Short Stories/Novellas
Eliza Dauntry was infamous. Most people assumed she was a wanton because she supported herself and her son by painting portraits of courtesans. Yet Eliza hadn't been tempted by a man since her husband's death...until she met Patrick Felham. An old friend of her husband and a one-time rake, Patrick awakened a yearning in Eliza that demanded to be satisfied at once.... Patrick was looking for an upright woman to become his wife and stepmother to his daughter, not a siren like Eliza Dauntry! But Eliza had aroused his desire ever since he saved her scandalous self-portrait from the auction house. The chance of an affair with the alluring widow was irresistible, but this notorious woman could also turn out to be his perfect bride...
Sussex, 1801 Governess Pompeia Grant thinks pretending to be Sir James Carling's wife as a favor to his sister will be harmless. She is haunted by his rejection of her youthful advances, but she's desperate for a place to stay after losing her last post. When James unexpectedly returns home from America, she assumes the game is upuntil James encourages her to stay, and enjoy the pleasurable consequences of their charade.
England, 1802 Beatrix March chose to be a governess rather than let an overbearing husband rule her. Even though she never intends to marry, it doesn't mean she can't enjoy a man's...company especially when presented with one as tempting as notorious rake Simon Carling! Simon doesn't usually seduce virtuous governesses, but Beatrix is unlike any woman he's ever encountered. Her luscious curves were made to grace a man's bed, and he's never denied himself such satisfaction before. Flouting society's tedious conventions, in favor of thrilling chemistry, may force Beatrix and Simon to contemplate the unthinkablemarriage!
London, 1802 When heiress Arabella Wilbanks flees a forced betrothal in the middle of the night, the last person she expects to find at the reins of her getaway hackney is Matthew Worcester. It's been seven long years since they gave in to their mutual desires and shared the most incredible night of their lives, but Matthew is still racked with guilt for leaving her without a word. He should escort her to safety, but the chance to re-claim and ravish her once more is proving impossible to resist!
Once a notorious rake, Camden Folk, Marquis of Warbury, is now consumed by desire for only one woman: beautiful young widow Frances Burdett. And the Yuletide festivities at his country estate present the perfect opportunity for seduction After her brief and unsatisfying marriage, Frances Burdett swore never to become tied to another man. Then a passionate kiss under the mistletoe reawakens longings she thought buried forever. But can she give in to the pleasures of the body with a rogue like Camwithout losing her heart?
Widowed and destitute, Edwina White takes a position as governess in a remote village in the north of England—in a haunted house. She’s so desperate that she’ll take anything, and besides, she doesn’t believe in ghosts. Little does she know that her new employer is the seducer who lied and deceived her many years ago. Sir Richard Ballister inherited an estate with a ghost and a curse, and every governess he hires leaves within a week. Finally, a woman desperate enough to stay arrives on his doorstep—but she’s the seductress who dropped him many years earlier for a richer man. The last thing Richard and Edwina want is to work together, but they have no choice. Can they overcome the bitterness of the past in time to unravel a centuries-old knot and end the Christmas curse? This novella was originally published in the boxed set, Captivated By His Kiss.
Sensible Gwen Appleby is aghast when her foolish sister vows to pursue the notorious rake, Lord Quickthorn. To save her sister from certain ruin, she turns to her friend, the custodian of the fairy well. A simple spell, making Lord Quickthorn indifferent to her sister’s beauty, is all that’s required. But Gwen’s friend is no longer at the well, and the new, mischievous, very male custodian agrees on one condition: Lord Quickthorn will turn his seductive wiles on Gwen instead. To save her sister’s virtue, must Gwen sacrifice her own? Worse, will the promise of passion make her long to do so? This novella was originally published in the anthology, Passionate Promises.
Faced with the ghastly suitors her father approves, Thomasina Warren decides to lose her virginity so that no respectable man will have her. Who better to ruin her than handsome, charming James Blakely? But James is an honorable man and refuses point-blank. Humiliated, she resorts to outright refusal to wed, with the help of a ghost who scares her suitors away. But four years later, her father has arranged her marriage to a stodgy gentlemen whose only condition is that the ghost must be banished forever. James Blakely never forgot the lovely girl who asked him to ruin her, and when he offers to get rid of the ghost, he thinks he’ll be doing a good deed. Instead, he is faced with the hostile Thomasina, her cowardly suitor, pigheaded father, lecherous cousin, an exorcist monk, and a ghost who warns of danger and deadly peril—and a few short days in which to convince Thomasina that with the right man, she might just want to marry after all.
Twice-widowed Lady Isolde Doncaster doesn’t want to remarry, but her parents will stop at nothing to find her a new husband. Even the family ghost, a dashing Cavalier, insists she must wed again. When a masked stranger at the Christmas masquerade helps Isolde avoid her suitors, she is grateful—until she realizes he is the son of the neighboring family, come to steal a pendant their mothers have feuded over for years. Gawain Burke sneaked into the Christmas masquerade with one goal: to retrieve the pendant that rightfully belongs to his mother. But his chivalrous instincts come to the fore, and protecting Isolde from lecherous men becomes his primary concern. He’s not a suitor for her hand. She has sworn never to marry again. They’ll just work together to return the pendant and stop the feud. But neither of them reckons with the ghost, who has a far better ending in mind. This novella was originally published in the anthology, Winter Wishes.