Book picks similar to
Fires of Destiny by Linda Barlow


historical-romance
romance
bodice-ripper
historical

Sweet Savage Love


Rosemary Rogers - 1974
    But this fearless heroine and "hero of all heroes" must first endure countless unforeseen dangers before they can enjoy sensual, exhilarating passion that burns between them.

The Flesh and the Devil


Teresa Denys - 1980
    Spanish court of King Philip IV, this is the story of lovely, spirited young Juana de Arrelanos. Taken against her will from her home and from Jaime de Nueva, the man she loves, she is brought to the massive, magnificent Castillo Benaventes, the home of Bartolomé, Duque de Valenzuela - the man to whom she must be wed. Within the castle's heavy walls the rebellious Juana finds an atmosphere of secrecy, almost of conspiracy, and a number of cunning, sinister figures, chief among whom is the sardonic Felipe Tristán, the Duque's protector and mercenary, behind whose scarred face lie memories of horror Juana can only guess at.But the greatest horror is reserved for Juana, and for Juana alone. For the young Duque she is forced to marry, she discovers, is a cruel caricature of a man, a person twisted in mind and body. His wealth and rank can supply Juana with undreamed-of luxury - but also with incredible suffering, for the perfumed silks of the master bedchamber conceal the depravity of an unbalanced mind. Juana's brave attempts to escape from the marriage are dealt with harshly, and, to her limitless despair, she finds herself irrevocably betrothed to the terrifying, unbalanced Duque.Yet, against all hope, there is a way out. Swift and brutal action by the arrogant Felipe can insure Juana's escape from the secrets and treachery of the Castillo Benaventes. But Felipe's protection, she fears, may be more dangerous than his enmity, and all too soon he begins to demand a humiliating payment....

The Scottish Hearts Collection


Carmen Caine - 2014
    They were nothing but trouble. Leaving the rash life of his youth behind, he returned to Skye, seeking peace. He never meant to split the clan or start a war with the MacDonald of Duntulm. He certainly never foresaw an arranged marriage to the most scandalous woman in Scotland. Even though she was twice his age, the size of a horse and mother to more than one illegitimate child, he agreed to secure his sister's freedom.However, even that plan goes drastically awry. On his wedding day, he finds himself faced instead with an enticing, green-eyed lass named Bree. A walking disaster, his bride immediately turns his world into chaos and threatens to melt his resolve never to love again.BOOK TWO:  The Award-Winning Novel: "The Bedeviled Heart" - ROMANCE SILVER MEDAL WINNER of the Independent Publisher Book Awards!(Scotland, 1479) Cameron Malcolm Stewart, Earl of Lennox, had made his peace with destiny. It was not his fate to love as other men.Each of his politically arranged marriages had ended in disaster. And though he had never touched a one of his wives, he had come to believe that sharing his name would consign a woman to an early grave.So, on the sunny spring day Cameron encounters a delightfully devious, bright-eyed lass selling charmed stones in one of Stirling's alehouses, he tosses her a shilling, thinking only to steal a kiss. But it is a kiss that will change his life forever.BOOK THREE: "The Daring Heart" (Scotland, 1482) - To the scandalous Lord Julian Gray, marriage is a malady and nothing more. How can a man even court a lass longer than a fortnight when there are so many pouting lips to kiss? Roaming the courts of Europe, Julian appears to spend his time drinking wine, wagering gold, and dandling willing lasses upon his knee. But no one knows the man behind the mask. No one knows that he is Le Marin--Europe's most daring and brazen spy.But everything changes the night he finds a dagger pressed against his ribs and an alluring hazel-eyed minx in his bed.BOOK FOUR: "The Bold Heart"(Scotland, 1488) - Ewan was a battle-weary warrior with haunted dreams. He no longer believed in love.As Scotland's greatest warrior and heir to the earldom of Mull, few dared to cross swords with Ewan MacLean. But the price he paid for his fearsome reputation was a heavy one. To survive, he buried his emotions and became only the warrior, riding from battle to battle with his men to protect Scotland from threats within and without her borders and letting himself feel nothing else.But when his right-hand man, Alec Montgomery, is caught dallying with a powerful Lord's daughter, a trap is set. And both Ewan and Alec find themselves in an English prison, their necks headed for the noose.On the Isle of Skye, the raven-haired Merry MacLeod spends her days caring for the clan elderly and hurtling across the moors on the back of her black stallion. A high-spirited, adventurous lass, she is no longer troubled by childhood memories of the day the braw lad, Ewan MacLean, rescued her from her husband, the cruel MacDonald. But when she hears the very same Ewan is now confined in an English prison, she disguises herself as a lad and sets out to repay her debt.

