How can she fulfill this desire for a husband except to ask for the new matchmaker’s help? When her life is threatened, she learns the depth of the baker’s feelings for her.William Sandoval is a successful baker who could provide well for a wife, but protocol prevents him from fraternizing with the only females he encounters, his customers. Learning that Marianne Gordon is willing to help the local business owners with matchmaking gives him hope for finding a wife. To his surprise, the match Marianne identifies for him has been the very customer who had stirred his heart all along.Will these two find a way to get what they both want? Can love overpower doubts and confusion?

    Who will protect her from herself?Shoney's lightning speed with a bow captures Ronan by surprise, and their chance meeting ends with him lying unconscious at the bottom of a ravine.When he awakens, he cannot rid his mind of her startling beauty, her valor, or the secret fear he glimpsed in her steel eyes. He vows to find her, but as the mysteries of her identity unfold, his courage and heart are tested as never before.Highland Thunder, Book 2A STORM IS COMING...Although she faces tragic loss, Brenna will never succumb to grief or fear, nor will she surrender to the one man she despises--the very man who now has the power to control her destiny. Like the storms that rage unchecked over the moors, her fury is about to be unleashed.A HIDDEN LOVE...He does not look at her or speak to her, and most importantly, he does not touch her. These are the rules Duncan set for himself long ago to ensure his affection for his best friend's wife remained undetected. But under the weight of a land besieged by war, the walls he erected to shield his heart crumble.If he can earn her trust, the one woman he has always loved may at last be his. But first he must save what he cherishes most from a nightmare of dark secrets.To Love a Warrior, Book 3Destinies unfold. Secrets are revealed. The Isle of Mull will be forever changed.Half Highlander, half Viking, Garik MacKinnon was not born on the Scottish Isle of Mull, but fostered there in his youth. Now, he leaves behind his home, once more bound for Mull, to join the MacKinnon warriors as they answer Robert the Bruce's call to arms. He is ready for battle, eager to fight for Scotland's freedom. What he is not prepared for is his encounter with Nellore, a shield maiden from Mull, whose allure defies all reason.Nellore has the strength and skill of a warrior but the heart of a woman. When the men are called away to war Nellore must aid those left behind to safeguard their village against attacks from the MacLeans--a feuding clan to the south. She understands her duty to her clan. She is ready to take up arms against the enemy if need be. What she is not ready for is the ache that fills her heart when war pulls Garik from her side.Desire ignites and battles are waged as both Nellore and Garik learn what it means to love a warrior.

    As Melinda is saying her final goodbyes to her beloved sister, a brilliant yet risky idea presents itself. Melinda will take her place on the train instead, allowing her sister to stay in town and have a chance with her love. By the time their ruse is discovered, Melinda will be walking down the aisle with her future husband…What could possibly go wrong with such a perfect plan?Reginald Dawson started out in life with nothing and built a fortune from the goldfields in Cripple Creek, Colorado. Now, with a large hotel and success within his grasp, he is on the brink of having it all. When he posts an ad looking for a wife, he only has one thing in mind: to find someone sweet and genteel to be his companion and partner in life. With a lady of refinement at his side, even his tainted past could be overlooked, right?The problem is, lies have a way of being exposed...Both Melinda and Reginald have their fair share of secrets and neither is what the other expected. Melinda’s daring new husband seems to have a sinister secret in his past and Reginald’s perfect wife turns out to be a feisty suffragette. With danger looming and past mistakes catching up to them, can they even dare to imagine a chance at true love?"When Two Souls Defy Destiny" is a historical western romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

    This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.

    

    The story centres around two families and one woman. The families clash through years of class welfare, drama, heartache and love affairs, for in every way they stand opposed. The Richardsons are copper barons - lords of the Sweyn's Eye copper smelting industry, rich, powerful, facing only reluctantly the possibility that their wealth may be in jeopardy as the demand for copper wanes. The Llewelyns are a poor family, facing every day the prospect of unemployment and all its attendant miseries - too poor to afford more than a pauper's funeral when Mrs Llewelyn dies, too proud to allow the neighbours to know. Linking these two very different families is one fiery and determined woman - Mali Llewelyn. On her shoulders rest the burden of the family fortunes. When she is offered a job in the local laundry she takes it - determined to fight her way to prosperity as a businesswoman, while in secret she battles with her hopeless love for Sterling Richardson, heir to the copper kingdom of Sweyn's Eye.

    But she is the only one who can salvage his soul. Fiona Malloch feels completely lost. Only weeks after her forced marriage, the husband she hated dies of old age, and before she can feel relief, another man tries to prey on her! Fiona decides to risk everything and run away, seeking refuge in the nearby Ormond Castle, home of the infamous Laird Bhaltair Douglas.The young Laird has never been the same after the tragic loss of his brother in a fire. The scars on his body remind him daily of the tragedy and his failure to save his own blood. A failure that has alienated him from his family and spread rumors that the once-powerful clan is now weak.When the young lass arrives and asks for shelter, Bhaltair knows that helping her will mean war with the enemy clan she escaped from. They have been waiting for an opportunity, and Fiona has given them the perfect one.Her untamed character brings them into collision, but in an unexpected turn of events, Bhaltair decides to protect her. While staying in Douglas lands, Fiona seems to be the only one who is not afraid to defy the Laird and finds a way to penetrate his soul’s defenses. Bhaltair’s heart begins to heal, and he rediscovers emotions he thought he would never feel again.But by keeping Fiona, Bhaltair is losing the trust of his clan, and with his enemies at the doorstep, it seems that the girl who can save him is about to destroy his clan…

