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After the death of the kindly old Earl of Yardecombe, Oscar the brash and pleasure-seeking new Earl seems to care little for the people of the Parish - let alone for the plight of young Dorina Stanfield, her widowed father and their impoverished family at the rundown Vicarage. Dorina's opinion of this raffish gentleman is lower still when she hears of lewd goings-on with his flamboyant friends at the 'Big House'. Confronting his Lordship, Dorina is stunned to find him chastened by her accusations. Nevertheless, she is unconvinced. Everything changes, though, when Dorina overhears the Earl's wicked heir presumptive's Satanic incantations, summoning the Devil to murder his Lordship. Suddenly what she thought was hatred for Oscar turns into a Divine and eternal love that swiftly conquers the perpetrator of this devilry - but will the elusive Earl ever feel the same about her?

The Duke of Brockenhurst, bored by Society and cynical about the beautiful women who cast themselves before him in a desperate bid to become his Duchess, accepts a wager to ride from London to York alone and incognito. Outraged by the suggestion that he has lost his verve and the command he once had whilst distinguishing himself in the Army, he decides to reflect on his future, whilst setting himself the challenge to move amongst ordinary people undetected. Valora Melford is bereaved of her beloved father and left in the care of her grasping stepmother. Determined to force her lovely stepdaughter to marry the dissolute Sir Mortimer, who is willing to pay ten thousand pounds for the pleasure, she first entreats and then threatens Valora to do as she is told. However, Valora is made of stronger stuff than her fragile exterior would suggest and she tells her stepmother in no uncertain terms that she will not marry the repulsive old Baronet. In fact Valora is adamant that she will never marry at all, as she does not believe that true love exists. Overhearing a distraught Valora arguing with her cruel stepmother in the room next to his, the Duke of Brockenhurst decides to step in and...

Beautiful eighteen-year-old Norina is dismayed when her widowed father Lord Sedgewyn quickly remarries to society beauty Violet - and even more so when she discovers her new stepmother's wicked plot to poison her and inherit a fortune held in trust for Norina. In fear for her life, she flees in disguise, securing a position as secretary to a temporarily blinded French Nobleman who whisks her away to Paris and then to his opulent South of France villa. Just as her rakish new employer's eyes begin to heal and are opened to Norina's innocent loveliness, the evil Violet's henchmen kidnap her. Facing certain death in a monastic cell, Norina realises that her employer, Le Marquis de Charlamont, will never know that she has given him her heart -

Handsome, distinguished and decidedly dashing, Theo, the Duke of Eaglefield, has the world, and most of its women, at his feet. But he takes all this attention for granted and is becoming tired and bored by it all. In fact his friend, Harry Hampton, tells him that he has no concept of the challenges and complexities faced by the ordinary man and that the people he encounters see only his riches and rank rather than the man himself. Protesting that this is untrue, Theo accepts Harry’s challenge to walk the fifty miles from Brighton to his house, Eagle Hall, in Berkshire incognito and mixing with commoners along the way. He stands to lose his finest pair of horses should he fail and so he sets forth, leaving behind the glamour of Brighton’s Beau Monde. The second morning of his pilgrimage, Theo comes across a beautiful young girl, Alysia, standing precariously at the edge of a deep pool next to a weir. She seems to be praying and, instinctively, he knows that she is about to plunge to her death in the river. After leading her to safety he hears all about her cruel and grasping stepfather who murdered her mother and who is now bent on seizing her sizeable inheritance by marrying...

Golden-haired young beauty Anona adores her father, the East India Company seafarer Captain Guy Ranson. So she is shocked to the core when he comes home to confess that far from being the successful shipowner she thought he was, he is a pirate, boarding cargo ships and threatening the crew and cargo unless they paid him a ransom. He describes himself as a ‘highwayman on a ship’. Fearing that he has been identified and may face the gallows, the Captain is determined that his beloved daughter’s name should not be ruined by his actions and comes up with a plan to ensure that she will be safe and anonymous. And so Anona appears washed up in a small boat on a Malayan beach owned by the Captain’s good Chinese friend, Lin Kuan Teng, whom he knows will take care of her at his palatial Penang house. Feigning amnesia, she finds herself under the wing not only of her father’s friend but also of the handsome Lord Selwyn who has just arrived in Penang to take possession of a huge mansion and a plantation that he has fortunately inherited from his great-uncle. In this exotic Paradise, Anona may not have truly lost her memory, but soon she has lost her heart. But surely her love is...