Homeward Hearts


Alexis Harrington - 1994
    Living alone in her father's house in a dying Oregon mining town, she had put away her girlish dreams and prayed for something more practical: that someone would answer her ad for a blacksmith to run the shop that was her father's legacy to her--and her only hope of holding onto her homestead. But the exhausted stranger who collapsed in her front yard looked as dangerous as the devil himself... and he was far more dangerous than Chloe could imagine....along comes a strangerTravis McGuire was a man who seemed to have no past and no future. He was doomed to the life of a wanderer and knew that his desire for Chloe had to be contained. But he hadn't anticipated finding a woman like Chloe--a woman willing to look his past in the face, to risk everything she had for the one true love she'd never thought she could find.

Saving Landon


Nikki Wild - 2016
    A new name, a new town. I lived a sheltered life far from the club and farther still from the man who owned my innocence… I never expected him to find me again, but when I saw the motorcycle accident just outside Baddock, I knew my quiet little life was over… Until he asked me for my name. LANDON I barely remember my own name, but I know I’m not a good man… Scars on my knuckles, tattoos of skulls and dragons running down my arms, the twisted wreck of my motorcycle or the patches ripped from my leather cut… No… I’m a bad man. I’m the kind of man a girl like Lucy should be running away from… But she isn’t running. I feel something for this girl. She’s taken me in. She’s helping me heal. With my memory returning piece by piece, I know this girl just wants to save me from myself. But I want more… And I won’t stop until I possess her.

Paradise


Judith McNaught - 1991
    A long way from the country club where, feeling like an outsider, he had dared to fall in love with a beautiful blonde named Meredith Bancroft, and known a once-in-a-lifetime passion and betrayal that still haunted his memory... Now world leaders courted him, the media watched his every move, and he was ready to move in on the Bancroft empire.A cool, poised executive in her family's legendary department store chain, Meredith had once defied her father for the sexually magnetic, intense Matt Farrell -- and their brief, ill-fated marriage was the disastrous outcome. Now, as the Bancroft firm is threatened by a hostile takeover, Meredith is forced to confront Matt. As tensions build between them, bittersweet memories rise to the surface, leaving them suspicious, restless, and uncertain. Will they be able to believe in each other -- and grasp the tender miracle that is before them?

Her Gentleman Thief


Robyn DeHart - 2011
    Determined to save her younger sister's reputation Annalise begs the thief to take her with him. It doesn't hurt that the handsome stranger might also be saving her from a marriage without love or passion.Griffin Hartwell, Viscount Benning never imagined that playing the highwayman would bring him face-to-face with his own would-be bride. Once alone Griffin takes the opportunity to show Annalise just how passionate he can be, but will his charade ruin their chance at a forever love? Her Gentleman Thief was originally published in the Mammoth Book of Regency Romance, 2010.

The Windflower


Laura London - 1984
    No one has a good time on a pirate ship. No one, that is, but the pirates. Yet there she was, Merry Wilding - kidnapped in error, taken from a ship bound from New York to England, spirited away in a barrel and swept aboard the infamous Black Joke....There she was, trembling with pleasure in the arms of her achingly handsome, sensationally sensual, golden-haired captor - Devon. From the storm-tossed Atlantic to the languid waters of the Gulf Stream, from a smuggler's den to a gilded mansion, Merry struggled to escape...to escape the prison of her own reckless passions, the bondage of sweet, bold desire...

Miranda's Dilemma


Natasha Blackthorne - 2015
    Scorned by her ducal father and determined to attain everything that life has denied her due to an accident of birth, she’s not about to let this arrogant earl stop her.Adrian Sutherland, the Earl of Danvers, saw his father destroyed by a heartless, predatory courtesan. He has no time or patience for such exotic, expensive ladybirds. He’s far too busy restoring his family’s wealth and reputation whilst doing what he can to protect his friends from the clutches of all the scheming courtesans of London.Then a moment of compassion turns intense dislike to breathless passion, and these two strong-willed, fiercely proud people are compelled to indulge in a brief affair. Each is convinced that they can satisfy their craving for the other without emotional risk.But neither realizes that a little dalliance can be a dangerous thing.Reader Advisory: This is an erotic historical romance and it contains frank sexual language and period appropriate sexual slang, frequent sexual scenes and descriptions and general bedchamber naughtiness. The characters discuss abuse issues from their backstories during the course of their developing relationship. For Adults 18 & Over Only.

