"An enjoyable, engrossing romance with memorable characters, a fast-paced plot, and McCabe's trademark touch of wry humor" --Romance Reviews Today A HOLT Medallion Winner National Readers' Choice Award Winner. Lady Emily Kenton was eight years old the last time she set eyes on David Huntington. She's elated that he has finally returned from India, but now she bears a terrible secret-one that could drive him away forever.
In the spring of 1896, Rachael, just shy of her twentieth birthday, boards a train destined to a remote cattle ranch in Oregon for a prearranged employment position. An arrangement made by a guilt-ridden wife who could no longer tolerate her husband's forceful adulterous actions upon their young housemaid. Seizing the opportunity of his wife's intervention, he demands that Rachael take his two young illegitimate children with her on her journey west; if she wants her father to remain alive. Traveling west from Brockport, New York, Rachael undertakes her first assignment from her new boss, the ranch owner. She will be required to transact business in a man's world by overseeing the loading of supplies and freight along the train route. Her third business stop, Rock Springs, Wyoming, brings her face to face with four members of her new employer, three brothers and the ranch foreman. Overwhelmed, she unconsciously turns to one brother for security, beginning his commitment to her.During the next decade of hard work, Rachael struggles to bury her past. Her new family, the Prestons and their bunkhouse crew, give her an optimistic appreciation of life as she learns there are no social boundaries in the West. By including her in all the daily trials and tribulations of ranch life, cattle roundups, hunting, procuring and preserving their food supply, expanding families, and celebrating holidays, Rachael learns to live and trust again. She receives her second chance.
Second chances can lead to dangerous affairs of the heart… They were once lovers who parted in bitterness and betrayal. Now they are enemies and can’t resist each other. Edith, Lady Carruthers, has everything a woman could ever want: beauty, wealth, and power. But she is also trapped in a loveless marriage with a cruel earl who treats her like a trophy. The only man who ever made her feel alive was Ambrose, the now dashing and rebellious Marquis of Camber. But she rejected him for a title, and he never forgave her. Ambrose has spent the last ten years trying to forget Edith. He has become a notorious rake and duelist, courting danger and scandal at every turn. He still burns for her but also hates her for breaking his heart. When the Earl of Carruthers dies under mysterious circumstances, Ambrose and Edith are thrown together again. The old flame between them reignites, but someone is playing a dark game with them—new and old enemies who want to ruin them both. Can they overcome their pride and their enemies? Or will they lose their love and their lives?
Enjoy this story by historical fantasy romance author Anne Renwick where you'll unravel mysteries and defy conventions in a world where danger lurks around every corner. You’ll find forbidden romance, evil villains and mad science in these gaslamp and steampunk romances... A thief with golden eyes. The spy who loves her. A mad scientist who will break hearts to expose her secrets. Shunned for her odd eyes and an unnerving habit of slipping into shadows, Lady Colleen Stewart refuses to be caged—should she decide to marry, it’ll be for love and to a man of her choice. After all, she’d rather be racing over rooftops than waltzing across ballroom floors. So when the only man to ever tempt her heart invites her on a covert mission, she leaps into danger. Nicholas Torrington, Queen’s agent, is running out of time. While work has him chasing his tail, his sister grows increasingly ill, and Colleen, the woman he would make his bride, has acquired another, determined suitor. To coax his favorite thief back into his arms, he’ll break every rule and lead her through the underbelly of London on a hunt for a mad scientist and a cure for his sister. But the discovery of a burned-out laboratory provides more questions than answers, and they find themselves caught in a deadly game where they have become the prey. Surviving the ambitions of their pursuers will bring everything into sharp focus as they risk their very lives. STEP INTO THE ELEMENTAL WEB! A Reflection of Shadows is the third story in the Elemental Web Tales, although all books in the Elemental Web (Chronicles, Tales & Stories) can be read as standalones. For fans of steampunk and gaslamp fantasy romance like SL Prater, AJ Lancaster and Jacquelyn Benson, this is a STEAMY romance with a guaranteed happily ever after for women in STEM and the men who are their match.
This book examines the iconic presence of second chances in everyday life. David Newman explores its various iterations in popular culture, commercial marketplaces, religion, intimate relationships, education, criminal justice, and human bodies. He analyzes how this concept—as a cultural aspiration, driver of policy, and lived personal experience—has become part and parcel of our individual sense of self and our collective national identity. While the rhetoric of redemption is familiar and ubiquitous, Newman uncovers the costs and constraints of second chances, paying particular attention to the factors that affect judgments of deservedness. Informed by an array of data sources including personal interviews, mission statements of nonprofit recovery agencies, images in popular culture, stories from the news, plot summaries of novels, and scriptural texts, Newman frames the second chance experience as the quintessential cultural paradox: a concept that simultaneously represents the pinnacle of our shared hopes for renewal and our deepest suspicions about the intransigence of human nature.
