Members’ Regency Fiction Releases for 06/2022

The death of her cruel husband means freedom at last for Lucretia Tifton—until she learns that the guardian he chose for her longed-for baby is the latest in a line of earls known for separating their children from unfaithful wives. The elusive new earl is certain to hear the gossip about Lucretia. Will he believe it and prove to be as heartless as his ancestors?

Giles, the Earl of Netherbroke, wants nothing more than to work in his London shop, building furniture with beautiful marquetry finishes. If unexpectedly inheriting the earldom isn’t bad enough, now he’s saddled with an unwanted guardianship. What’s worse, the baby’s mother is the loveliest woman he’s ever seen.

Giles is almost certain Lucretia is an adulteress—and the more he learns about her, the more he understands why she might have betrayed her husband. Nevertheless, he is determined not to succumb, like his ancestors, to the Infidelity Curse.

But then Lucretia is suddenly in danger, and the only way to protect her is to make her his.

Elizabeth Thornwood is a countess. A singularly lonely countess. Having produced the heir and the spare, she has been left to rusticate in the country. Not content to wait in a shroud of memories, she packs up the boys and heads to London, determined to have her husband back in her life…and in her bed.

Richard Thornwood loves his wife. When she surprises him in London and is clearly bent on seduction, he fears he might not be able to hold to the promise he made to himself the night she almost died—to do everything in his power to keep her safe. So, when the opportunity to do some intelligence gathering arises, he seizes it. It’s the perfect solution. He can assist in the war against Napoleon and avoid Elizabeth.

Richard finds the game of espionage daunting, but the cat and mouse game of temptation Elizabeth plays at home is far more dangerous.

How can he let her win, when it means losing everything?

He’s predictable. She’s a mystery. Can love bridge all that separates them?

Raised to believe the world is open to her, Lady Phoebe Winters reads periodicals and newspapers with growing upset. Everything within her world is shaped by a man’s point of view. Why must women stand idly by, being told what to do and how to do it? It seems to be accepted within their society — until she decides to do something about it. Using her inheritance, she begins a small publication, written by women, for women. It’s a risk, but one for which she is willing to sacrifice.

Jeffrey Worthington, the Marquess of Berkley, has held a position of responsibility since the death of his father at a young age. He is a man who enjoys the constancy of life. Despite the fact that his four sisters and younger brother are forever demanding his time and attention, his maintains order and control of all other aspects of life.

The Women’s Weekly begins to cause a stir amongst women of the nobility, and the peerage determines it must be shut down before it causes consequences from which they could never recover. Jeffrey is tasked with finding the perpetrator and halting production of the publication. He reluctantly agrees, despite the fact that it will detract from his attempt to court the lovely Lady Phoebe, and causes growing controversy between the two of them. When he finally determines the publication’s owner, what will he put first — love or duty?

This is the second edition of Lady of Mystery, which was previously published.

The Lady Patronesses are trying to discover who is vandalizing the pictures at this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, in the process uncovering a scandalous personal vendetta dating back nearly twenty years. Meanwhile, Annabel gains a very eligible suitor in Lord Glenrick, brother of one of her fellow Lady Patronesses and son and heir of the Duke of Carrick—but she’s not quite sure he’s the suitor she’d prefer…

No one has ever refused a request from Lady Belle Dryden. Her pretty face and winsome nature almost guarantee it, and the fact that she’s the youngest daughter of the Duke of Wey doesn’t hurt. So she’s certain when she plays matchmaker between her dearest friend, Miss Petunia Bateman, and the charming, mysterious Owen Canady, both will be only too happy to fall in love. After all, Belle feels herself falling for Owen already. A shame a duke’s daughter must marry someone more impressive.

Owen Canady is a gentleman by birth, a pauper by circumstance, and a con man by necessity. Life has taught him he can rely only on his wits and a fast horse to get by. But when he is blackmailed into ferreting out the secrets of the Duke of Wey at a house party at the duke’s lavish estate, he finds his resolve crumbling. Belle is everything that is right and good in the world. He cannot betray her.

As her father’s enemies grow more daring, Belle and Owen must work together to protect all they hold dear. When his own secrets are revealed, can Owen convince the lady who’s never heard no to say yes to him?