    

    Loren is perceived as a child as thin as a rail with mud caked hair when Old Tom and his boys come across Thad Walters on their way to town. Rather than take the chance that Miss Pearl won't offer him enough money for a visit at Pearl's brothel, Old Tom decides to convince Thad to buy her. Thad knew that he would do everything in his power to get the child away from the men that had her tied behind their horse half dragging her to town. When he finally payed them enough to get four steak dinners and one roll in the hay for Old Tom, he took her to his ranch planning to take the child to the next town where she could be taken in by a good family. To his surprise, when she got all the mud off, he found her to be a beautiful woman, not a child at all.

     Caroline Harper has everything she could want--wealth, position, the attention of an eligible bachelor. When her brother’s news destroys all of that, Caroline must decide what kind of life she wants to create for herself. As the Harpers make their way along the grueling thousands of miles of Oregon Trail, Caroline discovers strength, poise and potential she didn’t realize she possessed. Strength that perhaps was not in a spoiled city girl at all. But will it be enough to survive and bring Caroline and her brother all the way to Oregon?

     After her fiancé’s death, Brenna Keelin travels to England, stumbles up hidden stairs in a cathedral and comes out in 1871 Yorkshire. To keep from starving, she becomes a servant in a great estate. More than anything she wants to return to her modern life, especially in time for her sister's wedding, but falling in love has changed everything. Lord Garren Buntingford left Scotland to take over an earldom. He has a lot to learn about the subtleties of being an aristocrat—and a title he never wanted. He desires to return to his vast farm and family in Scotland until a beautiful housemaid is injured by a horse and he carries her back to the estate where she works in his arms. Brenna must hide the truth about where she is from and find her purpose for being sent through time before the stairs will open again. But soon discovers that her calling is to help Lord Garren marry an aristocratic wife. Her heart is torn between fulfilling her call and a desperate passion for a braw Scotsman that society says she can never have. Both must choose between the home they long for and a forbidden love, between duty and devotion, the upstairs and the downstairs, all under the roof of Dunstable Park House.

    They call her the "Widow Drake", because she is lonely and grieving, but there is much more around this mysterious widow. She carries secrets buried deep about her marriage that nobody should ever find out! For Susannah, the first glimpse of the tall, handsome master of horses will kindle something deep inside her, something that she never thought she would feel again. But with wounds from the past still bleeding, how can she ever hope to open her heart, and love again?When Jasper Stone arrives at The Willows, to tame the new colt the Widow Drake has purchased, he mistakenly thinks there is nothing exciting about his new assignment. He has been drifting through the country, trying to clear his mind from the painful events that forced him to leave home many months ago...But the Widow Drake is not the middle aged virago Jasper is anticipating. She is a young, beautiful woman; a passionate woman that might be dangerous. How can he hope to keep the fortress he has built around his heart intact?Jasper is not alone in trying to attract the beautiful Widow Drake. A man from her past holds the key to the painful secrets of her past, as well as threatens her very future. As Jasper and Susannah grow closer, she knows she is being drawn to him, as irresistibly as a moth to fire. Can she find the courage to open her heart, even if danger swirls all around her once again?"The Burning Passion of a Fiery Lady" is a historical romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

    But when the man she's loved since her girlhood returns from a long spell abroad, she quite suddenly finds herself hoping the fine lord her brother has picked for her won't propose…TEMPTING JULIANA - London, 1816 - There's nothing Lady Juliana Chase wants more than to see her loved ones happy. So why is everyone ignoring her good intentions and shaking up her sensible plans?THE ART OF TEMPTATION - London, 1817 - Though Lady Corinna Chase is more interested in pursuing her art than finding a husband, she can't help but take notice of the handsome Irishman who's moved in next door. When it soon becomes evident that her new neighbor isn't who he says he is, rather than expose him, she finds herself drawn into the hoax.

    His aunt offers a way out, but is the cost too high? Her dying wish is to give them The Grand Opera House of Rapid City, but there’s one catch. All three brothers must wed first. When he chooses to marry the costume designer out of necessity, will a marriage of convenience ruin the crescendo building between them?Beloved DuetSam Wagner is the forgotten son. He will do whatever he must to take ownership of the Opera House, including send for a mail order bride. When his first plan falls flat, he seeks the hand of the woman who helped him along the way. Except, she’d rather have nothing to do with him or his hand. As time runs short, can he convince her he isn’t the man she believes him to be?Grand FinaleCaleb Wagner flees his home and his family to escape the pressure of finding a wife. He’s certain if he leaves, his aunt will relent and give his brothers their desires. While away, he meets an opera star in hiding. She convinces him to bring her back to Keystone, the perfect place to escape. Will she be the final piece the family needs or will Caleb’s delay mean silence for them all?If wives aren’t found before time runs out three brothers will lose their birthright. Don’t miss this sweet, historical romance with perfect pacing and a final curtain you won’t want to miss.