A stolen inheritance. Can love conquer mistrust? Athena Hawthorne never imagined that she would lose everything she'd ever had. But after the death of her father, his prosperous jewelry store is sold off to pay his supposed debts. Athena, now destitute, embarks on a mission to discover the truth, but circumstances force her to accept an offer from a handsome stranger to work as a governess. She's determined to clear her father's name, but a certain earl is making matters far more difficult than necessary. And she can't be in danger of losing her heart to a member of the aristocracy... Orion Ashcroft, the Earl of Rockford, is convinced that Athena is a grasping thief who stole a priceless family heirloom, the rare sapphire known as the Couleur Magnifique. When he offers her the position of governess to his sister's children, he only intends to catch her in some nefarious scheme and get back the sapphire—his grandmother's dying wish. But he soon discovers that keeping his distance—and his sanity—around the beautiful Athena isn't as easy as he'd planned. It certainly doesn't help that his sister and his best friend plead her innocence at every frustrating turn. Soon he's struggling between honoring his promise and his growing attraction to Athena. But there's danger closer than either expect. Even a masquerade can't hide Athena from the curiosity of the ton forever...and there's a threat hiding among the highest members of society...

    The Queen’s Barque Inn quickly fills with the injured, the devious, and the lonely—lords, ladies, and simple folk; spies, pirates, and smugglers all trapped together. Intrigue crackles through the village, and passion lights up the hotel.One storm, eight authors, eight heartwarming novellas.A Kiss by the Sea by Grace BurrowesHe's not really a blacksmith, and she's not really an heiress... Can they forge a happily-ever-after anyway?Thaddeus Pennrith finds a way to recover from multiple griefs when he accepts the blacksmith's post at Fenwick on Sea. Village life gives him a sense of belonging that Polite Society never could, though he must resume his aristocratic responsibilities soon. Along comes Lady Sarah Weatherby, refugee from an engagement gone badly awry, and Thaddeus is faced with both a compelling reason to reveal his titled antecedents, and a longing to keep them forever hidden...An Improbable Hero by Mary LancasterA runaway heiress, a mysterious stranger.When Letty's ship founders in a violent storm, she forges a rare bond with her rescuer.Simon is a troubled man on a final, deadly mission—until the spirited yet soothing Letty makes him question everything. Hiding in plain sight among the refugees at The Queen's Barque, Simon is more than capable of protecting them both. But when the floods recede, can either of them say goodbye?The Comtesse of Midnight by Alina K. FieldA Scottish Earl on a quest for the elusive Comtesse de Fontenay rescues a French lady smuggler from the surf during a devastating storm, and takes shelter with her. As the stormy night drags on, he suspects his companion knows the woman he's seeking, the one who holds the secret to his identity. When she admits she is, in fact, the Comtesse Fontenay, just not the one he's seeking, she dashes all his hopes—and promises him new ones.Lord Stanton's Shocking Seaside Honeymoon by Cerise DeLandShe is so wrong for him.Miss Josephine Meadows is so young. In love with life. His accountant in his work for Whitehall. Her father's heir to his trading company—and his espionage network.Lord Stanton cannot resist marrying her. But to ensure Wellington defeats Napoleon, they must save one of Josephine's agents.Far from home, amid a horrific storm, Stanton discovers that his new bride loves him dearly.Can he truly be so right for her?And she for him?The Tender Flood by Caroline WarfieldZach Newell knows Patience Abney is far above his touch. But he has been enchanted by her since she raced out of the storm and into The Queen's Barque with a wagon full of small boys, puppies, and a bag of books. When the two of them make their way across the flooded marsh to her badly damaged school in search of a missing boy, attraction deepens. She risks scandal; he risks his heart.A Dream Come True by Jude KnightThe tempest that batters Barnaby Somerville's village is the latest but not the least of his challenges.Vicar to a remote parish, he stretches his tiny stipend to adopt his orphaned niece and nephew and his time to offer medical care as well as spiritual. A wife is a dream he cannot afford.But the storm sweeps into his life a surprising temptation—a charming young woman who lavishes her gentle care upon his wards—and him.God knows, he will forever be richer for having known her, even if he must let her go.Wait for Me by Rue AllynEnemies by nature—Esmeralda Crobbin, aka the pirate Irish Red, and Captain, Lord Brandon Gilroy have met before.Fate trumps nature—When a fierce storm creates a chance encounter and forced proximity, Brandon learns the pirate is a woman of serious honor and responsibility. Esmeralda discovers the captain is more than a uniform stuffed with rules and regulations. Both love the sea with boundless passion, but can they love each other?Before I Found You by Sherry EwingA quest for a title. An encounter with a stranger. Will she choose love?Miss Miranda de Courtenay has only one goal in life: to find a rich husband who can change her status from Miss to My Lady.Captain Jasper Rousseau has no plans to become infatuated during a chance encounter at a ball.Their connection is hard to dismiss, despite Miranda's quest for a title at all cost. What if the cost includes love?

