Book picks similar to
Uncommon Vows by Mary Jo Putney


historical-romance
romance
medieval
historical

Lemonade


Nina Pennacchi - 2011
    But when she stands up to the boorishness of dashing Christopher Davenport at a summertime ball, Anna unwittingly attracts his wrath—and becomes entangled in his malicious scheming.After a lifetime of harboring shame and resentment, Christopher, a ruthless con artist, wants revenge, and unfortunately for Anna, he’s decided that she will be the perfect pawn in his terrible plot. With a fierceness of spirit uncommon in well-bred young ladies in the nineteenth century, Anna will have to use her intelligence and courage to protect her loved ones. But can she also save herself?

The King's Man


Elizabeth Kingston - 2015
    Ranulf's actions have gained him lands, title, and a lasting reputation as a hired butcher. But after years of doing his king's bidding, he begins to fear for his mortal soul and follows his conscience away from Edward, all the way to the wilds of Wales. Gwenllian of Ruardean, Welsh daughter of a powerful Marcher lord, has every reason to leave Ranulf for dead when one of her men nearly kills him. As a girl she was married by proxy to a man Ranulf murdered, only to become a widow before she ever met her groom. In the years since, she has shunned the life of a lady, instead studying warfare and combat at her mother’s behest. But she has also studied healing and this, with her sense of duty to knightly virtues, leads her to tend to Ranulf’s wounds. Saving her enemy’s life comes with consequences, and Gwenllian and Ranulf are soon caught up in dangerous intrigue. Forced together by political machinations, they discover a kinship of spirit and a surprising, intense desire. But even hard-won love cannot thrive when loyalties are divided and the winds of rebellion sweep the land.

The Duke of Shadows


Meredith Duran - 2008
    But when the pillars of privilege topple, her fiancé's betrayal leaves Emma no choice. She must turn for help to the one man whom she should not trust, but cannot resist: Julian Sinclair, the dangerous and dazzling heir to the Duke of Auburn. To the marble halls of London... In London, they toast Sinclair with champagne. In India, they call him a traitor. Cynical and impatient with both worlds, Julian has never imagined that the place he might belong is in the embrace of a woman with a reluctant laugh and haunted eyes. But in a time of terrible darkness, he and Emma will discover that love itself can be perilous -- and that a single decision can alter one's life forever. Destiny follows wherever you run. A lifetime of grief later, in a cold London spring, Emma and Julian must finally confront the truth: no matter how hard one tries to deny it, some pasts cannot be disowned...and some passions never die.

More Than a Mistress


Mary Balogh - 2000
    In the melee, Jocelyn Dudley, Duke of Tresham, was shot. To his astonishment, Tresham found himself hiring the servant as his nurse. Jane Ingleby was far too bold for her own good. Her blue eyes were the sort a man could drown in-were it not for her impudence. She questioned his every move, breached his secrets, touched his soul. When he offered to set her up in his London town house, love was the last thing on his mind.... Jane tried to pretend it was strictly business, an arrangement she was forced to accept in order to conceal a dangerous secret. Surely there was nothing more perilous than being the lover of such a man. Yet as she got past his devilish facade and saw the noble heart within, she knew the greatest jeopardy of all, a passion that drove her to risk everything on one perfect month with the improper gentleman who thought love was for fools.

Golden Surrender


Heather Graham - 1985
    . . .PRINCE OLAF OF NORWAY—Lord of the Wolves, the golden Viking warrior who came in his dragon ship to forge a great kingdom in the Emerald Isle.PRINCESS ERIN—Daughter of the Irish High King, the ebony-haired beauty who swore bitter vengeance on the legendary Norseman who had brought death and destruction to her beloved homeland.Yet, in the great Norse and Irish alliance against the invading Danes, it was her own father who gave her in marriage to her most hated enemy. Bewitched by Olaf's massive strength, seduced by his power, still Erin vowed that neither the wrath of his sword nor the fire of his kiss would sway the allegiance of her proud and passionate heart.

Enslaved


Virginia Henley - 1996
    There she could lose herself, becoming the licentious Diana, goddess of the hunt — far from the rigid restraints of eighteenth-century London, where she was courted by fops and fools. That is, until she tried on an authentic Roman helmet in an antiques store and was catapulted back in time, landing in Marcus Magnus's arms. This was no dream! She was lost in Aquae Sulis, the city she knew as Bath, prisoner of a Roman general who accused the violet-eyed beauty of being a Druid spy — and then made her his slave!"COME TO ME."His words were soft, imperious, charged with danger and desire. Marcus Magnus was powerful, arrogant, and infuriating. A real man. And now Lady Diana was his slave, hostage to his will, vowing to fight him to the end — with every seductive weapon she possessed....

Barely a Lady


Eileen Dreyer - 2010
    One of the greatest of these is the Earl of Gracechurch, who married and divorced her five years earlier. Abandoned and disgraced, Grace has survived those years at the edge of respectability. Then she stumbles over Jack on the battlefield of Waterloo, and he becomes an even more dangerous secret. For not only is he unconscious, he is clad in an enemy uniform.But worse, when Jack finally wakes in Olivia's care, he can't remember how he came to be on a battlefield in Belgium. In fact, he can't remember anything of the last five years. He thinks he and Olivia are still blissfully together. To keep him from being hanged for a traitor, Olivia must pretend she and Jack are still married. To unearth the real traitors, Olivia and Jack must unravel the truth hidden within his faulty memory. To save themselves and the friends who have given them sanctuary, they must stand against their enemies, even as they both keep their secrets.In the end, can they risk everything to help Jack recover his lost memories, even though the truth may destroy them both?