Running away from the school that she hates, headstrong and rebellious, beautiful young Petrina Lyndon clambers over a wall into a country road, flinging her bag over before her and narrowly missing a dashingly handsome young Earl, to whom she complains about the ‘horrible, beastly’ Guardian who placed her at the school and how he never listens to her. She is even more shocked when the Earl reveals that he himself is actually her Guardian, the Earl of Staverton. And although he is not the elderly ‘stuffed shirt’ she expected, he is cold and unfriendly and unimpressed by her stated desire to go to London and become one of the ‘Lady-Birds’ that she has heard so much about. She tells the Earl that she wants to enjoy herself and not get married to some boring and stuffy aristocrat. The Earl is horrified at this unseemly and ignorant revelation and tells her so in no uncertain terms. Determined to dissuade her from a path that would lead her into depravity and danger the Earl insists that she allows him to launch her into Society as a debutante in an effort to marry her off. But Petrina has very different ideas. And she resolves to somehow steal his Lordship’s heart!

Rich, powerful and handsome, the Duke of Melyncourt is journeying to Paris on a secret mission for the British Prime Minister when he discovers that a bewitchingly beautiful flame-haired girl has stowed away in his carriage. Amé, as she is a called, has run away from the Convent where she is a novice and to which her unknown mother had entrusted her as a baby in arms. It transpires that she fled to enjoy a last taste of freedom after for some reason the sinister Cardinal de Rohan insisted that she take her nun’s Orders without delay, far sooner than other novices would. The Duke knows that this French Cardinal is not to be trusted and agrees after much pleading to take Amé with him to Paris disguised as his pageboy. It is not long before the Cardinal’s men are in pursuit, enquiring whether the Duke has seen the missing novice. And the Duke realises that there is something ominous afoot. So begins an adventure in which Amé and the Duke find themselves amid the turmoil between the Court of Marie Antoinette and subversive factions against the Queen led by the depraved Duc de Chartres. With everything at stake, including her life, how can Amé return to devote her heart to God...

After her mother had succumbed to pneumonia and followed her husband to the grave, beautiful young Meta Lindley is bereft. Now that her much-loved brother Richard is away in London most of the time, she is alone in the family’s once laughter-filled Manor House with only silence and her father’s pedigree stable of horses for company. Meta is delighted when Richard pays her a surprise visit, but when he reveals that he and their Diplomat father had worked as undercover Agents, it is Richard who is taken aback to find that Meta and their Mama had known all along! Then, to Meta’s amazement, Richard asks her to undertake a vital and very perilous spy mission of her own. A Russian Prince, whom Queen Victoria suspects is a spy, has arrived in England with his young sister, Princess Nathlia, and is looking for a country house where he can hunt and ride superb horses. Richard has offered to rent The Manor House to Prince Alexis for the Season and has offered Meta’s services as English Tutor to the seventeen-year-old Princess Nathlia. In that guise Meta’s mission is to observe the Russians and report back to the Queen any suspicious behaviour that might suggest that the Prince is...

When their father the Duke of Northallerton offers his daughter Caroline’s hand in marriage to his neighbour the Duke of Lynchester purely as a means of settling an ancient land dispute, she is appalled. Not only because she does not love the Duke but also because she is already madly in love with another. Desperate to help her older sister, the aptly named young elfin beauty Lady Elfa secretly visits the Duke of Lynchester and begs him to marry her instead – and to leave her sister free for the man she truly loves. Something about this young woman fascinates the Duke and, reluctantly, he agrees. And despite the constant attentions of Society beauty Isobel, who is determined to keep him for herself, the Duke finds himself becoming enchanted by Elfa’s quiet intelligence, innocence and beauty – just as she is spellbound by him.

Pretty young Kelda Lawrence arrived at Mrs. Gladwin’s Seminary for Young Ladies when she was fifteen, coming from the orphanage where she was sent for three years after her father and mother were tragically killed in an earthquake travelling in Turkey. At the Seminary she makes a firm friend in the beautiful Yvette de Villon who, although also an orphan, is from a wealthy French extended family. One day Yvette comes to Kelda feeling tearful and distraught because she has been summoned to go and live with her English uncle. This, Kelda thinks, does not sound so bad until Yvette explains that her uncle is ‘horrible’ and worse still lives in Dakar in the French West African Colony of Senegal as a recluse in a huge mansion.. When none of the school’s Mistresses agree to accompany Yvette, to Kelda’s amazement the Headmistress instructs her to go with her to Senegal and look after her until she can be handed over safely to her uncle in Dakar. And so begins Kelda’s great adventure – and, when Yvette falls head over heels in love to a good-looking young man on the voyage, she and her new beau enlist Kelda in their plan to gain the acceptance of Yvette’s uncle to their...