"Where have you been all my life, Kelly Bowen? If Julia Quinn, Sarah MacLean, and Lisa Kleypas were to extract their writing DNA, mix it in a blender, and have a love child, Kelly Bowen would be it." -- HeroesandHeartbreakers.com Earl. War hero. Notorious rake. After the Battle of Waterloo, Eli Dawes was presumed dead-and would have happily stayed that way. He's no longer the reckless young man he once was, and only half as pretty. All he wants is to hide away in his country home, where no one can see his scars. But when he tries to sneak into his old bedroom in the middle of the night, he's shocked to find someone already there. Rose Hayward remembers Eli as the arrogant lord who helped her late fiance betray her. Finding him stealing into her art studio doesn't correct her impression. Her only thought is to get him to leave immediately. Yet the tension between them is electric, and she can't help but be drawn to him. He might be back from the dead, but it's Rose who is suddenly feeling very, very much alive.
He thought he’d lost her forever… Lord Augustus Carrington, the Earl of Montaigne, is rumored to be the most abandoned rake in England. But the ton would be shocked if they knew the truth. Almost twelve years ago, he fell deeply in love with Olivia Watson, a maid in his family’s house, and experienced a passion that changed him body and soul. When she disappeared, he was destroyed—and completely unable to forget her. After her devastating affair with the Earl of Montaigne, Olivia Watson promised herself she would never go back to Mayfair. But when her employer decides to return to London, Olivia has no choice but to follow. Almost immediately, she finds herself face-to-face with the man who crushed her heart. Unfortunately, she still nurses an unbearable attraction to him and, even worse, he has the audacity to demand an explanation for her flight. When Montaigne tries to win Olivia back, the truth of their history quickly begins to reveal itself. Will their different stations in life keep them apart forever? Or will he convince her that this time they can have their happily ever after?
It has been six years since Carmen de Santiago, a Spanish countess, and the Earl of Clifton fell desperately in love and married on a Spanish battlefield. But after a single, passionate night, tragedy separated them -- and now only fate can bring them back together... Originally published in 2001 RT Reviewers' Choice Award Nominee, Best Regency Daphne Du Maurier Award Finalist
Once upon a time three young ladies vowed to record their first London seasons...and to fill in the gaps of their finishing school educations. Thus began The Debutante Diaries—and London will never be the same... “Fans of Regency romance authors Eloisa James, Tessa Dare, and Mary Jo Putney will go wild.”—Booklist An heiress with a daring proposal. An earl who’s determined to resist her. And a love that just might be written in the stars, in First Earl I See Tonight by Anna Bennett. Recently jilted by his fiancée, David Gray, Earl of Ravenport is not in the market for a wife. Even if Gray didn’t have his hands full renovating his crumbling country house, it would take more than a bold marriage proposal from a headstrong young beauty to thaw his frozen heart. Gray is confident that spending a week at his ramshackle estate will change her mind about marriage, but every passionate moment he spends with her tempts him to change his... A talented artist, Miss Fiona Hartley desperately needs her dowry money to pay off a blackmailer set on ruining her sister. The handsome earl seems a sensible choice for a husband...if only she can convince him that romance will play no part. But marrying in name only may prove difficult for Fiona. Gray can’t help but be dazzled by her genuine warmth. Yet as their feelings deepen, Fiona’s deadline looms. Will her secrets destroy them, or is true love their final destiny?
Peregrine Ashby, Earl of Rutland A gentleman. A reluctant aristocrat. Desperate to avoid marriage. Peregrine Ashby, the newly and unexpectedly titled Earl of Rutland, is muddling through the affairs of becoming a suddenly wealthy and titled man of means. The last thing he wants to worry about is finding a wife. After the disaster of his parents’ loveless marriage, he’s sworn off wife-hunting. But when he stumbles quite literally into a mysterious beauty wearing a mask at a ball who begs for his help he can’t deny her. Her request? Make love to her beneath the stars and save her from a terrible marriage herself. After the magic of the night is over and the mysterious beauty has vanished, he remains haunted by her and what might have been... Sabrina Talleyrand flees her home when she learns her brother has sold her in marriage to a foul man. Knowing the one thing that will stop the marriage is no longer being a virgin, she seduces the first man at a masked ball that attracts her attention. But making love to the handsome dark-haired stranger with amber-colored eyes has left her changed in more ways than one...
