Book picks similar to
The Duke's Wayward Ward by Claudia Stone


historical-romance
historical
romance
regency

Wicked Designs


Lauren Smith - 2013
    Her plan to be done with dominating men forever is simple—find herself a kind husband who will leave her to her books. It seems an easy enough plan, until she is unexpectedly abducted by an incorrigible duke who hides a wounded spirit behind flashing green eyes.Godric St. Laurent, Duke of Essex, spends countless nights at the club with his four best friends, and relishes the rakish reputation society has branded him with. He has no plans to marry anytime soon—if ever. But when he kidnaps an embezzler’s niece, the difficult debutante’s blend of sweetness and sharp tongue make him desperate for the one thing he swears he never wanted: love. Yet as they surrender to passion, danger lurks in Godric’s shadowed past, waiting for him to drop his guard—and rob him of the woman he can’t live without. Product Warnings:This novel includes a lady who refuses to stay kidnapped, a devilish duke with a dark past, and an assortment of charming rogues who have no idea what they’ve gotten themselves into.

Honoria and the Family Obligation


Alicia Cameron - 2017
    She doesn't remember what he looked like. Crippled by her timidity, she hardly looked at him when they'd met during her first London season. But he had spoken to her father, determined to ask her for her hand. Her siblings, Serena and Benedict find this highly amusing, but after Honoria overhears a conversation between her parents about their finances she realises she must marry Mr Allison, and this constraint leaves her martyred and unhappy and unable to share her feelings. When Mr Allison arrives, there is another problem. One to do with her sister Serena. Mr Allison, (annoyingly handsome and kind) fails to propose as expected and leaves abruptly - but invites the confused family to stay at Bassington Hall, his own country home. His kindness to all her family leaves Honoria with no legitimate excuse to escape marriage. Mr Scribster, his ugly, unpleasant, unfeeling friend, guesses more than she would like and offers Honoria a place to concentrate her dislike and frustration. Meanwhile Benedict embarks on an adventure with his rogue of an uncle, Wilbert, to save his childhood friend and neighbour Genevieve Horton who has become the unhappy Lady Sumner. By learning some scandalous skills Benedict hopes to give some options to the most trapped figure in all of polite society - an unhappy wife. When Benedict's life hangs in the balance all the major players are changed forever and the tangle of romance is finally resolved. Alicia Cameron’s first novel, Clarissa and the Poor Relations, has been highly regarded, reaching the top ten in historical romance on Amazon.com (with 90 reviews), and #1 in Amazon.fr. It is newly available in a Spanish translation. What people say about Alicia Cameron’s previous novel: (Alicia Cameron) is '...a worthy successor to Georgette Heyer’ ‘Full of wit and imagination’ ‘…an authentic Regency voice’ ‘Definitely felt like reading Jane Austen’ ‘An episode of Friends set in the 1800s’ ‘Wouldn’t we all like to be invited?’ ‘Full of wit and romance like an old, old, movie directed by Preston Sturges.’ ‘A witty, light-hearted cross between Georgette Heyer and Oscar Wilde!’

The Bookseller and the Earl


Callie Hutton - 2019
    After six London Seasons as a wallflower, she convinces her parents that she should be allowed to use her dowry to buy a bookstore in Bath where she can live her life the way she wants.Lord Grayson, Earl of Berkshire, has never gotten over his deceased wife’s betrayal with his own brother. He plans to make his life all about his son, Michael, who is deaf. When Grayson’s sister-in-law serves him with court papers declaring Michael incompetent with the intention of having her own son named as Grayson’s rightful heir, he turns to Addie, a dyslexic bookstore owner, for help.Addie takes a personal interest in helping the boy. However, as time passes, Grayson and Addie’s joint venture to keep Michael from being declared incompetent leads to feelings and desires neither one of them expected.Or necessarily wanted.

Christmas Kisses


Cynthia A. Clement - 2014
    When he finally comes home to celebrate the holidays it’s to introduce his fiancée to his family.Will the Christmas season give them a second chance at happiness? Or will honor demand they separate forever?