When a startlingly beautiful young girl with brilliant red-golden hair falls at speed from her horse before him, the dashingly handsome Osric, Earl of Helstone is uncharacteristically caught off his guard. Not only one of the richest men in England but also, in many women’s opinion, by far the best-looking, ‘The Elusive Earl’ as he is known, is accustomed to Society Beauties falling at his feet – but not in so literal a fashion! Rushing to her aid, he finds that the girl has not fallen – but made her horse throw her deliberately in a cunning ruse to talk to him without her groom being aware. She introduces herself as Calista, the headstrong daughter of Lady Chevington and warns the Earl he must decline her mother’s invitation to stay at her estate for the duration of the Epsom Races, claiming that her mother is bent on duping him into marrying Calista. Laughing at the claim, the Earl accepts the invitation to Chevington Court – and in no time finds himself tricked into a compromising position, the only escape from which is marriage to Calista – just as she warned. But just he begins reluctantly to accept he must marry the young beauty who, after all, shares his...

Although Scottish born and bred, beautiful young Vara McDorn speaks with a refined English accent thanks to her education in the South, which is why she is called upon to become Reader to the new Chieftain of the McDorn Clan, who has been blinded by an Indian Fakir’s curse while protecting the Viceroy at a Fort on the North-West Frontier of India. Troubled by his affliction and frustrated by his inability to understand the local Scots’ brogue, the Chieftain, the Earl of Dornoch, soon comes to rely on Vara as his tutor in the customs and attitudes of his people as well as being his eyes on the estate. And, although he is terse and resentful at first, Vara finds herself warming to this haughtily handsome Nobleman. After taking him on an adventure that she hopes will restore his sight, Vara catches Hamish, the Earl’s murderous relative, a rival for the title of Chieftain, attempting to stifle him with a pillow over his face and shoots him with her revolver, saving the Earl’s life. Already Vara knows that she is in love with the Earl, but even as she prays frantically for his blindness to be cured, she frets and worries that he could be disappointed when finally he is able to...

Neil, the handsome Earl of Wynstock, is expected back from the English Army of Occupation in France where he has been with the Duke of Wellington since the Battle of Waterloo. And the people of his estate, Wyn Park, await his return to them impatiently. Vanda Charlton, his beautiful childhood neighbour, waits with more concern than the others because, unbeknown to anyone else, a dangerous gang of highwaymen have moved into the West wing of the Earl’s ancestral home after intimidating and threatening the caretaker and his wife. Vanda fears that on the Earl’s return the highwaymen will capture him and hold him to ransom. Intercepting him at a local inn, she warns the Earl and persuades him to enlist the support of the soldiers at the local Barracks. But before the Military can implement their plan of action, the ruthless renegades kidnap Vanda, threatening to kill her if they do not receive one thousand pounds by the next morning. Disguised in a highwayman’s mask, the Earl arrives in the enemy’s woodland camp in the dead of night with a cunning plan to rescue Vanda. Posing as another highwayman he enlists the local Parson and stages a Wedding claiming that he is marrying...

Arriving alone and unannounced at her Aunt Lily’s Paris home, the innocent young beauty Gardenia is overwhelmed by a whirl of glamourous parties, exotic food and endless champagne. Her aunt, the imposing Duchesse de Mabillon, is it seems a well-known and popular Society hostess ­who counts Lords and Comtes among her many friends. Indeed, already at her wits’ end after the death of her mother, Gardenia is so shocked by the immediate and over-insistent attentions of a drunken Nobleman called Comte André de Grenelle that she faints. And her mind is hardly set at rest when, after coming to her rescue, a haughty and disdainful Lord Hartcourt warns her to leave her aunt’s house and stay elsewhere. Her aunt plies her with fabulous clothes and introduces her to her sophisticated world and slowly Gardenia’s eyes are opened to the decadence and deceit behind the glamorous façade. The innocent and trusting Gardenia has suddenly become embroiled in a world of women of low virtue, international espionage, intrigue and terrible danger. Luckily for Gardenia, the handsome Lord Vane Hartcourt is a gentleman of honour who would steal nothing – except perhaps her heart.