Shall we dance?
Left at the altar, Artemisia Germayne’s humiliation is made twice as worse by the presence in the congregation of the man who’s the bane of her existence. Why does Nigel Rochefort take such pleasure in mocking her? As rumors of Artemisia’s abandonment—and also the sudden disappearance of Philippa, her younger sister—swirl about the ton, she flees to her elderly aunt’s home in the countryside.

Nigel has always taken his good fortune for granted, so when the woman for whom he has a secret tendre is about to marry his friend, the only logical thing to do is break up the wedding. But his reputation as a rake, together with his well-intentioned giving of solace to Philippa Germayne in a London park, have started yet more scandal brewing. Nigel must first clear his name to assure Artemisia’s affections.

This is no simple country dance or game of seduction, but an unstoppable waltz of desire—and true love.

*Reissued in a new series with a beautiful new cover!

WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES, SPARKS FLY

Emma Watts’ life is ruined. Her father’s untimely death after squandering his estate has left her destitute – and the Prometheans are to blame! The corrupting influence of the gentlemen’s club led to her father’s demise, and now she wants revenge. Emma sets out to dig up dirt on the Prometheans that will shame them or worse.

Simon Pike, the Earl of Blackburn, is a man’s man who is highly regarded by his Promethean peers. Thanks to his conniving mother, though, he considers all Society women to be duplicitous schemers. Upon learning that a mystery woman is attempting to ruin his club brothers, Simon volunteers to uncover her identity and bring her to consequence.

After Emma and Simon are thrown together in a pair of passionate but anonymous encounters, they discover to their mutual horror that they are committed adversaries. However, fate and fantasy intervene – in the form of a lightning strike – and each awakens in the other’s body. Reluctantly joining forces to undo the switch, they slowly fall for each other – for the real person beneath the façade. Uncertain of their ability to reverse the change, they can only hope to overcome misguided preconceptions of the opposite gender while walking a mile in each other’s shoes – and perhaps aspire for a love they have never imagined.

What if your fate lies in another time?

When the Honorable Henry Darington, the third son of the Earl of Lindford, arrived in New York, he knew starting a new live in the former British colonies would be difficult. He never expected to be catapulted over two centuries into the future. With the help of a stranger, he must learn to navigate this frightening time and try to find a way back home. But the longer he stays the more he finds he’s falling for this amazing independent woman.

Laurel Bishop has enough on her plate with a website business, a mini farm and a developer who wants to take it all away. The last thing she needs is a pampered aristocrat from Jane Austen’s time arriving on her doorstep. But the more she helps him adjust to the modern world, the more he melts her heart. Can a man from the past be the key to her future?

Self-made civil engineer Geoffrey Brookhouse has unexpectedly inherited the dukedom of Grenwood. But he has a secret that could ruin his family. Hoping to save his timid sister from that fate, he seeks to marry her off to a respectable, protective gentleman. With the London Season imminent, Geoffrey hires Elegant Occasions to orchestrate her debut. Yet Lady Diana Harper, spirited fashion expert, proves more than he bargained for. Suddenly, Geoffrey’s sister is emerging from her shell, and he is beleaguered with social invitations and gossip! Worse, Diana is attempting to transform him into a presentable duke—when all he really wants is to win her heart…

Diana doesn’t know what to make of the handsome, disheveled duke. The man bristles at the very idea that his fashion faux pas might spoil his sister’s chances. Yet Geoffrey’s stubbornness simply inspires Diana to ruffle his feathers—by setting him on a course of self-improvement. Although there’s something endearing, even irresistible about his flaws, can a man who hates the ton tolerate a woman who makes her living catering to them? Little does either know that they have more in common than they suspect—and that two can create a society all their own…

A pact that will change their lives forever…

Fitzwilliam Darcy is a successful young barrister with a bright future. His late uncle has guided his career, made him his heir, and even selected a bride for him—sight unseen— whom he’ll meet and marry upon her majority. Who could have predicted that making the acquaintance of Miss Elizabeth Bennet in Meryton would throw those careful plans into disarray?

Elizabeth Bennet doesn’t know what to make of “Fitz” Darcy, who intrigues and draws her notice like no other. Despite Fitzwilliam’s warnings, she allows Mr. George Darcy, Fitzwilliam’s older brother and master of Pemberley, to charm her. Little does she know that she, too, has been promised in marriage by her late father—to an unknown barrister, no less. What is she to do when her hopes to marry for love disappear in the blink of an eye?

