But the plot of life quickly proves far richer than fiction. When Valerie arrives at her aunt's country estate, she suddenly finds herself in the midst of society parties and chicanery. Secret passages hide stolen jewels, and money changes hands as fast as Val changes gowns. Distant French cousins and dashingly attractive—if poor—scholars turn out to be as intangible as ghosts and as flimsy as certain fortunes. It all proves to be as illusive as love.

    Though she has never met him, it was his mother who sealed her fate years before—and drove her from polite society. Now she and Aunt Effie take in boarders and live a modest life, which is soon disrupted by the handsome earl, his scapegrace younger brother, his charming and determined sister—and that vengeful mother of his. Regency Romance by Laura Matthews; originally published by Fawcett

    Darcy. While helping him recover an item that is of great value to him, she loses her heart to him. Once he recovers that item, will he offer her his heart?

    And then there was Joshua Carter, the love of her heart and her soul mate. Or so she thought until that day when she buried her father; the same day Joshua broke her heart and tore her soul apart. Seven years later Joshua returns to find his preacher father had been right. Katy Lynn Logan had turned out exactly like her immoral mother and drunk father. She ran a saloon on the banks of the Red River called The Soiled Dove. He can scarcely believe the beautiful piano player is his Katy, but then, seven years changes everyone. Katy can't believe her eyes when she finds Joshua sitting on a bar stool in The Dove, but the real shock comes a few days later when she finds him preaching in her church in Spanish Fort, Texas. Joshua's attraction to Katy did not die when his father sent him away from Spanish Fort. Katy had not buried her attraction to Joshua when she built a saloon or buried herself in hard work. Neither of them tried to deny it, but they both determined they'd sure get over it. Or would they?

    The bemused stranger stayed to capture the fancy of the brood of orphaned children in her charge, then stole Lauren Hill's heart with a searing kiss as he left. Lauren couldn't tell him she was a widowed countess fallen on hard times. She tried to forget him--until she saw him again at a London ball. The man who haunted her dreams was a duke, out of her class...and he was pledged to another woman. The ton is ablaze with talk of the ravishing Bavarian countess. Stunned, Alexander Christian, Duke of Sutherland, recognizes Lauren as the country girl who's captured his heart. Duty has forced him to pledge himself to another, to take his proper place in society and in Parliament. He wants one night with his blue-eyed enchantress, but will he be able to walk away from her again, or will he risk it all to be with the woman who fires his blood and makes him think of a . . . Wicked Angel.

    Though the eldest, Ginnie, is damnably attractive, he finds himself at war with the interlopers. It takes the whole family to teach him the perils of pride and prejudice and to show the way to true love.

    — In Gayle L. Buck's "Old Acquaintances," the magic of Christmas is remembered in a story of love and longing, while in "A Gift of Fortune," Anita Mills writes of the snowbound reunion of two unlikely lovers. Both Edith Layton's "The Duke's Progress" and Mary Balogh's "The Star of Bethlehem" are moving stories of holiday sadness, hope and the renewal of spirit. And "The Kissing Bough" by Patricia Rice is a bittersweet tale of love and reconciliation.These are stories to warm your heart with the romance, generosities, and joys of the season -- holiday tales that can be read and enjoyed year after year.

    But when her attorney tells her that the family home must be sold to pay the debts, leaving her penniless and without a home, her only choice is to become a governess.In no time at all, Georgette finds herself in the grand mansion of the Duke of Draycott, teaching his delightful, orphaned nieces. But, the more time Georgette spends with the little girls, the more she realizes they are missing their home and life in Wales, not to mention their own language. Georgette must find a way to convince the Duke to take an interest in the girls’ lives, and she must also find a way to keep their native language alive despite his determined instructions to the contrary.As the tragic tale of the Duke’s sister and her forbidden love unfolds, Georgette must struggle with the deprivations of her lowered status, not to mention the spiteful plots and schemes of a jealous housekeeper and nurse. As her loneliness threatens to overwhelm her, Georgette must find a way put the splintered family back together, even as she battles her own feelings of love for the handsome, taciturn Duke. "A Governess for the Brooding Duke" is a historical romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

    At a country inn she fortunately encounters Clive Redmayne - her purse has been stolen. He pays her bill and gives her a seat in his travelling coach. Handsome and rich, he has just returned from India. After a duel, a kidnapping, and a hectic road chase, people and proposals are happily disentangled.