    Some fear this omen, some desire it. All respect it. Follow the journey of these brand new historical romance tales from USA Today and Bestselling authors and discover the power--and the promise--of the blue rose for yourself.

    It contains a destructive Alpha, a rebellious Omega, and a guaranteed HEA.

    She doesn’t believe she is worth anything, much less love. Her own people believe she is cursed. Siena’s only true blessing is the gift of sight.The Devil’s LairdRoderick, Warlord of Kirkurd, is driven by revenge and guilt. When his holding was attacked, his wife ravished and slain, and his son missing, the goodness within Roderick died. He is now known as the Devil’s Laird.The MeetingRoderick saves Siena from the hangman’s noose and takes her back to his castle. Siena sees a lonely, haunted man who needs her. But no matter how hard she tries, she cannot completely break down the barrier Roderick has constructed around his heart, nor shake the curse of bad luck that his people believe she carries. Only the Holy Grail can prove if she is good or evil.When Siena sacrifices herself to free Roderick’s son, Roderick realizes that he has lost his chance to love again. Now, he will move heaven and earth to find her, before it is too late.

    and the last thing he needed was a troublesome woman. Yet this fierce Irish warrior took a deathbed oath to protect a chieftain's rebellious daughter.Triona was a hellion of a woman...who would let no man rule her. Raised in the ways of a warrior, she defied Ronan's every command. So he planned to marry her off, to be rid of the wild lass forever. But in the heat of battle—enflamed by her passionate spirit—Ronan decided he wanted this beautiful, impossible woman for himself!

     
He’s chained, angry, and wants to punish someone. He wants revenge. 
I understand because I’ve been living in hell, wanting that same exact thing. I can’t do that, however. I have more than just myself to think of.
 I feel sorry for Ride, but I can’t let that sympathy jeopardize me or my mom. 
Then, something happens. Something awful. Something that can’t be undone.
The only person I can turn to is Ride.
 I beg him to help me. We strike a bargain. He’ll come to my rescue if I help him escape. It’s a bargain with the devil, but I don’t have a choice. I have to trust him, trust that once I free him he won’t kill me.
 But it’s not my death he wants.
It’s not even money.
 He wants me.

    But the Bratva leader won't take no for an answer…My first husband is dead and buried.I’m left a widowed mafia princess—a dangerous title to hold, especially when one man already has his eye on me.Viktor Andreyev.His own men call him Ussuri. The Bear. Older than me, with a reputation for violence and a cruel exterior to match, he’s no one I would ever choose for a husband. In fact, I’d hoped that I’d never have to marry again at all.But he’s made the price for peace my hand in marriage. And it’s clear that I can’t refuse.I’ve survived marriage to one cruel man already. I’m no fragile princess. I know I can survive this. But the secrets of the Bratva are darker than even I realized, and the more I learn, the more desperate I am to escape.Only one man, and the temptations he poses, stand in the way.He holds my body captive. But he’ll never hold my heart.

