Book picks similar to
Rogues, Rakes & Jewels by Claudy Conn


romance
historical-romance
historical
historical-fiction

The Bride Wore Blue


Cheryl Bolen - 2002
    While amassing his fortune in India, not a day passed he did not recall Felicity's fair loveliness, did not recall the silken tones of her sweet voice, did not desire to possess her. Now a widow, Felicity Harrison does not recognize the handsome nabob as the young man left for dead by highwayman years earlier. Though she wants nothing more than to snub the arrogant man who promises to rescue her family from financial ruin in exchange for presenting his sister to Society, she cannot snub him. She must force herself to bear his company. But the longer she is with him, the more she has to force herself to remain true to her dead husband's memory. Why is it the humbly born Thomas Moreland possesses more nobility that any man of her class? And why is it she finds it harder and harder to mourn a dead man when Thomas's virility awakens her deepest desires?

Twice a Rake


Catherine Gayle - 2011
    . .When Aurora Hyatt loses her journal in Hyde Park, her ruin is a foregone conclusion. After all, if anyone discovers her writings, they'll find scandalous fantasies involving the newest rake in Town alongside entirely-too-candid thoughts about her typical dreary suitors. Aurora will either be forced into a loveless marriage with the first nodcock to make an offer, or she'll be assigned a permanent position on the shelf. Oh, dear good Lord. What catastrophe will God smote down upon her next?If Niles Thornton, Baron Quinton, desires to maintain any semblance of his current lifestyle, he must fulfill the requirements his grandfather has set for him. First and foremost: he must marry and begin filling his nursery within the year. When he is nearly barreled over by a racing curricle and a journal flies out to land at his feet, his troubles are over. Inside the journals pages, Quin discovers a scandal waiting to happen. Surely a young lady who would write such brazen things in a journal (and then dare to lose it) must recognize the necessity of a hasty marriage, even if the gentleman making the offer is rather less-than-honorable.In a drunken haze, Quin kisses Aurora on a crowded ballroom floor, necessitating their immediate marriage. Quin's troubles are only beginning, however, as Aurora's writings are soon the focus of both gossip rags and drawing room conversation. When word arrives of an even greater scandal following in his wife's wake, will he prove himself a drunken abuser like his father, or will he become the loving husband of Aurora's fantasies?

Mine, All Mine


Ella J. Quince - 2013
    Rose. It has been revised and given a beautiful new cover.A steamy historical romance novel. Fated for Love Series. Lillian St. James is a privileged and beautiful duke’s daughter whose world is turned upside down when her widowed mother marries a seedy merchant.After her mother suddenly dies as well, Lilly has no one to turn to when scandal erupts over her stepfather’s treason. As her world falls apart Lilly is forced to go into hiding with the help of her loyal staff. She finds work as a cook’s assistant in the kitchen of a wealthy but mysterious aristocrat.Dominic Coel, Earl of Redwick, is a spy on the cusp of retirement. He is ordered to complete one last mission. He must track down a young girl who disappeared with stolen royal jewels. Dominic is desperate to complete his task and begin a normal life without murder and lies. While he must focus on his duties he can’t help but be distracted by the mysterious beauty who has just joined his kitchen staff. The girl is innocent to say the least, but her elusive nature and cultured speech drives him to wonder who the real Miss Millie James is.

Captured by the Pirate Laird


Amy Jarecki - 2014
    Crestfallen, she believes her disastrous life cannot get worse—until she awakes to the blasts of cannon fire.Facing certain death, Anne trembles in her stateroom while swords clash and the chilling screams of battle rage on the deck above. When a rugged Highlander kicks in her door, she prays for a swift end. But Laird Calum MacLeod has a reason for plundering the ship—and it’s not a stunning English lass. With no other choice, he takes Anne to his crumbling keep on the isle of Raasay and sends a letter of ransom to her husband. In time, Anne grows to understand MacLeod’s plight and finds it increasingly difficult to resist Calum’s unsettling charm—until the baron sends a reply agreeing to terms. Ripped from passion that will be forever seared into their souls, will Anne and Calum risk everything for love?