As a cousin of Queen Victoria, the beautiful Princess Marigold is obliged to yield to the Queen’s wishes when it comes to marriage – and the Monarch is most reluctant to allow her to marry the man she loves, Prince Holden of Allenberg, because she views his tiny European Principality as insignificant and uninfluential. So, although the Queen assents to their engagement, she puts obstacles in the way of their marriage in the hope that Princess Marigold will fall out of love with Prince Holden if she can keep them apart for any length of time. One such obstacle is the Royal order that Marigold travels to Greece to represent the Queen at the State funeral of Prince Eumenus. Determined to stay with her beloved Holden, the Princess comes up with a cunning plan. She will send another young woman in her place – and Prince Holden knows the ideal candidate, the beautiful young Vicar’s daughter called Avila Grandell, who looks uncannily like the Princess and, being half-Greek, speaks the language fluently. And so, with her mother’s concerned consent, this awestruck young innocent’s adventure begins, voyaging to Athens and on to the island of Malia. Little do any of them expect...

After an evening dinner with renowned French ballet dancer and beauty, Nicole de Prêt, handsome young buck about town, the Marquis of Sarne, is stirred from a deep sleep to realise that he has been drugged and then rendered unconscious. And he is in a strange bed in a strange house somewhere in London. Far worse though is the revelation that in his stupor someone has married him to some young servant girl he does not even know by his bitter enemy, Lord Kirkhampton. To avoid the likely scandal and humiliation that his predicament will bring him, he decides to take his ‘bride’ to his house in Grosvenor Square and there to arrange a divorce as best he can. But soon he realises that this girl was not a willing participant in Lord Kirkhampton’s deceitful trick nor is she the plain servant girl he had assumed at first. In fact Romana Wardell is startlingly beautiful and attractive, remarkably intelligent and every bit as appalled by their situation as he is. Then the more that the reluctant newlyweds become acquainted, the less the urgency they feel to put this forced ‘marriage’ to an early end. Perhaps after all she has the makings of a Marchioness of Sarne!

The beautiful Lencia is the image of her dear departed Mama and so is still the apple of the eye of her widowed father, the Earl of Armeron. Knowing how deeply Lencia and her younger sister, Alice, are missing their mother, their father promises to take them to see the fabulous historic Châteaux of the Loire Valley in France of which the most exciting and impressive of all is Château Chaumont. But to their chagrin, their hopes are totally dashed when the Earl returns from a trip to the South of France with a new wife on his arm, a stepmother who sees Lencia’s beauty as distinct competition for her husband’s attention and so she becomes increasingly hostile to the two sisters. Nevertheless the sisters have their hearts set on their French adventure and set off in secret, Lencia disguised in her late mother’s clothes and her make-up to look like an older Society lady who is chaperoning the young Alice. By sheer chance they happen to meet on their journey the dashingly handsome Duc de Montrichard, the Guardian of Château Chaumont, who on an impulse invites them to stay with him in his own sublime Château! And soon, while Alice’s heart is fit to burst with excitement as...

After centuries of violence between the feuding McBrara and MacSteel Clans in the Scottish Highlands, a fragile peace is about to break into a new war when one of the MacSteels’ shepherds is murdered allegedly by the McBraras. In a desperate attempt to avoid further bloodshed before the imminent visit of the English King George IV, the Laird of the MacSteels proposes that they unite the Clans with a marriage and the Earl of Braradale agrees somewhat reluctantly. And so the Laird’s daughter, the elfin young beauty, Fyna, is obliged to marry a man she has never even met – the Earl of Braradale himself. Thus they are both ready to enter into a loveless marriage to save their Clans from further bloodletting and strife. For his part the Earl is dreading the marriage, imagining that she will be ‘pious and heavily built’, while for her part Fyna too dreads a loveless union with a man she does not love and who will look down at her as his inferior. As the two Clans celebrate their Wedding, the reluctant bride and groom begin to become acquainted and from the start both are pleasantly surprised to find that they have much in common, notably that they are both fey as many Scots...