Is George Darcy’s suit in earnest? Can this mysterious bridegroom of her father’s choosing become the husband of her dreams? With the danger of duels and deceit, what will come of the initial attraction between her and Fitzwilliam? Will she become the barrister’s bride?

Note: contains scenes with adult content.

Young widow Annabel Chalfont, Countess of Fellbridge, has two small sons to raise, a mountain of her late husband’s debts to pay off, and a secret: she’s a shadow-shaper, able to manipulate shadow as anyone else might clay. She and six other high-born ladies with equally extraordinary abilities defend England against supernatural crime—but the world knows them only as the Lady Patronesses of Almack’s, Regency London’s most exclusive social venue.

Annabel’s cousin Hartley has been shaken from his self-absorbed ways by Demetria Pouli, a bewitching Greek soprano who is taking London by storm. When a rash of jewel thefts seems to accompany her recitals, Annabel fears Demetria may not be what she seems. As it happens, she isn’t—but a happily-ever-after for Hartley and Demetria isn’t necessarily out of the question, thanks to the Ladies of Almack’s…

She was a Diamond with a few very tiny flaws—and the desire to be good.

He was a rogue with the sense to reform—and to help her to be bad.

Adelaide Devereaux flabbergasts most men she meets. She’s a Diamond, petite, mild-mannered —the perfect picture of a demure lady. She has one ambition—to kiss every man she likes until she finds one whose lips make her hear church bells chime.

In Brighton, she meets confirmed bachelor Gyles, Marquess of Heath, who is felled by her charm. Though he vows to kiss her until she’s felt the earth turn on its axis, he cannot claim her unless he fixes his parents’ refusal to accept her. They’re too high in the instep to accept a wayward Irish lass who’s the granddaughter of a notorious rascal.

Pride might stall their romance, and lust might motivate a scoundrel to try to carry Addy away, but when love is the only passion that matters, do not all objections fall before its power?

Napoleon is determined to conquer the world with his steam-powered weapons. Nothing in England can stop him … except two young lady inventors.

In 1819, France is surrounded by armies. With Russia in the north, the Karlsruhe Confederacy in the east, and a pirate kingdom in the south, Napoleon cannot break out, nor can the English Navy seem to break in. Europe teeters on the edge of a sword. Whichever side rules the air will win.

Celeste Blanchard, daughter of the Emperor’s disgraced Air Minister, is running out of time to develop an air ship that can carry his armies to England and restore her mother to glory. But on a daring and desperate test flight, she is blown off course … and washes up, half drowned, on the shores of Cornwall, in the heart of enemy territory.

Loveday Penhale, cosseted daughter of gentry, has her own inventions to build, even as pressure mounts to behave like a proper young lady and seek a husband instead of a design for a high- pressure steam engine. But when Arthur Trevelyan, heir to the neighboring estate, Gwynn Place, asks for her help in rescuing an unconscious young woman on the beach, Loveday discovers an aeronaut and an inventor as skilled as she is. Between them, a friendship blossoms, and Loveday wonders if they might even pull off the impossible and invent an air ship that will catch the eye of the Tinkering Prince Regent, who has offered a prize to anyone who can help England break the impasse. Celeste’s loyalties are torn in two. If she is caught working secretly for France, she will lose her friend, the love of an honorable man—and her life. But if Napoleon learns she has betrayed him, she will be executed on sight.

Can friendship prevail in the face of war? Or is there a third solution—one where everything hinges on the bravery and daring of a Cornish debutante and the Emperor’s aeronaut?

A sudden summer storm drives Miss Sophia Selkirk into a confectioner’s shop filled with the delicious scents of ice cream and candies. Just as she settled in with her glass dish of delectable ice cream, a shadow falls over the table: the fiancé she jilted without explanation two weeks before has appeared. Can she trust him enough to reveal the secret that sent her fleeing from the only man she has ever loved?

Simon Warren’s entire life was jolted the night before the wedding when Sophia sent a brief note informing him she could not marry him. Now, he has tracked her down to this small confectioner’s shop, where over two dishes of ice cream, they will grapple with a secret scandal from the past and discover whether their love can overcome all obstacles.