    Dedicated to restoring his clan pride, Keenan strikes a bargain with his brothers, they will each marry, but not for love, only for the generous dowries their future wives will bring.Fionna has suffered the consequences of endless wars and plague, leaving her the unlikely laird of Clan Taylor. When her past love summons her to his keep under the threat of killing her clansmen he captured trying to steal horses, she has no choice but to meet him.There she discovers a man much changed, heartless and bitter. Especially when he demands that Fionna help him get engaged to her best friend!Unable to deny him, Fionna plays along, waiting for the right moment to strike, save her clansmen, and celebrate teaching Keenan the hardest lesson of his life. But not everything is what it seems, and Keenan and Fionna discover that distance and time cannot change what their hearts truly want—each other.

    She’s the one who ran away.Callie Masters was supposed to be a one-night stand, but once I got a taste, I was fiending for more. Then she disappeared. I woke up and she was gone.Now, she’s back. Can I get over my anger in order to claim what’s mine, or will I end up in her rear-view mirror once again?**Callie**Zax Knight is the one.I’ve known it since the moment I laid eyes on him. After years of pining, I finally worked up the courage to go after him, hoping he’d realize it, too. But he didn’t. I left our small town behind, along with a piece of my heart. Five years later, I’m forced to return. Zax wants to pick up where we left off, but I still don’t know if he’s ready for a commitment. I also have a secret; the reason I came back.What will happen when my past collides with my present?

    Phee was a proper Omega.She’d done everything society expected of her–Obeyed her parents, married an appropriate choice of Alpha, tolerated his infidelity.And what was her repayment? To be cast out by her husband in favor of his pregnant mistress.With their marriage contract canceled and her reputation in tatters, Phee’s future seems hopeless.Then, the most unexpected suitor appears… Right as her long-absent heat begins.~*~Her True Alpha is a novella set in the world of the 12 Sectors, and features a HEA for the characters involved.

    Stirling Castle is under siege by the Scots, and the English are coming to take it back. Cormac Buchanan is over six foot of muscle and ferocity, a supreme warrior who has spent years fighting for Robert the Bruce, self-proclaimed King of Scotland. Cormac is battling not only the English invaders but also his clan’s sworn enemy, the Gowans. Having long since built a wall of ice around his heart, he is horrified at his king’s command to bury old enmities and unite with Clan Gowan, through marriage.Cormac expects his bride to hate him, and he intends to put her aside and forget about her. What he does not expect, is Ravenna Gowan, a bastard, half low-born and fiercely defiant. He just wants her to obey, in bed and out of it, but with looks that would stir any man’s blood, this strange, hard girl wakes a savage need in him. Shame he can’t trust her, nor can he ever look favourably on any Gowan, after what they took from him.Banished to a convent for the sin of forbidden love, Ravenna Gowan’s life seems over, until an English army heads north and her father has to sacrifice a daughter to the cause of King Robert the Bruce. Ravenna is about to become the glue that binds two clans together by wedding fearsome warrior Cormac Buchanan, but she refuses to be a helpless pawn in men’s power games. For Ravenna, this forced marriage holds no hope of love, nor is it about loyalty or duty - it is all about vengeance.Can Ravenna survive her rough, angry husband who resents and mistrusts her? Or will her loyalties be tested and her life threatened, as she tries to deny their growing attraction. The Laird’s Bastard Daughter takes the reader from the moors of the Highlands to castles under siege, and, as Scotland burns, to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Scots rebel army in the battle lines at Bannockburn.Loyalties are tested, bloody vengeance is sought, and secrets are uncovered, with deadly consequences.The Laird’s Bastard Daughter is the first of The Highland Warlords Series but can be read as a stand-alone book.ExtractWhen she got to the kirk, Ravenna saw before her a group of men standing with her father and she had to force her legs forward. She could barely look at them. Oh God, which of this pack of hounds was to be her husband? Which of these men, covered in muck from the road, would step forward and claim her, like a prize? Or was she more a burden, for she knew full well that no Buchanan would ever want her? As she walked forward, a handsome man, young but imposing, looked at her with keen interest. He wasn’t so bad, his expression was kind, and there was admiration in his eyes. Then he stepped aside to reveal a man behind him. This other one was taller, darker and wild-looking. ‘Like a beast’, Coira had said. With a heart sinking to her toes, Ravenna realised this must be Cormac Buchanan, not the one with gentle eyes, but this one, who was looking at her with a face like thunder.

