect in love. He makes no promises for the future and her family disapproves of him. With a future as an old maid looming ahead of her, Sarah Powell faces a lonely holiday. Can she depend on Christmas magic or is she doomed to a life without the man she loves? Katie’s Christmas Wish Katie Brookes is beautiful, elegant and quite her mother’s favorite. She has long been friends with Samuel Putnam but cannot understand why he has taken a step back from their acquaintance recently. It is made all the worse by the fact that she has realized that she has a deep affection for him, one that leads to love, not just friendship. Unfortunately for Katie, Samuel refuses to consider any potential future between them. Telling her to forget him, he pushes Katie away, breaking her heart in the process. When her mother decides that it is time for Katie to marry, she insists that her daughter tries to attract the attention of Viscount Halifax, who is visiting some friends. Disappointed and broken-hearted by Samuel’s rejection, Katie reluctantly does just as she is told, only to find that the viscount is more than eager to court her. Will she truly be able to forget her love for Samuel and accept the viscount’s proposal? Or will she be able to discover the truth behind Samuel’s reluctance and finally be granted her very own Christmas wish? Jane’s Christmas Confusion Jane Brookes has often been told that she is plain and uninteresting, much too quiet and therefore, will be entirely unable to find a suitable match. She has learned to keep her thoughts to herself, never truly able to share what she feels for fear of bringing down her mother’s wrath on her head. Overlooked by her mother in favor of her younger sister, Jane keeps her broken heart to herself. Having fallen deeply in love with Viscount Halifax, the gentleman courting her sister, she scurries away to London in an attempt to find some sort of healing there. What she does not expect to find is that Viscount Halifax has also come to London, instead of remaining with her sister. Sudden meetings, Christmas balls, lies, deceit and a promise of future happiness all tangle up together, leaving Jane with more of a struggle than she’d ever thought she’d face. Can she work her way through it all and find the happiness she thought she might never have? Will Lord Halifax be her precious Christmas gift? Other books by Rose Pearson: A Smithfield Market Regency Romance Series &l

    Instead, she accepts the shocking proposition. After all, what’s her other choice? To live with her cousin, caring for six children and a barnyard full of chickens?James Archer has roamed the world, determined never to settle down. He’s faced danger and disaster…he fears nothing and no one—except his mother and her matchmaking ways. So when ordered to attend a Christmastime house party filled with holiday cheer and simpering young misses, he produces—a fiancée!Sophronia and James vow to pretend to be in love for one month. But when they promise to give each other a Christmas kiss, it becomes clear that this pact made out of necessity might just be turning into love.

    She’s ready to live on her own, out from under her familia’s expectations that she take over their catering business in Puerto Rico and away from their year-round baseball fever thanks to her three ball-playing brothers. Ex-MLB pitcher Ben Thomas knows what it’s like to have different dreams than your family intends for you, but since his injury-caused early retirement, he’s been struggling to find the sense of family baseball once brought him. When he volunteers as the emcee for Julia’s big holiday fundraiser for a local youth center, he finally begins to find a sense of purpose working with the kids and alongside Julia. She’s focused on organizing the best holiday event the youth center has ever seen, not on romance. But Ben…he’s got a game plan for them that includes both.

    He meets a gentle, insecure magician named Gene, who's come to work on the crumbling mansion's moldings. He doesn't expect to fall in love.Note: This story first appeared in "Christmas Delights," a collection of Male/Male gay romance stories set in and around the Christmas season.Length: 9,615 words Heat level: sweetThemes: Christmas, magic, gay romance, sweet romance, historical fantasy

    Holly finds the handsome Marquess so serious she makes a promise, too: to bring joy and laughter into his life. A sparkling prequel to Christmas Bride. Christmas Bride (a full-length novel) All of her life, Holly has dreamed of adventure and heroics. Indeed, she would far rather be a spy for the British against Napoleon, like her twin brother, Noel, than make her London debut. That is, until she meets Hunt, the handsome Marquess of Vandover. After a whirlwind courtship, they are married on Christmas Eve—Holly’s (and Noel’s) birthday. Holly is deeply in love, and her new husband’s career in the Foreign Office allows her to rub shoulders with diplomats and ambassadors, feeding her love of adventure. The future seems full of promise until her inept attempts to assist her husband in his career—and become a heroine in her own right—leads her to trust the wrong person. Suddenly Holly is plunged into a terrible conflict of loyalties, where she must choose between saving her nearly-broken marriage–and her beloved brother’s life!

    While with the dress designer, he also orders a pair of gloves to be sent to his ward, Miss Felicity Grove, to wish her well for the new Season. But when Felicity accidentally receives the dress, along with Osterley’s affectionate note, it sets into motion a tale of scandalous misunderstandings and love in the last place you look.

    even if it requires a most scandalous seduction.Wooing may not be his strong suit...Admittedly, when it comes to courtship, the Marquess of Wallingham's strategy has been a few roses short of a bouquet. Charles Bainbridge has spent two long years wooing the woman he loves, waiting patiently until he is half mad. Now, at a winter hunting party, he has one last chance to persuade her they are meant to be. And this time, he won't let meaningless doubts, his meddling mother, or a few mishaps and mangled bonnets stand in his way.And passion may not be hers...Safe and comfortable inside her tidy, carefully ordered existence, Julia Willoughby has never known longing like this. Others see Charles as the quiet, manageable sort. Julia sees the truth: This dragon's son has a fire of his own. Enough to sear her with a touch, a glance, a kiss. For the sake of his happiness, she refuses to bind him in a childless union. Her heart, however, isn't so easily convinced, for it wants Charles rather madly.But a marquess must do what a marquess must do...Outraged at the thought of losing her to a dusty country squire, Charles makes a final offer: Spend twelve nights in his bed, and if she can still deny they are perfect for each other, he will let her go. But not before thoroughly tempting the lovely, stubborn Julia to trade sensible predictability for the sweet chaos of true love.