Not all storms cause destruction and chaos. Some make new paths and bring clarity. The difference is found within.

The Honorable Caroline Storme has been furious with life since she was twelve. Sent to an asylum due to a suspected mental deficiency, she has finally returned to London, not with vengeance in mind but freedom. Wanting nothing more than to pursue her passions in peace, she vows to ignore everyone around her, until she meets the one man who understands her… a big, barrel-chested sailor with tattoos and a devastating grin.

Mr. John Butler is in London to reconnect with his drunken, baron father before the man pickles himself. The family holdings are deeply in debt and decay, but he doesn’t care about them. Sailing holds his heart as well as his easy, carefree existence in Ipswich. That is until he runs into a woman in Hyde Park. There’s a quiet strength about her but also a banked fury that stokes his own… a woman with stormy eyes and a mouth that’s begging to be kissed.

When London proves too much for them both, John is quick to offer a solution: a marriage of convenience despite vehement protests from the Storme clan. It will give her freedom as well as settling his future. But his blackguard of a father threatens the hasty union that is suddenly filled with affection and primal desire, the sacrifices offered might be too high for either of them to pay once love is involved.

There was one man Lady Emma vowed she would never marry.

The rakish Duke of Warwick — brother to her very best friend.

But one chance encounter on a balcony has Lady Emma questioning all she ever believed about the duke. When her friend — and the duke’s sister — is abducted, they must work together to find her, and determine who has been threatening the Remington family.

Since his father’s murder, Giles, the new Duke of Warwick, has been trying to right his father’s wrongs and discover who is threatening them. He is also searching for the perfect wife to improve his family’s reputation — a wife who could never be the outspoken Lady Emma, who prefers to spend her time digging in the gardens.

As the secrets and mysteries surrounding the family deepen, Giles and Emma find their lives intertwine more closely than ever before. Until one fateful act leaves them one choice — love or ruination.

The Mystery of a Debonair Duke is a steamy Regency Romance.

Kidnapped: His Bride-to-Be

Penelope Ashurst is a dutiful daughter, but wishing for just one adventure before she submits to marriage to the stuffy old viscount her father has selected, she sneaks off to attend a society masked ball. There, she dances and shares a secret kiss with a handsome blond stranger. Her heart is stolen! How can she find a way to come face to face with this mystery man once more?

When Ranulph Rochefort, Earl of Monfort, meets Miss Ashurst, he realizes this goddess is the young woman picked out for him as a suitable wife. However, it’s clear Penelope has no idea he’s the one she’s been promised to. He decides not to reveal his identity but to contrive to see her again.

Only then, Penelope is abducted! Lord Percival Trane, a ne’er-do-well aristocrat, needs to marry a wealthy woman to settle his debts. When Ranulph fathoms who has taken Penelope, and that they are bound for Gretna Green, he knows he must move heaven and earth to find her. But can he reach her in time, and instead, claim her as his rightful bride?

*Reissued in a new series with a beautiful new cover!

Love Against the Odds

The Earl of Seahaven desperately wanted a son and heir but died leaving nine daughters and a fifth wife. Cruelly turned out by the new earl, they live hand-to-mouth in a small cottage.

The young dowager Countess’s one regret is that she cannot give Seahaven’s dear girls a chance at happiness.

When a cousin offers the use of her townhouse in York during the season, the Countess rallies her stepdaughters.

They will pool their resources so that the youngest marriageable daughters might make successful matches, thereby saving them all.

So start their adventures in York, amid a whirl of balls, lectures, and alfresco picnics. Is it possible each of them might find love by the time the York horse races bring the Season to a close?

Nine original stories centered on the Seahaven daughters’ Season.

Lady Jocelyn Stafford desperately needs a husband to repair her tarnished reputation. Her obvious choice is her neighbor James, a man who once fancied her. If only she hadn’t cruelly rejected his attentions when she found herself wooed by a scandalous rake with a better title.

James Margrave, Earl of Seaton, must have an heir to keep his estate from falling into the hands of his cousin, which means he has to marry. Lady Jocelyn, who still beguiles him, would be perfect if only he could forget old slights. Instead, James asks Jocelyn to help him find a suitable wife, a task she agrees to perform, hoping to redeem herself in his eyes.