After their beloved Mama passed away, Amalita and Carolyn’s father, Sir Frederick Maulpin, could not bear living in the family home that reminded him so painfully of her. So he left his daughters behind for Paris, perhaps hoping to rediscover the raffish man-about-town he once was. To the girls’ chagrin, he immediately fell in love with and married a Frenchwoman called ‘Yvette’, whom his daughters considered vulgar and quite unsuitable for their adored Papa. Now, to their horror, they receive a letter informing them that their father and Yvette have drowned in a yachting accident in Nice. Not only have they lost their parents, now eighteen-year-old Carolyn has no one to present her to Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace and chaperone her at debutante balls on which all her hopes are pinned. But her elder sister, Amalita, has a plan – A letter to her father’s old friend, the Marquis of Garlestone, secures an invitation to stay in exalted company, where Amalita, dressed as a far more mature woman, chaperones Carolyn in the guise of their stepmother, whom no one in London had ever met. And so their charade begins as, meeting the Marquis’s dashingly handsome son, the...

When her chaise is damaged in an accident far from her home, the beautiful young Lady Athina Ling has no choice but to stay at a nearby Posting inn while awaiting its repair. There she is appalled to hear the pitiful screams of a young boy who is being savagely beaten by the ‘gentleman’ who appears to be his Guardian. After bravely going to the child’s rescue, Athina discovers that he is Peter, the nephew of the handsome Marquis of Rockingdale whose estate neighbours her own and that he, Peter, is the heir to a very considerable fortune. Seeing the child’s horrific wounds, the Marquis agrees to help Athina protect and look after him – but he also needs her help with a great problem of his own. Namely that he must become engaged to be married before Queen Victoria will allow him to take up the important position of State he craves of the Master of the Horse. Which the Marquis is superbly qualified to excel at as he has been closely involved with the breeding and training of horses all his life. So to help protect the boy, Athina agrees to a pretend engagement to the Marquis to satisfy the demands of the Queen. But the threat is far worse than either of them could ever...

Having retreated to his country estate to escape the amorous attentions of his mistress Lady Fiona Faversham, who is determined to marry him, the dashing Duke of Moorminster out riding when he is captivated by the sound of a church organ being played beautifully. Entering the small church, he is equally captivated by a young woman of almost angelic loveliness who is leading her choir of children with her own wonderful voice. She is perfect for a special role in the play he has written – and which is to be the debut performance at his newly built private theatre with the Prince and Princess of Wales in attendance. And so young Vicar’s daughter Lavela Ashley finds herself and her choir of children rehearsing for the great event at Moor Park and becomes embroiled in the devious scheming of Lady Fiona and the Duke’s wicked cousin Joscelyn – both of whom are plotting to force the Duke into a marriage by the foulest of means. For his part, as the romantic drama unfolds in his own Theatre of Love, the Duke comes to realise that Lavela is everything Lady Fiona is not – and that she is everything he ever wanted, if only he had understood his own heart.

The lovely young Nerissa Stanley, her brother, Harry, and their father, a distinguished academic writer on Elizabethan architecture live a threadbare existence in their family home. So when her beautiful elder sister, Delphine, pays a surprise visit to her and Harry and then offers them a large sum of money, they have no option but to accept. Delphine, who abandoned the family several years earlier to marry the rich elderly Lord Bramwell is now widowed they learn for the first time. But she is now set on marrying another rich and prestigious aristocrat – the imperious and handsome Duke of Lynchester. Ashamed of their meagre lifestyle, she demands that her siblings pose as cook and butler in return for three hundred pounds, while she entertains the Duke in style in her ancestral home. But, after the superb dinner is over, the Duke wanders into the kitchen unexpectedly and, instantly transfixed by the beauty, grace and charm of Nerissa, insists that the whole family joins his house party at his magnificent stately house, Lyn, which is not too far away. There Nerissa discovers the secret curse of the Lynchester Dukes that they will never be happy once they inherit the title and...

Demure young beauty Lady Imilda Harsbourne’s stepmother, the Countess of Harsbourne, is determined to have Imilda married off to an eligible – and ‘important’ – bachelor as soon as possible. But after enduring several Society balls as a debutante, Imilda is thoroughly disillusioned and vows never to marry unless it is for love alone. So she is horrified when her stepmother arranges for her to be wed to the Marquis of Melverley, who, although dashingly handsome, is a notorious ‘ladies’ man’. Despite her pleas, her father will not help her and she has no choice but to run away. But to where? Then Imilda has a cunning idea. Since his return from the War, the Marquis has never returned to his family seat, Melverley Park, which stands empty apart from a skeleton staff. And so, clutching a forged a letter of introduction from the Marquis, Imilda arrives to take charge of the estate’s Herb Garden. While exploring The Park’s library, though, she finds to her horror that a gang of cutthroat highwaymen has taken advantage of the Marquis’s prolonged absence to use The Park as their lair. When the Marquis arrives out of the blue, running away to hide in plain sight,...