The Charmer


C.J. Archer - 2013
    Charming. Devastating. He was the last man she needed, but the only one she wanted. Orlando Holt has never assassinated a woman before. The lovely, feisty Lady Lynden will be his first. She's supposed to be a vicious murderess, but when Orlando begins to have doubts, he sets out to discover the identity of the person who hired him. What he learns will turn his world upside down, and propel him headlong into love with a woman who's immune to his charms. Twice widowed by the age of twenty-four, Lady Susanna Lynden has had enough of charming men. Her last husband knew all the right things to say to get her to the marriage bed…then made her life miserable. Money may be scarce and her house falling down around her, but the exotic fruit from her orange trees will keep poverty away. Except someone is thwarting her at every turn. Someone who may even want her dead. The books in the Assassins Guild series are: #1 The Charmer #2 The Rebel #3 The Saint #4 The Sinner

Three Abductions and an Earl


Tessa Candle - 2017
    Now an encoretante whose family has lost a fortune, Lydia discovers that the beau monde is hard on a nouveau riche social climber, particularly one who is no longer riche and only wants to climb trees. Lydia must stave off the effrontery of rakes and conniving competitors long enough to make a good match, or else incur society's scorn by earning her own money. Falling for the unattainable Lord Aldley is a distraction she cannot afford. But they share such an enchanted history, how can her heart resist?The tragically virtuous Earl of Aldley is tired of ambitious families hurling debutantes at his head, but cannot hide in France forever. He returns to London to seek out the mysterious tree-climbing girl who once saved him from a scheming chit, and finds more than he bargained for. Abductions, seductions, trickery and injury all endanger Lydia, but Lord Aldley's heart is imperiled beyond rescue. He has only just found her; will he lose her forever to his enemy, his best friend, or his own dangerous mistake?Three Abductions and an Earl is a full length novel and the first book in Tessa Candle's Parvenues and Paramours series.

Loving the Marquess


Suzanna Medeiros - 2013
    Marry the desperate Louisa Evans, saving her and her siblings from ruin, and produce an heir. But when he proposes, Nicholas doesn’t tell her the real reason they must wed so quickly.They are married when Louisa learns the Marquess doesn’t intend to father his future heir himself. Drawn to her new husband in a way she never expected, Louisa has no intention of agreeing to his scandalous proposition. Instead, she shows him that what is developing between them goes far beyond a typical marriage of convenience.Nicholas never imagined he would fall in love with Louisa. Despite the distance he tries to put between them, one thing soon becomes clear—he will never allow another man to touch her. Even if it dooms his family’s future.

Wronged


Sylvia McDaniel - 2002
    Yet, the biggest surprise was when the detective informed her that she's not the only woman Jean married. There are three Cuvier Widows and one is suspected of murder.When Marian learned of her husband's death, humiliation, shock and anger were the only emotions she felt for Jean. For the last several years, their marriage has been in name only. Now she's determined to safeguard her children's future and save their only source of income, Cuvier Shipping. Jean's handsome business partner, Louis Fournet thinks Marian's should not be leading her husband's business. The man has a way with women that Marian finds alluring and arouses feelings she's never experienced. Louis Fournet is a temptation she finds hard to resist.

Ruse & Romance


S.G. Rogers - 2014
    Lord Philip Butler’s father wants him to settle down before he can become a landowner. With no intention of following through, Kitty and Philip enter into a temporary engagement as a means to an end. Unfortunately, someone knows the truth and is determined to expose them. Will the ruse turn into a romance before it’s too late?

Gabriella


Brenda Hiatt - 1992
    . . but won a treasure. Due to a lost wager, the Duke of Ravenham is obliged to bring a pretty little nobody from the country into fashion among the high-sticklers of London Society. Ravenham would never refuse a debt of honor, no matter how unorthodox, so he overlooks Miss Gordon's vulgar relations to do what is necessary, escorting the unsophisticated chit to balls, etc. But what he expects to be an irksome duty turns out to be something quite different as he falls under the spell of his protege's innocent charm. When he lost that wager, he definitely never counted on losing his heart as well! First impressions can be deceiving. Miss Gabriella Gordon only came to London at her mother's and sister's insistence, for she'd much rather assist in running her father's veterinary practice than attempt to fit into fashionable society. No sooner has she arrived in London than the exalted (and exceedingly handsome) Duke of Ravenham comes to call. The reason is less than flattering, however: due to a lost wager, the Duke is forced to bring Gabriella into fashion, a "favor" she would certainly refuse if her family would let her. But the more time she spends in the dashing Duke's company, the more conflicted she feels-- particularly when she discovers they have more in common than she ever dared dream. A sparkling traditional Regency romance from bestselling author Brenda Hiatt.

