Just in time for the Christmas season--four of romances best-loved writers contribute timeless, passionate stories created especially for this collection! Jill Barnett, Mary Jo Putney, Justine Dare, and Susan King set the pages on fire with love, as these exquisite stories capture the true spirit of this special time of year!

    But the virtuous Sheriff Hale has never told anyone about his shocking desires. Will he give in to the surprising temptation of the young widow?Meet bestselling erotica author Holly Summers in Victoria Dahl's contemporary romances, TALK ME DOWN (January 2009) and START ME UP (July 2009).

    Her goal is to find the Norman knight who left her with child the year before. The only clue she has to his identity is the ring he gave her. During the battle of Hastings, Broc St. Ceneri takes a young Saxon boy as his hostage. The boy so resembles the Saxon girl he can't forget, Broc offers to train him as a knight after he is granted Elmstead as his own. With Broc unable to see through her disguise, Ariel must decide whether to risk all by revealing her secret, or say nothing and let the man she loves wed another.

     The Fortune Hunter : A stunning beauty rejects the charming suitor who isn't wealthy enough to save her impoverished family. But she can't so easily dismiss the memory of their sweet shared kiss. Deirdre and Don Juan : The dashing Earl of Everdon is most eager to marry someone-anyone-who will bear him an heir. But when he meets a quiet, well-bred lady who fits the bill, he must resort to an amorous dance of deception to gain her acceptance to his proposal.

    Denied her dream of attending medical school, Sarah Howard is desperate to leave Boston far behind. Determined to prove that she can make it on her own, she poses as a married woman and boards a schooner bound for San Francisco. Stuck working in his family’s merchant bank, Jamie Thompson eagerly accepts the challenge of setting up a branch in San Francisco. He’s been restless for some time now, and barely escaped the clutches of the woman determined to marry him. The attraction between Sarah and Jamie is instant and powerful, yet each has something to prove, if only to themselves. Will their single-minded determination derail a blossoming romance?

    Judith McNaught, Arnette Lamb & Jill Barnett whisk you away... to New York in the late 1800s, where a beautiful but clumsy angel turns a lonely man's life around... to medieval Scotland, where intrigues surrounding a Christmas Mass imperil two Highland lovers... to Regency London, where a world-weary lord receives an outrageous proposal... to modern-day Colorado, where a daring and clever twelve-year-old plays matchmaker for his bighearted, impractical mother... to a world where love always reigns supreme!

    Legendary rancher Caleb Kincaid discovers love is sweeter the second time around in the arms of an old flame. Younger brother Will woos the townspeople to his bank with the help of a sassy saloon girl who has a head for business and pleasure. Black sheep cousin James saves a schoolteacher from bandits and soon discovers she's stolen his heart!

    Grote From alarming to charming / Pamela Kaye TracyMisreading an order for bridles, a New England farmer sends his four sisters-in-law as mail-order brides to Lickwind, Wyoming. When the four women step off the train, astonishment turns to mayhem as the men of the town suddenly spruce up and make time for courting. Since James Collingswood - still without tack for his horses - can't afford train tickets to send the women back, they'll have to stay. But what future is there in Lickwind for: *Matty, the sociable sister who irritates James' very soul with her unending friendliness to the eager men of Lickwind. *Corrine, the mom-to-be still so pained over her young husband's death that she barely knows Luke Collingswood is alive. *Bess, who insists that the town must have a church, reform the brothel women, and straighten up the saloon keeper, Gideon Rikers.*Bertie, who can outperform any man she ever meets...until the mysterious Thomas Hardin becomes her personal protection agency. Under such absurd circumstances, the sisters will certainly find laughter in Lickwind...but will they also find love? One thing's for sure - the town will never be the same again!

    Lady has never met a cowboy she couldn't entice, or a lawman she couldn't outrun. But when Lady tangles with a sexy U.S. Marshall, she's tempted to stick around long enough to watch him lay down the law - in her bed. U. S. Marshall Rafe Morgan wants to lock up Lady Gone Bad for good - and he won't let his attraction to her slow him down. But when his attempt to bring Lady to justice goes awry, Rafe is nearly hanged - and by dawn, his face is plastered next to hers on every "Wanted" poster in Texas. Now on the run together, Rafe and Lady find themselves in very close quarters - and even more compromising positions. As Lady surrenders to Rafe's touch, she slowly begins to reveal all her secrets - including her real name. Maybe "Lady Gone Bad" isn't beyond redemption after all. Either way, Rafe is in for one wild ride...