First Published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A collection of five dramatic tales of passion.

The Marquis of Elvington, heartbroken to discover the woman he intended to marry has deceived him, decides to leave England and put as many miles as possible between them. Handsome, intelligent and a great favourite at the Court of King William IV and Queen Adelaide, the Marquis is used to the admiration of women and respect of men, so the duplicity of his intended wife strikes him a cruel blow. However, a thick fog makes it impossible for his yacht to leave Dover Harbour, so he is forced to remain on British soil another night. Anger swiftly chasing his sadness, he decides to visit a cheap quayside inn to escape the loneliness he feels and drown his sorrows. Sitting alone, his mind firmly fixed on how the woman he loved has betrayed him, he vows never to love or trust again. But Fate seems determined to challenge him as almost immediately he is forced to act as a 'Good Samaritan' to protect a young lady, Ola, intent on escaping the clutches of her hateful stepmother and dishonourable cousin. Blaming his act of charity on the vast quantities of brandy he consumed and against his better judgement, he offers to sail her in his yacht, The Sea Wolf, to Calais. Ola is brave,...

ÊAfter the death of her parents, young Andrina Maldon has selflessly borne the responsibility not only for the running a household impoverished by her fatherÕs profligacy but also for the future happiness of her two sisters.ÊStrikingly beautiful as they are, there is no hope of their finding a suitable suitor without someone to introduce them to the Social world.Ê So she travels unchaperoned to London to seek the assistance of the Duke of Broxbourne, her fatherÕs friend and the Godfather she has never met.Ê On the stagecoach journey Andrina has a frightening encounter with a gentleman at a Posting inn Ð and on arrival at Broxbourne House she is appalled to find that this man is none other than the Duke of Broxbourne himself.Ê At first unwilling to help her, the Duke grudgingly agrees to her requests and although grateful, Andrina despises this arrogant and insensitive man Ð until, little by little, his true nature is revealed and a very different emotion begins to stir in her heart.

With her flaming red hair and emerald green eyes, Xenia's unusual beauty makes her stand out in any crowd - that is until she unexpectedly meets her long lost cousin, Johanna, amidst the wreckage of a railway accident. Incredulous at finding her mirror image and desperate for a friend, Xenia's initial joy is soon replaced by misgivings when Johanna suggests an outrageous plan to swap lives for two weeks. However, these are soon swept aside by her forceful cousin and Xenia finds herself agreeing to help Johanna enjoy ten final days of freedom with the Englishman she loves before her arranged Royal marriage. As her cousin steals away from the site of the train crash, Xenia suddenly realises all that impersonating Johanna, even for a short while, will entail. Especially as her cousin was travelling to meet and marry her fiance, King Istvan of Luthenia, and the journey must continue so suspicions are not aroused. Surrounded by servants and diplomats, Xenia struggles to assume the Royal role that Johanna inhabits so easily and prays that her true identity will not be discovered. Arriving in Luthenia, Xenia is instantly plunged into a world of political intrigue and drama a million...

Innocent young Candida is almost destitute after the death of her beloved father. Resolving to keep up the family's modest Elizabethan manor house in Hertfordshire and support Ned, the family's faithful servant, she sees no alternative but to sell her beloved pitch-black stallion, Pegasus. So, when the worldly Major Hooper offers to take her and her mount to Hyde Park where she will undoubtedly find a high price, she agrees, though with a heavy heart. Little does she suspect that Major Hooper trades in young women as well as horseflesh - and soon she finds herself and Pegasus 'sold' to the dashing but awe-inspiring Lord Manville. A terrible maze of misunderstanding ensues and just when Candida realises that she has lost her heart to his Lordship, the London Society that seemed so carefree turns cruel. Even as she flees astride Pegasus, she is heartbroken, knowing she may never again see the man she loves -

When the imperious Alston, Marquis of Falcon cynically announces that he is interested in marrying his daughter in order to gain a Royal appointment, the Earl of Warnborough is thoroughly pleased.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ There would be many benefits to being part of his far richer neighbourÕs family and estates! But the beautiful Mirabel is already betrothed and so is Deirdre, albeit secretly, which leaves only Elmina, the youngest and the Cinderella of the Warne familyÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Nevertheless they are all shocked when she shyly says that she will be happy to marry the dashing Marquis.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ But not as stunned as her new husband when she repels his wedding night advances with an expert Karate move!ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Self-educated and schooled in the martial and equine arts, Elmina blossoms inwardly and outwardly with an unusual allure of her own.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ And she prays that her handsome new husband will come to love her for herself. But, when she is kidnapped by murderous horse thieves, it seems that she will die without knowing the love she yearns for ÐÊ