Lord of Fire, Lady of Ice


Michelle M. Pillow - 2013
    Lord Blackwell. Brant the Gladiator. Brant the Vigorous. Brant the Flame. Brant the Viking Hero. Della snorted in unladylike disgust. More like, Brant the Thorn in my Arse!"Lady Della the Cold-HeartedLady Della despises all things Viking. They may rule the land, but they will never rule her. Unfortunately, her father doesn't seem to agree. To prove his continued allegiance to the Viking king, the Ealdorman of Strathfeld betroths his only daughter to a respected Viking Lord--a warrior who's legendary prowess isn't reserved for the battlefield. Fighting the newfound craving in her body and the unwelcome fire in her heart, Della must choose between everything she knows to be true and the one thing she never expected...Lord Brant of Blackwell, the Fiery OneLord Blackwell is as fiery on the battlefield as he is in his passions. He has fought valiantly for King Guthrum and has earned the respect of the nobles. When his overlord offers the hand of his beautiful daughter and the right to inherit his lands, Blackwell can hardly refuse. However, he soon discovers that his noble bride is anything but the meek and mild woman he envisioned for his wife. One minute she's kissing him back, the next she's swearing to do whatever it takes to dissuaded him from their marriage. Can his lust for life and his new bride melt the ice that surrounds her heart? Or will Lady Della the Cold be this warrior's undoing?Length: Long NovelHeat Level: Very SensualThis novel contains adult content. Mustbe 18 years or older to read.

Heartless


Mary Balogh - 1995
    Betrayed by his elder brother, rejected by his fiancée, banished by his father, and shunned by his mother, Luke fled to Paris, where he became the most sought-after bachelor in fashionable society.Ten years later, fate has brought him back home to England as head of the family who rejected him. Unwilling as he is to be involved with them, he must assume responsibility for his younger siblings, the family estate he once loved—and the succession. He faces the prospect of marrying with the greatest reluctance—until he sees beguiling Lady Anna Marlowe across a ballroom one night.Anna, far from being the bright-eyed innocent Luke takes her for, is no more a stranger to the shadows of a painful past than he is. But for her, marriage cannot so easily solve what is wrong in her life—not when a tormentor stalks her to the very doors of Bowden Abbey, where Luke and Anna must learn to trust in each other or risk any chance they may have for a happy future.

Seven Stones to Stand or Fall


Diana Gabaldon - 2017
    Then comes "The Space Between," where it is revealed that the Comte St. Germain is not dead, Master Raymond appears, and a widowed young wine dealer escorts a would-be novice to a convent in Paris. In "A Plague of Zombies," Lord John unexpectedly becomes military governor of Jamaica when the original governor is gnawed by what probably wasn't a giant rat. "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows" is the moving story of Roger MacKenzie's parents during World War II. In "Virgins," Jamie Fraser, aged nineteen, and Ian Murray, aged twenty, become mercenaries in France, no matter that neither has yet bedded a lass or killed a man. But they're trying. . . . "A Fugitive Green" is the story of Lord John's elder brother, Hal, and a seventeen-year-old rare book dealer with a sideline in theft, forgery, and blackmail. And finally, in "Besieged," Lord John learns that his mother is in Havana--and that the British Navy is on their way to lay siege to the city.Filling in mesmerizing chapters in the lives of characters readers have followed over the course of thousands of pages, Gabaldon's genius is on full display throughout this must-have collection.

The Lost Lord of Castle Black


Chasity Bowlin - 2017
    While his mother, Lady Agatha, has never given up hope of finding her son again, others—eager for the title and the wealth that accompanies it—have been conspiring to have him declared dead against Lady Agatha’s wishes. Her only ally in the house is her late husband’s ward, Miss Beatrice Marlowe. But when a dark-haired stranger arrives on their doorstep claiming to be the lost heir to Castle Black, the plots and schemes of those who would have the castle for themselves take a dark and even more sinister turn. An orphan when she came into the care of the late Lord Blakemore, Castle Black is the only home Beatrice has ever known. Its occupants are her family. This stranger, who claims to have lost his memory of his life there, threatens the order of all that she knows and holds dear. And yet, she is both drawn to him and strangely compelled to believe his claim. Beatrice finds herself torn between her desire for him and her belief that, if he is the lost lord of Castle Black, he is far above her reach. Graham is no ordinary gentleman, bound by the rules of a society he has spent his life far removed from. He’s willing to face not just the danger that lurks within the walls of Castle Black, but anyone who stands between him and what he wants. He has returned to claim his destiny and, for him, Beatrice is part of that. While all else has been forgotten, he knows her to the depths of his soul. More than the castle itself, more than the strangely familiar and rugged land it sits upon, she is his home and he means to claim her.