    Reunited after decades with her long-lost son, everything should have been perfect. Yet it wasn’t. Without the constant grief, she became aware of how empty her life was. Hoping that spending the Christmas holidays with her son and his new bride would improve her outlook, Sarah met an ill fate once more. With her carriage broken down in a snowstorm, she sets out on foot to reach the family home, not realizing just how treacherous the conditions are. Bransen Middlethorpe is also at loose ends. Since his brother’s untimely but mostly welcomed demise, it’s been his job to look after the estates… and his brother’s widow. To say that Sarah had resented his interference was to put it mildly. But with his nephew returned, looking after the estates and after her, are no longer his purview—that is until he encounters Sarah braving blizzard like conditions. Furious with her and terrified at what might have happened had he not found her; they are forced to take shelter for the night in his small cottage on the family estate. While they are trapped by a blanket of snow and ice, they are forced to face the truth. There is far more between them than simply shared history. In such an intimate setting, they have no choice but to acknowledge the desire they both feel… and the love they’ve been denying for decades.

    . .and a partridge in a pear tree . . . In Coventry's Christmas, Rebecca Hagan Lee offers a charming new story. With Christmas approaching, Amabel Thurston is ordered from the family home by her father's widow and must seek the protection of her guardian, Deverel Brookfield, eighth Marquess of Coventry. Unfortunately, the Devil of Coventry has little use for Christmas and even less for proper young ladies. In the never-in-print Star of Wonder, Lynn Kerstan brings her special brand of magic to the page when an exotic and dangerous stranger arrives to disrupt the meager Christmas of Stella Bryar, who has struggled to support the family retainers in the wake of her father's death.Allison Lane's newest Christmas treat is A Christmas Homecoming. When prodigal son Alex Northcote returns from a six year absence to take control of the family estate, he must run a gauntlet of possible brides, who have all been installed for a holiday house party by his determined grandmother. Avoiding the trap would have been so much easier, if the guest list hadn't included a quiet widow, who once jilted him for another. In the classic Home for Christmas, Alicia Rasley gives us a Christmas with a bit of intrigue. When Verity receives an unexpected invitation from her estranged father to spend the holidays at his Cornwall estate, she accepts with delight. But, ever mindful of her father's attention to propriety, she must scramble to find a husband and "father" for her fatherless child. Could a handsome and enigmatic stranger solve all her problems?

    (Apparently, it’s a good one.) Winning ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ was nice, but this Christmas, he has more important goals in mind... like finally winning over his best friend’s little sister, the super-smart and kinda-scary Abbie Farrell.When a blizzard leaves Will and Abbie alone at Grandma Farrell’s house (if bunking with 27 pets counts as ‘alone’), it’s the perfect opportunity to pull off a Christmas miracle. Convincing clever, frosty Abbie to give Will a chance will take more than mistletoe, but hiding his lifelong crush on her is no longer an option.

    The friend, in turn, gives it to someone else. For twelve days the fruitcake exchanges hands, improving the life of everyone who receives it. Charming, heartwarming, and magical.

    Paige Matthews has a lot to learn - about everything, including herself. At age twenty-two, she finds herself driving across the country to start an internship with the F.B.I. in Quantico, Virginia. You might think that Paige would be grateful to her older brother, Trace Matthews, a senior F.B.I. agent who pulled strings on her behalf to get her into the program, right? Wrong. She has insecurities and self-esteem issues, and she masks those issues in various attention-grabbing ways. Always a loner, she quickly wears out her welcome with Trace and his wife Lindsey, due to her . . . need for random hook-ups, and finds herself crashing with her oldest brother, Easton, and his wife Darcy. Through Darcy, Paige is introduced to her sister-in-law's former roommate and bestie male friend, Eli Chambers, along with his sinfully handsome partner, Cain Maddox. They're looking for a roommate and Paige is looking to get out from underneath her family's watchful eye. This is no typical "Three's Company" story though. Living with these men, Paige quickly learns that it's time to grow up and take responsibility for her life. She embarks on a journey of self-discovery that teaches her not only about giving, but about accepting love as well. She soon realizes that sometimes what you're searching for has been right there with you all along. This book is intended for mature audiences. Explicit Sex.

    God has one waiting … a hundred years in the past. In Time for Christmas -- a Novella, is the story of Charlene Williams, a woman trapped in a dangerously abusive marriage. Disappointed that God hasn’t gotten her out of it, or even hears her prayers at all, she has shut down emotionally. When husband Dale becomes suspicious of her daily chats with the mailman, he whisks her out of town and abandons her on his family’s ranch—an isolated, dilapidated place no one has lived on for over forty years. With the promise that he’ll be back in a few days, he knocks her unconscious and leaves.Charlene wakes up on the ranch—a hundred years in the past. Almost instantly she is drawn to Billy Page, Dale’s great grandfather. The connection is powerful and mysterious, but should she risk falling in love with a ghost? What’s going on here? Is Charlene dead, dreaming, in a coma, or simply experiencing a gift from her heavenly father? She’ll learn one thing for certain: God does see the tears of his children.