The Stranger I Married


Sylvia Day - 2007
    . .The Marquess of Grayson never felt a twinge of guilt when he stole the beautiful Lady Pelham right out from under his best friend's nose. After all, they were well matched in all things--their sensual appetites, wicked wits, provocative reputations, and their absolute refusal to ruin their marriage of convenience by falling in love. But then a shocking turn of events sent her roguish husband from her side. Four years later, he has returned a powerful, irresistible man who is determined to seduce his way into her affections. No, this is not at all the man she married. But he is the man who might finally steal her heart. . ."Day plays on sensual themes with a lush grace." --RT Book Reviews

Where The Four Winds Collide


Hildie McQueen - 2013
    Plotting another escape becomes harder, the more she gets to know her new husband. Jackson Pruitt didn’t expect a secretive mail order bride to show up the same week cattle rustlers absconded with a large part of his herd. The bigger surprise was the loveliness of the woman. Why would a beauty like her need to travel so far to marry? Jackson and Adeline learn that secrets and marriage do not go hand-in-hand when both of their pasts comes knocking and both have to come to grips with the reality, that sometimes trust comes only after you lose it all. Retelling of my bestselling novel!

She Tempts the Duke


Lorraine Heath - 2012
    Sebastian Easton always vowed he would avenge his stolen youth and title. Now back in London, the rightful Duke of Keswick—returning from battle a wounded, hardened, changed man—cannot forget the brave girl who once rescued him and his brothers from certain death. Lady Mary Wynne-Jones paid dearly for helping the imprisoned young Lords of Pembrook, and she remembers well the promise she made to Sebastian all those years ago: to meet him once more in the abbey ruins where they shared a bold, forbidden kiss. While Mary is betrothed now to another, a friendship forged with dark secrets cannot be ignored. Unexpected passion soon burns dangerously between them, tempting Sebastian to abandon his quest for retribution to fight for a love that could once again set him free.

The Secret Christmas Ciphers


Carolynn Carey - 2012
    If his poor fiancée had not died, he would now be wed to her instead of Abigail. But then Abigail begins uncovering some of the secrets that are a part of her husband’s life and wonders if perhaps there is hope for their marriage after all.Derek, Lord Westdale, wasn’t sure why Abigail married him; she obviously despised him. On the other hand, he knew exactly why he was marrying her: she was the only woman he would ever love, despite his having offered marriage to another. Unfortunately, he can’t seem to convince Abigail that he never really betrayed her after all.Can their decoding of a secret Christmas cipher bring an end to their misunderstandings and help them create their own special Christmas tradition?

California Caress


Rebecca Sinclair - 1989
    And if that meant paying notorious gunslinger Drake Frazier to take his place in a fight, she'd barter her last gold nugget. But Hope soon discovered she'd have to give the handsome rattlesnake more than riches if she wanted his help. His improper demands infuriated her; even as she luxuriated in the tantalizing heat of his embrace, she refused to yield to her desires. She'd accept his terms, then find a way to escape him... somehow...

Taming a Highland Devil


Kimberly Killion - 2011
    His prowess in the bedchamber has earned him the name Devil of Dunrobin, but no woman has ever stirred his heart. Magnus needs to provide his clan with an heir, which is the only reason he agrees to marry the neighboring chieftain's sister. When his betrothed arrives, he discovers the chieftain has two sisters. If Magnus must bind himself to one woman, he intends to discover which is best suited to be his wife, for he wants more than a body to plant his seed. He wants a mate for life. There are three reasons Lady Effie Reay refuses to vie for Laird Sutherland's affections... For one, she is thirty-two and would surely lose a competition to her beautiful, younger sister. Secondly, Laird Sutherland is a well-reputed rake, and she holds no desire to wed another faithless man. And thirdly, the sight of him makes her tingle, shiver and ache. Will Effie be successful in thwarting Magnus' advances, or will her body succumb to a temptation that can only lead to heartbreak?