The Christmas Mail Order Bride


Kit Morgan - 2013
    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!

Honor Bound


Brenda Novak - 2011
    Jeannette Boucher, a young French beauty from a family left penniless by the revolution, must marry against her will to save them all from ruin. But almost immediately after the vows are spoken, she learns that her old English husband is impotent—and in his desire for an heir, he plans to compromise her in the worst way. Determined to escape such a fate, she stows away on one of His Majesty’s frigates. But a woman alone is in constant danger. To Lieutenant Treynor, honor means everything...Born a bastard to a wayward marquise, Lieutenant Crawford Treynor was given to a poor farmer to raise and was maltreated until he ran away to join the Royal Navy. Treynor is determined to prove he’s as good as any other man and rise to captain his own frigate. But once he finds Jeannette aboard The Tempest he must decide whether to return her to the man he knows would abuse her—or risk everything, even his life, to keep her safe.'

Pride and Pleasure


Sylvia Day - 2011
    . .There are disadvantages to being an heiress, as Eliza Martin knows well. Fortune hunters corner her, friends become opportunistic, and lately, someone is engineering "accidents" to propel her into marriage. Not one to be bullied, Eliza needs the right man to infiltrate the nest of suitors. . . . . .So Do Certain MenBy all measures, Jasper Bond is the wrong man for the job. He can't dance, isn't known for his restraint, and his blood heats whenever he's near his latest employer. Eliza Martin insists no one will believe an intellectual like her could be seduced by a man of action like Jasper, but the combination of his desire and her mystery makes the case one he can't resist. Client satisfaction is a point of pride and it's his pleasure to prove he's just the man she needs after all. . . "Everything romance readers expect and more." --RT Book Reviews

Her Sudden Groom


Rose Gordon - 2011
    With a loophole that allows him to marry another without consequence before the thirtieth anniversary of his birth, he has only four weeks to find another woman and make her his wife. Being the logical scientist he is, Alex decides to take his friend's advice and treat his quest for a bride just like a science experiment... Caroline Sinclair is still trying to scrape her jaw off the floor after hearing her cousin, Lady Olivia's, latest announcement when the object of their conversation, Alex Banks, Olivia's intended, arrives for what Caroline assumes is a bout of drawing room chitchat with his betrothed. But when an experiment is mentioned, Caroline, who cannot resist a science experiment any more than she can deny her lungs air, volunteers to help before she even knows what his latest experiment is!

Captivated by the Viscount


Emily Windsor - 2016
    Ruination and kidnap were not on Miss Lucy Lazenby´s list of planned events for that week...even if it seems to be for her own good. Caught up in the lies and passion of Lord Danbury, Lucy finds the truth can never be hidden for long. Jasper Carnforth, Viscount Danbury is really doing the girl a favour by ruining her...if it just so happens to coincide with his own need for vengeance - all the better. However keeping the delectable Lucy in his home is more of a challenge than he´d imagined. Retribution may have brought them together, but desire has its own agenda. This fast paced Regency novella (34,000 words) is the first standalone story in The Captivating Debutantes SeriesAlternative Cover Edition. B01HFAHL2C

If the Earl Only Knew


Amanda Forester - 2016
    After that kind of adventure, Kate knows she won't ever be accepted as a proper society lady.To the annoyingly clever, temptingly handsome, and altogether troublesome Earl of Wynbrook, society ladies are a dead bore. Kate, on the other hand, is scandalous, alluring, and altogether fascinating. And Kate can't decide which she relishes more, the thrill of chasing fearsome pirates, or having Wynbrook chase after her...

Crow Hollow


Michael Wallace - 2015
    She’s convinced her daughter is alive but cannot track her into the wilderness alone. Help arrives in the form of James Bailey, an agent of the crown sent to Boston to investigate the murder of Prudence’s husband and to covertly cause a disturbance that would give the king just cause to install royal governors. After his partner is murdered, James needs help too. He strikes a deal with Prudence, and together they traverse the forbidding New England landscape looking for clues. What they confront in the wilderness—and what they discover about each other—could forever change their allegiances and alter their destinies.