Book picks similar to
The Passions of Emma by Penelope Williamson


romance
historical
historical-romance
historical-fiction

Whispers of Heaven


Candice Proctor - 2001
    . . . After years of schooling in England, Jesmond Corbett finds little has changed on her family’s estate along the sea-battered coast of Tasmania. Betrothed since childhood to a wealthy neighbor, Jessie comes home determined to conform to the expectations of her family and the society in which they live. But nothing in Jessie’s life has prepared her for the mysterious stranger who works in the stables, a man with searing eyes who haunts her dreams and awakens passions she never knew existed.Irishman Lucas Gallagher arrived on the island in chains, a convict sentenced to a lifetime of slave labor for the English gentry. For four years he has lived a dead man’s existence, using every spare moment to plan his escape. But when he meets Jessie, she touches his cold, angry heart. And although their love has no future, he finds himself unable to deny the longings of his battered soul– longings that threaten to destroy what may be his last chance to reach for freedom. . . .

Conor's Way


Laura Lee Guhrke - 1996
    Original.

Sweet Lullaby


Lorraine Heath - 1994
    A scandal threatens to turn Rebecca's life upside down when her lover runs off, leaving her pregnant. Her father convinces one of his ranchhands to marry Rebecca, but she must find the strength to forget the man who abandoned her before she can begin a new life.

Morning Glory


LaVyrle Spencer - 1989
    Now she was all alone, with two little boys to raise, and a third child on the way.WILLHe drifted into Whitney, Georgia, one lazy afternoon in the summer of 1941, hoping to put his lonely past behind him. He yearned for the tenderness he had never known, the home he'd never had. All he needed was for someone to give him a chance.Then he saw her classified ad: WANTED--A husband. When he stepped across Elly Dinsmore's cluttered yard, Will Parker knew he had come home at last ...

Passion


Lisa Valdez - 2005
    But amidst the crowds of London's Crystal Palace, Passion finds herself discreetly, yet insistently, pursued by a sensual gentleman who awakens her long-supressed desires. After a loveless marriage of restrained propriety, Passion abandons herself to true bliss for the first time.Intoxicated by his encounter with the beautiful stranger, Mark Randolph Hawkmore, Earl of Langley, cannot wait to see her again. As a series of rapturous rendezvous follows, he and his mystery lover find something rare and wonderful blossoming between them. But a blackmail scheme against the Earl threatens to destroy everything. As a scandal brews, each will have to choose between duty and desire...their love for their families—and their love for each other.

Lions and Lace


Meagan McKinney - 1992
    Born to luxury, she belonged with the Astors and the Vanderbilts at cotillions and soirees. But she shivered with fear and something more as she faced the handsome, ruthless Trevor Sheridan. He had bankrupted her fortune and would expose her family's scandalous secret unless she accepted his outrageous offer, his emotional blackmail ... his heart-stopping kiss.HE BROKE THEM ALLBorn Irish, brought up in the streets, Trevor "the Predator" Sheridan learned early how to get the wealth and the women he wanted. An expert at games of power, he played one that would destroy every famous family who had snubbed him. Tricking the beautiful Alana was his trump card. But he never intended to want her ... until her beauty and her resolve stole his breath away.NOW THEIR DESIRES SWEPT THEM TOWARD RAPTURE ... OR RUIN

Educating Caroline


Patricia Cabot - 2001
    Unfortunately, Victorian society considers such masculine peccadilloes a trifle; canceling their imminent wedding would be unthinkable. But Caroline's wish is for the man she is to marry to desire only her... and she seeks lessons in the art of romance from the best teacher: London's most notorious rake. Braden Granville may be a famous lover...but he has no intention of taking part in Caroline's scheme — until he learns she has something he wants: the name of his own unfaithful fiancée's lover. As their passionate tutelage begins, sparks fly — and the lines between teacher and student fall away. Now there is just one last lesson to learn: on the subject of true love, the heart chooses its own unpredictable ways.

The Hidden Heart


Laura Kinsale - 1986
    But Tess, who had accompanied her father on his expeditions since childhood, is as unconventional as she is beautiful.

The Secret Pearl


Mary Balogh - 1991
    To the woman known simply as Fleur, the well-dressed gentleman with the mesmerizing eyes is an unlikely savior. And when she takes the stranger to her bed, she never expects to see him again. But then Fleur accepts a position as governess to a young girl…and is stunned to discover that her midnight lover is a powerful nobleman. As two wary hearts ignite—and the threat of scandal hovers over them—one question remains: will she be mistress or wife?