Employed by the beautiful but mean Mrs. Schuster as a ladyÕs companion on her trop to Morocco, Melina Lindsay is thrilled to at last visit the beautiful land of which her late father had talked with such fondness. ÊBut when , jealous of the attention MelinaÕs beauty and youth attract,Ê Mrs. Schuster peremptorily sacks her, she finds herself her alone and helpless in a strange country . ÊSuddenly, a dashing stranger disguised as an ArabÊ appears on her balcony seeking refuge. ÊAnd, when Melina hides him from his murderous pursuers, it transpires that he is an English agent on a desperate mission to save a young boy who has been kidnapped by evil subversives and whom they will surely murder. ÊJoining the handsome Bing Ward on his perilous mission, she puts her life in his hands and very soon he will also possess her heart Ð but only if they survive! Ê

After years of fighting with the Duke of Wellington against Napoleon, the Marquis of Melverley has neglected his family seat, preferring his dalliances with LondonÕs Beau Monde beauties. ÊNow, betrayed by his latest mistress, he returns to Melverley Hall to lick his wounds, but nearing home he is halted by an accident and meets the beautiful young Christina Churston, heartbroken at the death of her old but very beloved pony. ÊSoon, he is appalled to find that she is not only orphaned but also being pestered by a lecherous old womaniser, who lives nearby. ÊSo the Marquis promptly offers her his protection at Melverly Hall to be chaperoned by his old Governess, Miss Dickson. ÊJust as Christina melts his heart and he sets about saving the local people from penury, she is kidnapped by the MarquisÕs evil cousin, Terence Verley, who is the Heir Presumptive to the title and the estate. ÊKidnapped, imprisoned and about to lose her life, or worse, Christina realises too late that she has lost her heart to the Marquis, whom she is sure that she will never see again Ð

ÊLara, the beautiful red-headed daughter of Lord Hurlington, a country Parson, is horrified to hear that her friend, Jane, is on the verge of a breakdown after being horribly pursued by the lecherous Lord Magor, a regular guest at The Priory, the fabulous stately home of the Marquis of Keyston, to whose niece Jane is Governess.Ê Determined to teach Lord Magor a lesson and to seek out ideas for the novel she is writing about contemporary Society, Lara takes JaneÕs place as Governess to ten year old Georgina.Ê But, although Lord Magor is every bit as predatory as Jane had described, the Marquis is awe-inspiring, handsome and, as she soon discovers, much kinder and considerate than she or Jane had ever imagined.Ê Just as Lara realises that she has fallen in deeply love with the Marquis, the wicked Lord Magor traps her in a locked room ÐÊ Only her great-grandfatherÕs duelling pistol can save her. Ê And on the spur of the moment, it seems that Lara has killed her cruel pursuer and will be taken away by the Police to prison for murder as well as dashing all hope of a second kiss from the magnificent Marquis who has stolen her heart.Ê

ÊAlmost identical in their golden-haired, blue-eyed beauty and similarly named, cousins Antonia ÔToniÕ Combe and Latonia Hythe are nevertheless very different personalities.ÊDesperate to avoid a journey to India forced on her by her stern uncle, Kenrick Combe, the new Lord Branscombe, and which would prevent her marrying the man she desperately loves , the flirtatious and capricious Toni beseeches her cousin to take her place as her Uncle Kenrick has not seen Toni for many years.Ê So conscientious Latonia nervously accepts the pretence, assumes the role of her cousin and then sets sail with her stern protector for India.Ê Berated and frowned upon by his Lordship for her cousinÕs ÔmisdeedsÕ, Latonia nevertheless looks forward to the adventure of visiting and seeing India, until her deception is revealed to his LordshipÕs fury!Ê But, when she overhears a sinister plot to kill him, she rushes in the night to warn him and is rewarded with passionate kiss, she suddenly knows that it is not hate but love that burns in her heart Ð love for a man who must surely despise her forever Ð