    unusually. Welcome to the world of THE LYON'S DEN: The Black Widow of Whitehall Connected World, where the underground of Regency London thrives... and loves.He was only supposed to win the high stakes game of chance, not a bride along with it.Lord Matthew Lyon is often called upon by the Crown because of his mathematical brilliance, and participating in a high stakes game of chance at the notorious Lyon’s Den should have been the easy part of his assignment...only it goes terribly wrong. He wins the pot, as expected since his probability calculations never fail. But no one calculated on his winning the hand of Lady Danielle Haverfield, daughter of the Earl of Haverfield, the prime suspect in a treason plot against the Crown and the very man he is assigned to bring down. She was only trying to stop her brother from gambling his life away. Lady Danielle Haverfield knew she did not belong in the Lyon’s Den, but she had to stop her brother before he gambled away his entire inheritance. Not only did she fail to stop him, but she’s ruined her life as well. Lady Dove-Lyon will not allow her brother to go unpunished, even though the handsome Scottish lord who’s wiped him out is willing to forgive the debt. But the Black Widow of Whitehall has a fearsome reputation to maintain. Someone is going to have to pay for her brother’s inability to pay up, and she’s decided it is to be Danielle. Well, the handsome Scot could have asked for her only for the one night, but he’s proposed marriage instead. Can their love survive his secrets and her father’s betrayal?

    The children have gone to bed, and a tall, gloriously decorated Christmas tree looms in the shadows of the hearth’s dying embers. A tattered copy of Charles Dickens’ masterwork, “A Christmas Carol” sits, cold and lonely, upon a table nearby.A small gust of wind, hurling from the seam of an ill-fitting window, blows the cover open. The first chapter appears… “Marley’s Ghost”…The clock on the wall chimes midnight.Now, the magic happens.From the gaily bedecked halls of Regency England to the cold and crisp air of the Scottish Highlands, and everything in between, enjoy the magic of a holiday collection that has drawn inspiration from Charles Dickens’ most beloved literary works. Where the ghosts of Christmas, the incandescent spirit of a tiny disabled boy, and the joy that is the very heart of the Christmas season come alive.USA Today and Internationally bestselling authors bring you their version of a Dickens’-inspired holiday in O NIGHT DIVINE. This collection includes: 'Twas the Executioner Knight Before Christmas by Kathryn Le VequeThe Laird's Yulebringer by Caroline LeeMaking Spirits Bright by Chasity BowlinThe Haunted Scot by Hildie McQueenNever Keep a Secret at Christmas by Maggi AndersenHer Star from the East by Mary LancasterThe Remembrance of Love by Meara PlattHow to Get an Earl for Christmas by Violetta RandYuletide at Gillingham by Alexa AstonA Thrill of Hope by Anna MarklandA Gift for Agatha by Anna St. ClaireThe Heart is Never Silent by Aubrey WynneOf Christmas Past by Charlotte WrenTidings of Comfort by Elizabeth Ellen CarterA Christmas Miracle by Elizabeth JohnsHer Christmas White Knight by Elizabeth KeysianAlways the Mistletoe by Emily E.K. MurdochA Libertine's Christmas Miracle by Emily RoyalPast, Present, Future by Lynne ConnollyA Yuletide Yearning by Maeve GreysonA Strange Christmas Game by Whitney BlakeFrom Dragonblade to you, we wish you a very happy holiday season!

    What could be more fun than to travel with her best friend Patrick, eat amazing food, and see the sights? What she doesn’t bargain for is the surly, egotistical producer with the icy glare, dimples, and a penchant for questioning her every move. Nick Elliot, ex-Navy SEAL turned producer, finds himself suddenly thrown into a project he doesn’t want to take on. Producing a snotty food critic’s show over in Europe is not at the top of his agenda. She’s stubborn, sassy, and he finds himself inextricably drawn to her. When things go awry abroad, Nick has to make the decision to save his own future or give up everything to protect Lindsey.