    He needs a wife for his motherless children. Surely nothing would go amiss in their quest to find true love? Miss Phoebe Westbrook wishes she was anywhere other than at Lord Livesey's House Party. Family loyalty and duty forced her to accept the invitation. When she overhears Lord Livesey's opinion of her, she knows he wishes her as far away from him as she does. Determined to make the most of his library whilst visiting, she soon finds herself being drawn into the lives of Lord Livesey and his children, whether she likes it or not...Lord Livesey has lived a lie. His marriage was not the love match everyone presumed. His children are strangers to him. After the death of his wife, he hid from the world. Persuaded to host a house party in which he's now trapped he scorns the women in attendance. After dismissing Phoebe cruelly, it seems that a future with her may be just the thing he's looking for...An unconventional marriage proposal causes everything to be called into question. Misplaced values and hidden emotions will test any chance of a relationship they might have. Both will face hurdles they never anticipated but one thing's for sure - life won't ever be the same again....Lord Livesey's Bluestocking is a Regency romance topped with a generous dose of humour, action, and tears. If you like simmering chemistry, troubled heroes, and feisty women, then you'll love Audrey Harrison's Regency tale.

    Anne pines for the social and political life she has left behind, especially when confronted with the society of her nearest neighbor, country bumpkin Henry Highet. Yet all is not what it seems, as Anne soon discovers in this pleasant Regency tale.

    Now with the help of handsome Lord Lowell, Minerva embarks on a search that will risk her life—and her heart.

     Albertine 'Tina' Newton knows her worth. The most beautiful girl of the Season, she knew she was born to grace a nobler establishment. And she has her sights set on the perfect husband: Lord Skirlaugh, the heir to the Duke of Byram. Scarred, disillusioned, and cynical, Skirlaugh must nonetheless marry to ensure the succession. He neither expected nor desired love; just a well-bred conformable wife with a reasonable dowry. Tina is certain that there is no one to outshine her. But when her cousin Thea inherits a fortune, she also becomes a contender for Skirlaugh's attention. Then, after meeting on a roadside when both stopped to aid a young man with a badly injured horse, it seems that Thea and Skirlaugh have more potential than Tina thinks... But which aspiring débutante will please his critical taste? Mira Stables is the author of many historical fiction novels, including The Swynden Necklace and Golden Barrier.

    Nor has he ever gotten over her. But now thirteen years later, time has come for him to finally settle down and do his duty as far as both his title and his dragon of a mother are concerned. Everything would be so much easier if Chet’s heart didn’t still belong to the enchanting Scot he gave it to once upon a time.After following her late-husband’s regiment from one end of the continent to the other, Lady Hannah Campbell returns to London a very different woman than the naïve lass she once was. With her two sons in tow, she now has to navigate the waters of the ton, which seem more foreign than the lands she has traversed the last dozen years. And all the while, she has to keep hidden the scandalous secret that made her flee England so very ago.

    Her suddenly impoverished state made her as vulnerable as her beauty made her tempting to men with more money than morals. Lord Marshall Whitcomb, who held her purse strings in his pawing hands, was intent on luring her into his bed. But even more dangerous was Lord Winn, who owned the dwelling where she sought refuge. The dashing lord reminded the widow that the lure of sharing a warm bed on a winter's night might indeed be worth the risks.Lord Winn had trusted one woman and been betrayed. That disastrous marriage had endowed him with a wariness of females in general, and prospective wives in particular. But when the door to the dower house on one of his estates was opened by a woman with a cautious smile and memorable brown eyes, he knew here was danger to avoid at all costs -- if he really wanted to...