She was lost and alone in the world. He was her white knight in tarnished armor. Together, they'll create a powerful alliance. Araceli Doe, a stripper in Las Vegas, has no memories of her past life. She's fine with the day-to-day monotony, until Luciano Picone walks into her club and her entire life is thrown into a tailspin. As their passion grows, Araceli's memories start to come back, and what she sees isn't pretty. Luciano isn't the only monster she's fighting. Can she face her demons, or will she succumb? Publisher's Note: This is a dark mafia romance containing graphic scenes that could be triggers and power exchange.
In this second novel in the Gloucester Trilogy, John Palermo battles his way through emotional and professional conflicts in this gripping tale by acclaimed author Joseph M. Orlando. Having lost his beloved wife, Connie, John struggles with life as a single father. His emotions are palpable as he wrestles with his devotion to his lost wife, duty to his children, and his burgeoning feelings for a new woman. Professionally, John takes on the case of his nemesis, Captain Joe Amalfi, who is found floating in a life raft alone in the icy Atlantic when his fishing boat sinks with his crew still aboard. Amalfi's emotional turmoil after this event is one challenge, among many, to John's struggle to help the widows and children of the men on Amalfi's boat, many of whom were John's boyhood friends. As Amalfi's condition worsens, John seeks to unravel the mystery of what happened on the boat that terrible day, sparking a gripping courtroom battle filled with surprise twists and turns and an ending that John could never have predicted. The Bastard's Weapon takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster from beginning to end, all set among the beautiful fishing community of Gloucester, Massachusetts. It is a novel for any reader who is intrigued by the power of love, the fight of the righteous, and the true human drama played out each day in the courtrooms of America.
The stigmatization as 'bastards' of children born outside of wedlock is commonly thought to have emerged early in Medieval European history. Christian ideas about legitimate marriage, it is assumed, set the standard for legitimate birth. Children born to anything other than marriage had fewer rights or opportunities. They certainly could not become king or queen. As this volume demonstrates, however, well into the late twelfth century, ideas of what made a child a legitimate heir had little to do with the validity of his or her parents' union according to the dictates of Christian marriage law. Instead a child's prospects depended upon the social status, and above all the lineage, of both parents. To inherit a royal or noble title, being born to the right father mattered immensely, but also being born to the right kind of mother. Such parents could provide the most promising futures for their children, even if doubt was cast on the validity of the parents' marriage. Only in the late twelfth century did children born to illegal marriages begin to suffer the same disadvantages as the children born to parents of mixed social status. Even once this change took place we cannot point to 'the Church' as instigator. Instead, exclusion of illegitimate children from inheritance and succession was the work of individual litigants who made strategic use of Christian marriage law. This new history of illegitimacy rethinks many long-held notions of medieval social, political, and legal history.
The Suave Sicilian: Married for Revenge Stefan Bianco is a man with one thing on his mind. Revenge. And the last person he expects to see hanging on the arm of his nemesis? The stunning Clio Norwood--the only woman to ever resist his near-lethal brand of seduction. Clio's life has become a mere shadow of what it once was. But Stefan's searing gaze returns her to the fiery, passionate woman he once knew. Clio has the key to his revenge, and Stefan has the key to her freedom...but only if he agrees to her shocking proposal The world's sexiest billionaires finally say "I do"
Re-read this classic romance BOUGHT WITH HIS NAME by New York Timesbestselling author Penny Jordan Genista deliberately let the arrogantly handsome Luke Ferguson believe that she was apromiscuous adventuress to protect her innocent heart from his powerful brand ofmagnetism. But Luke's shocking proposal of marriage sounds very much like blackmail, andshe is faced with no alternative but to accept! Originally published in 1982 And re-discover THE SICILIAN'S BOUGHT BRIDE by USA Today bestselling author CarolMarinelli One night of tragedy brings Rico Mancini back into Catherine Masters's life. Now he'sdemanding that she be his bride…. If Catherine says no, she gives up custody of herorphaned niece. But if she says yes, will she be losing her heart to a man who wants heronly in his bed? Originally published in 2004
Abolishment of an old mafia tradition, a person must be born 100% Sicilian or Italian to be a member of the mafia. The book is about two nearly identical bi-racial brothers, their father is a black American. One brother is an black-Sicilian, born and raised in Sicily by his Sicilian mother and a Mafiosi member. The other brother, Senator Joseph Cicero, is a black Italian-American, a son of an Italian-American woman. U.S. Senator Cicero became president on November 4, 2008 and was inaugurated on the 20th day of January, 2009. He was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America, becoming the first black Italian-American to assume the position in the White House. The New York agents and my Italian co-workers said that I wouldn’t live to see an black American elected to become a president in the United States and I, Mr. G., truly believed them. They rejected my book in the spring of 2005 because of having unusual characters, one, an black American president and two, a mafia member. I was told that the American people wouldn’t believe that my fictional story was true because there never was and there will never be a U.S. black American president. Italian members of the Italian and Sicilian Cosa Nostras Mafiosi, from the Bronx to Kenosha-Wisconsin said to me that my character, the Sicilian could not have been a member of the mafia because he has black blood following through his veins, he wasn’t born whole. My readers tell me that Joseph Cicero, my fictional black American-Italian character resembles President Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States of America. I started writing this book, “Born Whole” in 1998 it was finished on January 2004. I am now 72 years old.
One night of tragedy brings Rico Mancini back into Catherine Masters's life. Now he's demanding that she be his bride…. And the bride price…? If Catherine says no, she gives up custody of her orphaned niece. But if she says yes, will she be losing her heart to a man who wants her only in his bed?
From bestselling author and award-winning journalist Jo Piazza, comes a transporting novel rooted in the author’s own family history about a long-awaited trip to Sicily, a disputed inheritance, and a family secret that some will kill to protect . . . Sara Marsala barely knows who she is anymore after the failure of her business and marriage. On top of that, her beloved great-aunt Rosie passes away, leaving Sara bereft with grief. But Aunt Rosie’s death also opens an escape from her life and a window into the past by way of a plane ticket to Sicily, a deed to a possibly valuable plot of land, and a bombshell family secret. Rosie believes Sara’s great-grandmother Serafina, the family matriarch who was left behind while her husband worked in America, didn’t die of illness as family lore has it . . . she was murdered. Thus begins a twist-filled adventure that takes Sara all over the picturesque Italian countryside as she races to solve a mystery and learn the story of Serafina—a feisty and headstrong young woman in the early 1900s thrust into motherhood in her teens, who fought for a better life not just for herself but for all the women of her small village. Unsurprisingly the more she challenges the status quo, the more she finds herself in danger. As Sara discovers more about Serafina, she also realizes she is coming head-to-head with the same menacing forces that took down her great-grandmother. At once an immersive multigenerational mystery and an ode to the undaunted heroism of everyday women, The Sicilian Inheritance is an atmospheric, page-turning delight.
Robin lost her older brother Simon in a car accident, and a woman driving in the opposite lane was also killed. That woman’s brother, Cesare, assumes that Simon was completely at fault for the accident and plans a clever, ruthless revenge: he uses his overwhelming economic power to force Robin into marrying him! Robin tries to fight the forced matrimony, but when that epitome of manliness Cesare pulls her into a rough kiss, all her strength leaves her body…