Dream Lover


Virginia Henley - 1997
    Emerald FitzGerald Montague thought her life was over when she was forced to marry another man, a man she despised . . . until Sean O'Toole, dark, dangerous, and handsome as sin, returned from the dead and swept her away in a whirlwind of scandal and desire . . .DREAM LOVERBent on revenge after five years on a prison ship, Sean O'Toole, Earl of Kildare, kidnapped his enemy's daughter. Her name was Emerald, the innocent beauty he had known long ago, who had stirred his senses like no other woman. But now he planned to seduce her, abandon her . . . and bring disgrace to the hated Montagues. First he would restore the fire to her eyes, make her hunger for his steely embrace - then use her in an act of vengeance. But Sean didn't expect to find himself caught in the sudden heat of his own desires, bewitched by the magnificent beauty he'd planned to betray . . .DREAM LOVER

Reforming Lord Ragsdale


Carla Kelly - 1995
    The infamous Lord Ragsdale was as rich as sin, as sinful as he was rich, and as heartless as he was handsome. But he had saved Emma from a fate worse than death when he stopped a lecherous brute from buying her as an indentured servant. It was Emma's turn now to save Lord Ragsdale from his wicked ways. She had to find a way to stop his drinking, his gaming, his wild revelry. She had to make him break with his mistress, the superbly sensual Fae Moulle. She had to make him a suitable suitor for the ideal wife that the prim and proper Lady Clarissa Partridge would be. And above all, she had to keep his lustful eye from lingering too long on herself--even as she struggled to keep her own growing desire from undoing all her hard work in the unmaking of this irresistible rake...

The Book of Scandal


Julia London - 2008
    But when he hears gossip that his estranged wife, Evelyn, is about to be named in The Book of Scandal, he has no choice but to remove her from London to protect her and himself from charges of treason -- even if it calls for abduction! While Evelyn has no legal recourse against the man who broke her heart years ago but is still considered her lord and master, she is no longer the immature girl Nathan married. Her enforced homecoming quickly turns into a battle of wills that tears down her husband's defenses and lays bare the passion that still burns between them. Before it is too late, Nathan must confront powerful adversaries as he convinces Evelyn that she is not only his wife, but the one woman he will love for all time.

Love, Come to Me


Lisa Kleypas - 1988
    His mouth was blazing and hungry. She was shaking, this time not from cold but from a heat that burgeoned deep inside her…When strong and handsome Heath Rayne pulled lovely young Lucinda Caldwell from a winter river, he rescued her from an icy death. But soon he was plunging her into a torrid torrent of passion that this New England beauty had never suspected could claim her. Heath was unlike any other man Lucy had ever known—a dashing, mocking, sensuous man who came as a stranger to Lucy's Massachusetts town…and stayed as he stripped away Lucy's last shreds of resistance to the demands of desire and the flaming fulfillment of love…

Addicted


Charlotte Featherstone - 2009
    When they finally confess their love, their future together seems assured, sealed with their searing embrace.But when a debauched Lindsay is seduced by a scheming socialite, a devastated Anais seeks refuge in another man's bed while Lindsay retreats to the exotic East. There, he is seduced again—this time by the alluring red smoke and sinister beauty of opium.Back home, Lindsay's addiction is fed by the vogue for all things Oriental—especially its sensual pleasures—in fashionable London society. In his lucid moments, Lindsay still lusts after Anais, who can neither allow him near nor forget his smoldering touch. Tortured by two obsessions—opium and Anais—Lindsay must ultimately decide which is the one he truly cannot live without.

Bold Angel


Kat Martin - 1994
    Even though he had once saved her from a fate worse than death, she could not forget he'd raised the grim battlements of Braxton, keep on her dead father's lands or that his men had dishonored her sister. If she wed him to bring peace to her people, he would have to lay siege to her bed.But their destiny was more powerful than the clash of swords.The darkly handsome warlord's blood coursed with desire for Caryn's burnished crimson lips, and his passion would not be denied. But in the wild ecstasy they shared. Ral feared more than his heart was in danger. Could his rebellious bride be a traitor deadlier than the wolves and brigands prowling deep in English forests?A magnificent tale of intrigue, vengeance and soul-searing love, Kat Martin's newest romance is her most irresistible to date!