Something About Her


Jeannie Ruesch - 2009
    The first involves a woman (don't they always), and the second...well, it also involves a woman and a large sum of stolen money. To clear his family name, Michael must track down his charlatan cousin... the same cousin believed to be dead. She is the one woman he knows he can't have. Blythe Willoughby Ashton has been married for a year, but hasn't been a wife for even a day. When she learns of her husband's death, she just wants to be left alone. Then her husband's cousin shows up uninvited on her doorstep, looking more handsome than any man should.  Falling in love is the last thing she should do, especially when it becomes obvious that the secrets he's keeping could threaten not only her happiness, but her life.

The Loyal Heart


Merry Farmer - 2011
    Several problems. Her childhood love, Ethan, has returned home from the Crusades, but he’s more interested in winning his land back than wooing her. She has to rescue a pair of nuns who are being held prisoner in Derby Castle’s tower by the sadistic Sheriff Buxton. And to top it all off, she’s developing scandalous feelings for Buxton’s lackey, the dark and devilish Crispin. Faced with all that what’s a girl to do but don her disguise as the Derbywood Bandit and take matters into her own hands?Sir Crispin is at his wit’s end. Not only does he have his hands full keeping Buxton from killing half the shire, now his arch nemesis, the Derbywood Bandit, has joined forces with his old rival Ethan. And that’s nothing compared to the burning torch he carries for his ex-fiancé, Lady Aubrey. He would do anything to win Aubrey’s love …… until he suspects that there could be a closer connection between Aubrey and the Derbywood Bandit than anyone knows.

A Heartless Design


Elizabeth Cole - 2013
    Yet men still try to win her, drawn by her sharp wit and intoxicating green eyes. But Cordelia knows a marriage could reveal her deepest secret and truly endanger her life. Besides, she hasn't met a man worth considering, until... Sebastien Thorne, a spy in the service of Crown. One of the elite agents in the group known as the Zodiac, he comes to London determined to solve a mystery with roots on the Continent. He won't let anything distract him. But is Cordelia a distraction, or the key to the mystery? As he learns more about the "heartless" woman, he becomes embroiled in secrets, plots, and a design that could change the future...and Cordelia is at the center of it all.

Lady Deception


Rizzo Rosko - 2011
    ‘For your protection,’ she would say, but Eliza’s mother had to sell her body to cruel men to provide for her daughter.After her death, Eliza made up her mind to become the lady she believes herself to be. She arranged for the local lord’s son to have an accident while out riding. But the men she hired were too severe. Instead of merely robbing Blaise Gray, they beat him and left him for dead.Except fall in love.For saving his life, Eliza is brought to live in Blaise’s castle where she fights her attraction to him, terrified of the pain she will feel should he discover it was her who nearly ended his life.Though Blaise cannot deny his heated lust for the beautiful peasant girl who saved his life, he also cannot halt his suspicion that she may have had something to do with his attack. It wouldn’t have been the first time someone from the lower class attempted to use him, yet he finds himself falling in love with her anyway. But the confirmation that she had nearly killed him to become a lady could be his undoing.

Upon a Midnight Dream


Rachel Van Dyken - 2012
    Stefan, the future duke of Montmouth, no doubt thought his words were welcomed but he couldn't have been more wrong. Oh, he was handsome as a pagan Norse god, but that was unimportant when her life as well as those of her family hung in the balance. With less than six weeks left, Rosalind has stopped believing in the fairy tale, the prince on the white horse, and the stolen kiss that would awaken her from her worst nightmares. Resigned to her fate, she waits for the inevitable curse to run it’s course. "We must marry at once!" Stefan declared, fully expecting Rosalind to be delighted that he had come to save her, but he was sorely mistaken. Rosalind was no simpering docile female; she was a fiery temptress with a stubborn streak only matched by his horse, Samson. Insulting, infuriating, intoxicating and alluring enough to drive a man mad. Stefan found himself thankful for the curse that required him marry her, thankful for the betrothal contract he had so recently tried to release her from...With the fortitude of a sailor shipwrecked, abandoned, and a solider warring for his life Stefan decides to lay siege to the greatest prize, Rosalind's heart.