The Maiden Bride


Rexanne Becnel - 1996
    The younger of identical twins, she narrowly escaped a death sentence at birth. To save her beloved sister from marriage to the savage Norman conqueror who has laid siege to their castle, Linnea will sacrifice her own happiness by engaging in a dangerous deception.Years of exile have driven Axton de la Manse to the brink of despair. Now he will have his vengeance by taking his enemy’s most prized possession, his eldest daughter. Once they wed and she is carrying the de la Manse heir, no one can dispute his claim to Maidenstone, the stronghold stolen from his family. That is, until the unthinkable happens: He loses his heart to his bride, whose own desires ignite a fierce longing deep within Axton. Is their growing love enough to overcome the lies and treachery that could drive them apart?

The Abduction of Julia


Karen Hawkins - 2000
    So when he accidentally snatches her instead of her lovely, scheming cousin for an elopement to Gretna Green, Julia leaps at the chance to make her passionate dreams come true.Alec's in no position to quibble: if he doesn't marry by midnight and live scandal-free for a year, he loses his inheritance. At least marriage with do-gooder Julia will guarantee his fortune. But as his plain brown wren transforms herself into an elegant swan, Alec suddenly can't stay away from his last-minute wife--and when he kisses her, the inheritance is the last thing on his mind. Unfortunately, scandal can occur from the best of intentions...and Julia is never short of good intentions!

The Devil's Lady


Deborah Simmons - 1994
    Perhaps he'd even struck a devil's bargain to assure his warrior prowess. Yet Aisley sensed that Pier's shadows veiled a deeper secret.Aisley de LaciLike a whirlwind, Aisley descended on Dunmurrow castle to claim the Red Knight as her husband. And Piers knew his world was forever changed. But could a creature so full of joy and sunlight ever accept a life of passions draped in darkness?

The Luckiest Lady in London


Sherry Thomas - 2013
    Felix himself almost believes this golden image. But underneath is a damaged soul soothed only by public adulation.Louisa Cantwell needs to marry well to support her sisters. She does not, however, want Lord Wrenworth—though he seems inexplicably interested in her. She mistrusts his outward perfection and the praise he garners everywhere he goes. But when he is the only man to propose at the end of the London season, she reluctantly accepts.Louisa does not understand her husband's mysterious purposes, but she cannot deny the pleasure her body takes in his touch. Nor can she deny the pull this magnetic man exerts upon her. But does she dare to fall in love with a man so full of dark secrets, anyone of which could devastate her, if she were to get any closer?

Island Flame


Karen Robards - 1981
    . . .Lady Catherine Aldley was en route to London when pirates attacked her ship. Just in time, Captain Jonathan Hale rescued her from his own men, sweeping her into his arms, staking his claim on the pampered daughter of England's ambassador to Portugal. All Catherine had were her wits and the will to beat her captor at his own game. His searing kisses kindled unfamiliar passions, but she vowed to make him her prisoner of desire. . . . He was a legendary pirate, daring, triumphant, free. Jonathan Hale never took captives and always escaped--until he saw the headstrong beauty he couldn't leave behind. She was fire and ice, a lady outraged, a tigress in his arms. Cathy refused to be treated like chattel, yet yielded to his sensual invasion as she conquered his body and soul. She made loving truly dangerous, exposing his deepest fears--and his mutinous heart. . . .

This Other Eden


Marilyn Harris - 1977
    — He was the last Lord of Eden Castle, Thomas Eden, a man of brooding desire and sudden passion ... — She was his servant girl, Marianne Locke, the fiery young beauty who would rather submit to the cruel kiss of the whip than suffer the lust of a man she did not love...From the wild Devonshire coast to the glittering literary salons of London, the tumultuous union of these two proud people hazed a raging tempest of enduring love.

Seven Secrets of Seduction


Anne Mallory - 2010
    Secret #1: Every good seduction begins with a baited hook . . . Well-educated, but not part of society, Miranda Chase is just as captivated by the erotic pages as everyone else in London. Intrigued by the layers she sees beneath the book's surface, she writes an editorial about it, never realizing that her passionate words will draw an actual viscount to her uncle's bookshop. Maximilian, Viscount Downing, has very particular ideas about passion and sees truth only in desire. He freely flaunts his sensual power and seeks nothing more than another conquest; the one that could justify his entire debauched existence. But Miranda's blend of innocence, trust, and love cause a strange thing to happen on the way to this seduction. Something that just might threaten the very fabric of his jaded heart . . .

Lily


Patricia Gaffney - 1991
    Lily Trehearne had been born a lady, but now she resigned herself to a life of backbreaking drudgery, inescapable poverty . . . and unquestioning obedience to the lord of the manor.The MasterTormented and brooding, Devon Darkwell threatened Lily's safety almost as much as he thrilled her senses. From the moment he caught her swimming nude in the moonlight, his compelling masculinity held her spellbound. But each step he took toward claiming her body brought him closer to learning the terrible secrets of her soul. In his arms she would know tempestuous passion, bitter despair, and a soaring joy that would humble them both before the power of love.