The wedding of the season! Events manager Sylvie Smith is organizing a glittering fund-raising event: a wedding show in a stately home. She has even been roped into pretending to be a bride… a bride who's five months pregnant! The bride everyone is talking about! It should be every girl's dream to design a wedding with no expense spared, but it's not Sylvie's. Longbourne Court was her ancestral home, and she's just discovered that the new owner is Tom McFarlane—her baby's secret father. Now Tom's standing in front of her, looking at her bump.…
He knows the bride's secret...she's carrying his baby! Dutiful heiress Sophie has never challenged her gilded existence, even agreeing to a convenient marriage at her father's command. Then she meets ruthless Sicilian Renzo and one carnal night awakens unimaginable desires...and leaves her pregnant! When Renzo uncovers her secret, he'll stop at nothing to legitimise his child – including storming Sophie's wedding and stealing her as his own bride!
"Marry Me, Taylor." Those aren't the three little words Taylor Waters longs to hear from her crush, Falcon Chacon Callahan. The whole town knows the soldier–turned–rancher just needs a bride in order to inherit the coveted spread north of Rancho Diablo. Taylor wants more–even if Falcon is the hottest cowboy this side of the New Mexico border, which he proves one crazy, passionate night! Family has always come first for Falcon, so when he finds out Taylor is pregnant with his baby, he declares a brand–new mission: to stand and fight for what's his. It will take maneuvering through some dangerous situations–and that legendary Callahan charm–to make Diablo's best girl fall in love with him. But to have his ranch at stake is one thing…what about his heart?
It's been six months since Gabby Craig's boyfriend left her high and dry…and pregnant. But she can't get away from his eccentric though well-meaning family! And now Dane Bocelli—handsome, responsible Judge Dane Bocelli—has offered to be her Lamaze partner. Dane knows it's taboo to fall in love with his kid brother's girlfriend. And he does his best to keep her at arm's length, even though that's a bit difficult as her birth coach. But when Gabby is put on bed rest, he does the only honorable thing. He moves in. Are Gabby's hormones in overdrive…or is she losing her heart to the brother of her baby's daddy? The more she gets to know this upright, irresistible man, the more she's certain that Dane is exactly the father her baby needs.
From the USA Today–bestselling author, one night leads to shocking consequences in this thrillingly intense second romance in the Stolen Brides series. Dutiful heiress Sophie has never challenged her gilded existence, even agreeing to a loveless arranged marriage at her father’s command. Until she meets ruthless, gorgeous, Sicilian billionaire Renzo. Their one passionate night awakens unimaginable desires in Sophie, but also leaves her pregnant and trapped in an engagement to the wrong man . . . When Renzo uncovers her scandalous secret, he’ll stop at nothing to legitimize his child—including storming Sophie’s wedding and stealing her away to his castle in Sicily as his own bride. She may be exchanging one marriage of convenience for another, but could Renzo be the one who will finally set her free? “Passionate, sexy, sometimes over the top—classic Harlequin Presents drama unfolds here . . . an enjoyable and entertaining romance.” —Harlequin Junkie Don’t miss the first Stolen Brides book, Kidnapped for His Royal Duty, by New York Times–bestselling author Jane Porter.
With this ring… Beautiful doctor Ellie Dixon once rejected Rio Benedetti's passionate advances—and the fiery Italian hasn't forgotten the insult! Ellie arrives in Italy bearing an antique sapphire ring and claiming to be the daughter of Rio's godfather, which reawakens his rage…and a devastating longing! I thee claim! Rio won't stop until he uncovers Ellie's captivating curves—her heated surrender can't come quickly enough! Facing the consequences of their abandon, Rio realizes Ellie's pregnancy will break his godfather's heart. There's one solution: Rio will have to seduce her all the way to the altar…
Family has always come first for Falcon Callahan, so when he finds out his girl, Taylor, is pregnant with his baby, he declares a brand-new mission: to stand and fight for what is his. It will take maneuvering through some dangerous situations to make Diablo's best girl fall in love with him.
A Baby On Her Doorstep The towheaded toddler in the pretty pink stroller came with a blankie, a teddy and a note. Unfortunately, she didn't come with instructions. Like who she was or who her parents were. As concierge of Bride's Bay, Joanie Griffin assumed little Emily was a guest's child who needed baby–sitting. But the baby arrived at the worst time just when her former flame showed up, two years and three months after their break–up. Now she'd never get rid of Steve Lantz. Because when Joanie picked up the blue–eyed baby, she called her "mummy" and Steve assumed he was "Daddy"!
I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR LOVE. I NEED A BABY NOW... PENNY My biological clock just exploded. Eighteen months. That's how long I have to make a baby happen before it becomes one more broken dream. Fate has a sick sense of humor, though. Its name is Hayden Shaw. Yes, the Hayden Shaw. Billionaire developer, scandalously gorgeous, his hard-headed ego only eclipsed by his enormous...reputation. The man who has everything except one missing piece. He needs a bride to fool the world. I need a baby. Hello, first class donor material. It's simple business. Strictly professional. A no nonsense, pretend-my-panties-aren't-melting trade. Love isn't in the fine print. No, I don't care how many times I have to stop swooning when I'm in his arms, locked in his kiss, smiling like we're meant to be for the cameras. Simple, I said, remember? Yeah. Who the hell am I kidding? HAYDEN My new wife is completely insane. The spitfire who just agreed to play pretend thinks we're doing this baby thing in a lab, without ending up between the sheets. Too bad I see right through it whenever she says her favorite line. Strictly professional? Please. Too bad I taste how bad she wants it when we're giving the press something to talk about, lips tangled together like there's no tomorrow. Too damned bad she's perfection itself, and 'professional' went out the window the second she stormed into my life. She's also my last chance at stopping a scheme to steal the family fortune, turning my riches to rags. But I'm Hayden Shaw. I'm in control. I don't back down. Ms. Naughty and Nice will never, ever know how bad I'm twisted up in our chase. This isn't Cinderella, and I'm no Prince. Soon, I'll show Penny this isn't all make believe. Consummating this marriage is about to get very real...
Most in the United States likely associate the concept of the child bride with the mores and practices of the distant past. But Nicholas L. Syrett challenges this assumption in his sweeping and sometimes shocking history of youthful marriage in America. Focusing on young women and girls--the most common underage spouses--Syrett tracks the marital history of American minors from the colonial period to the present, chronicling the debates and moral panics related to these unions. Although the frequency of child marriages has declined since the early twentieth century, Syrett reveals that the practice was historically far more widespread in the United States than is commonly thought. It also continues to this day: current estimates indicate that 9 percent of living American women were married before turning eighteen. By examining the legal and social forces that have worked to curtail early marriage in America--including the efforts of women's rights activists, advocates for children's rights, and social workers--Syrett sheds new light on the American public's perceptions of young people marrying and the ways that individuals and communities challenged the complex legalities and cultural norms brought to the fore when underage citizens, by choice or coercion, became husband and wife.