    Faced with primitive lodgings--a cave, a dugout, a sod house, a barn--settlers face their first Christmas in a new land with both trepidation and hope. From the mountains of North Carolina to the woods of Michigan, across the plains of Oklahoma and deserts of Arizona, these settlers soon learned that wherever the heart dwells, Christmas and romance can find a place to call home.In this exclusive collection of nine Christmas romances, readers will relive a pioneer Christmas with all its challenges and delights as penned by some of Christian fiction's beloved authors, including bestselling authors Margaret Brownley and Lauraine Snelling.1781 North Carolina - Defending Truth by Shannon McNear1820 Ohio - The Calling by Kathleen Fuller1830 Michigan Territory - A Silent Night by Anna Urquhart1862 Nebraska Territory - A Pony Express Christmas by Margaret Brownley1867 Arizona Territory - A Christmas Castle by Cynthia Hickey1875 Dakota Territory - The Cowboy's Angel by Lauraine Snelling1885 Dakota Territory - A Badlands Christmas by Marcia Gruver1889 Oklahoma Territory - Buckskin Bride by Vickie McDonough1897 Alaska - The Gold Rush Christmas by Michelle UleFilled with inspiration and faith, each story will become a treasure to be enjoyed again each holiday season.

    On his deathbed.Gwendolyn Adams isn't shocked at being asked to save a handsome earl's dying line, even when she learns the prospective bridegroom is seriously ill and possibly insane. She's quite a good nurse, after all, and her family is famous for producing healthy male children. Those stories about his riding the moors half-naked on a pale white horse? Extremely intriguing—especially after she gets her first look at the gorgeous lunatic.The Earl of Rawnsley wants only to lose what's left of his mind in peace and privacy. But his busybody relatives have saddled him with a surprise bride and orders to sire an heir forthwith. (And they say he's mad?) But with Gwendolyn, his health is returning, and his resistance ... crumbling. Is it possible that love is the finest madness of all?

    With her parents away, she's left to take care of the mountaintop farm alone until Josiah Huckabee happens to check on her. She used to think him charming--used to--but before she can run Josiah off, a stranger appears. The bridge has washed out, stranding a weathered and threatening man with them. Immediately sensing danger, Josiah steps in and claims the place--and Katie Ellen--as his own. His farm, his wife, and this Silas Ruger character better be respectful. Furious, Katie Ellen is forced to play along. Readers of Regina's Ozark Mountain Romance series will love seeing favorite characters all grown up.

    But the minute she walks out of her biotech firm accidentally carrying "The Cure" -- the most important scientific discovery of the century -- she's on the run from ruthless bioengineers, cops, and the U.S. government. Desperate to lose her trackers, Renee lays a full-body kiss on the first gorgeous guy she sees...a kiss that she gets back with a toe-curling vengeance. N.S.A. agent James Axelrod never thought apprehending his suspect would be so easy, and so sinfully arousing...or that he would consider taking her into custody in the privacy of his own bedroom...Lovely LiesPeter Random lost everything when he was outwitted by that goody-goody Renee Jardin. Late in his rent, his job gone, Peter vows he'll never let anyone get close enough to burn him again. So why can't he seem to tell Lori Jamieson and her troubles to hit the road? It isn't just her hot bod and full lips -- although those have a magic he can't deny. Something about the damsel in distress makes Peter want to wrap her in his strong arms and prove that a bad boy can be very, very good, especially when it's between the sheets...Delightful DeceptionAt the biotech firm, they call her Thea "I.Q." Foster -- "I.Q." for either Intelligence Quotient or Ice Queen, depending. Slipping the Cure into Renee's tote bag was satisfying revenge, but now that the fun's over, Thea sets her sights on a new challenge: sarcastic, secretive Jimmy Scrye. Cracking open his hard shell would be a real game, but Jimmy's more than Thea's match. He's got a few ideas for turning the tables on the brainy scientist...sensual, erotic fantasy ideas that just might change those letters in her name to "Incredible," "Insatiable," and "Quivering with delight"...

    Nothing to stimulate her inquisitive mind ever happened here--until the night Lady Culpepper's emeralds were stolen! Now, if only she could keep her mind on the case and her hands off the enigmatic man in black--the beguiling... more » Lord Ashdowne...!As the newly made, ever-responsible Marquis of Ashdowne, Johnathon Saxton bemoaned the lack of excitement now marking his days. But when quixotic, exotic Georgiana Bellewether literally tumbled into his arms, he knew he'd caught himself an armful. The woman was a disaster in the making!

    When her would-be hero turns out to be an impostor, that doesn't make him any less dangerous, because now rather than losing her assets, she's in danger of losing her heart!