When the austere, reserved Drue, the Duke of Warminster, is asked by a servant at a Scottish posting inn if he will give a lift to a little old lady whose carriage has broken down, he reluctantly agrees. But then he is outraged to discover that the frail old lady is a young red-haired beauty called Jabina, who has run away from home and a marriage forced on her by her father. When their own carriage overturns, severely injuring the Duke, the pair are taken in by aristocratic friends of JabinaÕs father Ð and Jabina, terrified of being sent home, tells their hosts that she and Drue are married. The Duke is then appalled to find that through an obscure Scottish law he is now actually and legally married to this unruly and impulsive young girl. But, as they travel together to France and fall into mortal danger as Napoleon Bonaparte declares war on England, their mutual dislike blossoms into a burgeoning passion Ð the question now is whether they will ever to able to escape from France and return to England to fulfil their unspoken love.

Samantha Clyde, the beautiful, and dutiful daughter of the ailing Vicar of Little Poolbrook in Worcestershire , lives a cosy sheltered life attending to her fatherÕs needs and helping out with the Church bazaar at The Castle her impoverished family once owned.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Her world is turned upside down when celebrated fashion photographer, Giles Bariatinsky, is very struck by SamanthaÕs enigmatic and unusual beauty and whisks her off to a glamorous new life as a model of haute couture in London.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Bewildered and intimidated by London SocietyÕs decadence, she meets the dashing firebrand novelist David Durham, experiences her first ever kiss and loses her heart utterly in an instant.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Almost as quickly, all her hopes and dreams are dashed when the man she loves despises her naivety. And since no other man will ever take DavidÕs place in her heart, Samantha takes refuge in a Convent, resolving to become the sophisticated woman of the world that she imagines David Durham desires ÐÊ

The handsome and debonair Marquis of Raventhorpe is known throughout the Beau Monde as something of a ladies’ man until he falls under the spell of Society beauty Lady Sarah Chessington. But when he arrives at the Earl of Chessington-Crewe’s house to propose, he realises that Lady Sarah wants him only for his wealth and position and he leaves in a fury, vowing that he will never marry. By the wayside he encounters a young exquisite beauty utterly different from any woman he has ever met, in fact she looks like an angel who has just fallen from Heaven by mistake. She is the Earl’s niece and ward, Ula Forde, who is running away from her Guardian, who mistreats and beats her savagely. Outraged, the Marquis rescues her and plots to punish Lady Sarah and the Earl by making Ula the belle of every ball and the toast of London Society. It is only when the despicable Earl kidnaps the terrified girl that love for Ula blossoms in the Marquis’s heart. He must rescue her – if he is not already too late –

Vida AnstrutherÕs father has gone missing on his latest secret mission, ostensibly to Hungary and her sixth sense tells her that he has actually gone undercover to Russia and is in desperate danger, perhaps at the ruthless hands of the CzarÕs Secret Police.Ê Having informed the Marquis of Salisbury, the British Foreign Secretary, of her intentions, she sets off under a false name, accompanied only by her faithful Nanny, Margit, and a Courier.Ê Vida journeys into Russia, where she meets the supremely handsome notorious womaniser and ÔpetÕ of the Czar, the playboy Prince Ivan Pavolivski, and instantly falls under his spell.Ê Vida stays with the Prince at his stunningly beautiful castle and she is tempted to trust him, but is horrified when she overhears him talking with a Russian Secret Agent and it seems that the Prince is one of the enemy!Ê But at least now she has learnt that her father is hiding in a nearby Monastery and flees the PrinceÕs castle to go to his rescue.Ê Even as her heart swells with hope for Sir Harvey Anstruther, it breaks in the knowledge that the Prince she now loves is bent on betraying him.Ê ÊÊ

When Angus McKeith knocks on the door, the lives of Fiona Windham and her niece and ward Mary-Rose are changed forever. Following the recent death of Fiona's father, Lord Ian Rannock, and sister, Rosemary, the child has become heir-presumptive to her Scottish uncle, the Duke of Strathrannock, who has summoned Mary-Rose to his castle in Scotland. Reluctantly complying, but insisting that she accompany Mary-Rose, Fiona finds the Duke handsome, yet distant and cold. Ostracised by the Highland community after the mysterious disappearance of his wife, the Duchess, and a bitter feud with his father, the Duke has withdrawn from Society and seems an insensitive, even brutal man. Soon, though, as Fiona's innocent beauty warms the Duke's cold heart and love between them blossoms. But when she attempts to solve the mystery that traps him in the past, Fiona finds herself in mortal danger at the hands of a woman possessed by a deranged desire for vengeance.