When a series of attacks put James’s life in danger, an immediate marriage becomes critical. Jocelyn is willing and available. But can he trust a woman who once broke his heart and is it fair to wed her when she might become the next victim?

A self-assured earl who doesn’t like rules. A poised beauty mature beyond her years. Neither thinks they want or need love . . .

Major Owen Hasbury is the new Earl of Danbury and ready to work his way through the women of the ton. Bluestocking Louisa Goulding’s one rule is to avoid rogues at all cost. When the pair meets, she calls him out as a rake, irking Owen and yet intriguing him at the same time.

Yet they become friends—with Owen teaching the quiet beauty how to kiss, realizing the perfect woman is right before him.

Can Owen convince Louisa that he has changed—or will he lose her to another at the house party they attend together?

Alexander, Viscount Sturmbridge is a spy. He’s betrayed, abducted, and tortured by a friend, Rodney Littleton. After recuperating in the country, he returns to London. He wants justice! No, he demands justice for every injury he suffered.

Miss Helen Littleton assumes the responsibility of providing for her mother and sister after the death of her gambler father. When Sturm is assigned to protect her family, she is less than pleased. Men can’t be trusted. Especially a charmer like Sturmbridge.

Sturm is no happier than she is! Her brother betrayed him. Ordered his execution. Only fear of retribution kept thugs from killing him.

When Sturm escorts the Littleton ladies to a musicale, he learns he doesn’t know what fear is until someone you care for is in danger. Helen is accosted. A stranger with a blade to her back demands she pass on to her brother a message. The Society wants it’s list back. What list? The pair reluctantly agree joining forces will protect Helen’s family and bring down The 1804 Society.

Neither wants to acknowledge their feelings for the other. Will Sturm succumb like his friends before him to the lure of life with the blunt and beautiful Helen? Not if he can help it!

Will two stubborn Highlanders ignore what their senses already know?

Will he sense the love in front of him despite the loss of his sight?

Will she overcome her wariness of men to embrace the man he’s become?

1st Lieutenant Simon Demarest, late of the Royal Navy, is no longer the man he used to be. The man he used to be led boarding parties with little more than an ax and a blood-curdling cry sure to stop a slaver’s crew in their tracks. The man he used to be could dance all night with the prettiest girl in the room.

The man he is now cannot even read a book for himself. Instead, he must sit like an invalid – well, he is an invalid – and listen while some dried-up spinster reads to him. Still, there’s something odd about the spinster – her scent. Her aura lingers long after the times she reads to him. And Miss MacKenzie’s scent is one he used to know so well, that of a warm, aroused woman. He can barely make sense of her words for her overwhelming essence. She gives off the pheromones of someone who’s slept all night cradled in nothing more than a field of lavender…whilst pleasuring herself.

Aileen MacKenzie has had quite enough of men, thank you very much, from her father who decided she should assume her dead mother’s duties as chatelaine, cook, housekeeper and everything else in his cavernous, drafty manse out on the moor near Inverness, to her dratted, interfering eight brothers.

She’s her own woman now, owner of the subscription library in the heart of Inverness, thanks to an elderly aunt’s bequest. She really doesn’t need the money Dr. MacCloud offers her to read to his blind patient. But there’s something about this stubborn invalid, something she can’t resist. And what kind of Christian woman would she be to turn her back on a fellow Highlander in need?

In this spicy Regency historical romance a sheltered baron’s daughter and a celebrated duke agree on a marriage of convenience but he has a secret that may ruin it all.

She is desperate to escape…

When Miss Annabel Ridley learns her betrothed has been unfaithful she knows she must cancel the wedding. The problem is no one else seems to agree with her, least of all her father. With her wedding day approaching, she must find a way to escape her doomed marriage. She seeks out the Duke of Halmesbury to request he intercede with her rakish betrothed to break it off before the wedding day.

He is ready to try again…

Widower Philip Markham has decided it is time to search for a new wife. He hopes to find a bold bride to avoid the mistakes of his past. Fate seems to be favoring him when he finds a delicious young woman in his study begging for his help to disengage from a despised figure from his past. He astonishes her with a proposal of his own–a marriage of convenience to suit them both. If she accepts, he resolves to never reveal the truth of his past lest it ruin their chances of possibly finding love.

Can be read as a standalone book or as part of the Inconvenient Brides series.