Surviving the wilds of Cornwall is more life changing than they thought. Miss Caroline Sloane is on her way to Poughill, Cornwall. In highhanded fashion, her estranged grandfather has arranged a marriage for her to a sea captain she's met but once, and she wishes to convince him otherwise. She'll marry for love or not at all, but an accident with the crowded mail coach on which she's traveling throws her existence into chaos. Alan Blackmore, the Earl of St. Clair, has been summoned to his Devon estate by his ducal father. His engagement, designed by the duke years ago, has now come due, and he must wed to merge holdings. The last thing he wants is a leg-shackling, for he enjoys his life of a rake too much, and he means to tell his father off, but one dark, rainy night on mud-slick roads changes his course forever. Lost and injured in windswept and rugged Cornwall, the first order of business is survival. As their injuries heal, Caroline and Alan come to know each other while living a simple, uncomplicated life. A friendship of necessity slowly grows into something passionate and scandalous, but when reality returns to rescue them, they both must decide what is more important: duty, tradition, or an unexpected love.

Revenge is never as sweet as the ability to find peace. The Honorable Olivia Beaumont, eldest daughter of Viscount Hereford, wants revenge. Following an ill-advised game of faro with a powerful duke, her father lost everything and then suffered a fatal heart attack. Now she wants that duke to pay and suffer as much as her father did. But the only way she can do that is to enlist the help of the most shunned man in the ton—the disgraced Duke of Skeffington. It matters not that he's sinfully handsome, for she has a job to do. Lewis Arthur Sexton is a man beaten down. Stripped of everything following a manufactured scandal against the Regent, he now wishes to drown himself at the bottom of a bottle. But when Miss Beaumont pays him a visit with the insane idea of humiliating the man responsible for her pain and his, he might just return to society to honor the request. If he ignores her bewitching attitude and alluring looks, he'll be fine. As the scheme is put into play, friendship grows between them. Their fight for revenge is also one for regaining honor in the glittering world of the ton. Yet the moment their relationship transitions into romance, their best-laid plans begin to unravel. When lives are put into jeopardy, they'll have to decide what they truly want, and if fortune is kind, it might prove to be a happily ever after.

Sometimes long-held secrets are the very things that will eventually lead to freedom. Lady Amelia Jane Coventry-Smythe wants nothing more than to shut herself away to mourn in private all the people she lost from her life over the years. Unfortunately, peace is not hers, for the one man she never hoped to see again has just landed in her parlor by mysterious circumstances, with an invitation to her Christmastide house party in hand... and her addiction to him flares anew. Cornelius Matthew Edgerton, Marquess of Winchester, is perplexed thanks to the arrival of holiday invitation. He hasn't heard from Lady Amelia in thirteen years... not since he abruptly left her bed during an affair that he never forgot. Encouraged to attend by her cousin—his best friend—when he arrives at the manor house, his reception is decidedly cool, even though the heat between him and the lady still lingers. Underlying polite public interactions, desire builds and explodes into frantic need, but while the two of them draw closer in new understanding and friendship, danger threatens both of their lives. As Christmas morning arrives, emotions boil over to sour the blooming romance. Only a miracle—and perhaps forgiveness—can help them find the happily ever after they never had the first time around.

If you're lucky, the mysterious something missing from life is found right in front of you despite the risk. Widowed Lillian Fernsby has been buffeted by life's ills, and the grief is sometimes unrelenting. Keeping sadness at bay by making merry or being an outrageous flirt is all well and good, but what she really wants is to marry again. So, when her brother's best friend comes back into her life to protect her from a unidentified stalker, she's intrigued by the mystery and challenge he represents. The Honorable Thaddeus Carrington is the third son of a viscount, but he refuses to hang upon his father's coattails or put much stock in family pressure to marry. As a Bow Street Runner, he's found the thrill of solving cases, but when he's tapped to guard the sister of his best friend from a disturbing threat, he struggles between remembering her as the tag-a-long girl, as well as his confusing new awareness for her. While a flirtatious game of cat and mouse begins between them and desire builds, Lillian's pursuer grows bolder, and Thaddeus pledges greater vigilance in keeping her safe. Peril reaches a breaking point one spring evening, throwing the important things of life into sharp relief. Only they can decide if they want to fight for them before disaster—and death—strikes.

Never trust a man in a kilt with mischief in his eyes. Lady Cecilia Holmes is in Scotland with her family to attend a wedding, but she’d rather be in London nursing the forgotten segments of society. While her father and brothers are chasing red stag, she sets off on a hike and is immediately lost in the Highlands. That’s fine with her, for she’d become rather adept at being alone, but when a handsome man and his dog interrupts her solitude, her interest in him is caught. Perhaps being consigned to a drafty old castle for six weeks won’t be so bad. Mathias Stahley, the Earl of Huxington wishes to be in London arguing cases as a barrister and forget about the judgmental, shallow ton, for he’s more effective helping the less fortunate in that role than working for his title. The last thing he wants to do is attend his cousin’s wedding, in the wilds of Scotland, no less. While taking a walk through the rugged countryside, he stumbles upon a woman with windblown curls who immediately makes him wonder if his vow to never marry is wrong. The days are filled with social events, but Cecilia and Mathias make time to slip away and explore the beautiful countryside and perhaps indulge in a bit of scandal. As romance and desire blooms, circumstances beyond their control lead to a forced betrothal, creating an emotional rift between them. Obstacles and familial opposition will either tear them apart, or they’ll find something infinitely more satisfying and enduring amidst the magic of the Highlands.

Shadows of the past can either haunt or heal. Ambrose Colin Heathermore, the fourteenth Marquess of Northampton wants to be left alone. Now that he’s back in London and has put life as a celebrated spy behind him, he must take up the reins of his real life and attend to his title. Which he will after a quick tryst with an experienced lightskirt at a ball. If it will help him forget the woman he first loved in France, all the better. Lady Mary Clarke, a daughter of the Duke of Tarkington, is tired of proper ton life. She’s spent more time as a widow than she has as a wife, so she’s ready for excitement and adventure. When she’s mistaken for a courtesan by the Marquess of Midnight, she plays along for the hope of causing a scandal. She won’t let the farce go too far, but she does intend to enjoy herself. After one passionate night together, Mary is properly ruined and the marquess is in the drink, yet the past won’t remain there. Danger stalks his London townhouse, prompting him to flee with Mary to Surrey for safety. They spin multiple threads of fiction to stay one step ahead of a French madman bent on revenge, who will do whatever is necessary to meet that goal. Only quick thinking and a little luck will keep both Colin and Mary alive long enough to grasp the happy ending they both desperately want but are trying hard to deny.

When a second chance at love comes with a new perspective, chase it with eyes—and a heart—wide open. Julianna Leah Winslow, Lady Ellesmere, is three years a widow. While packing items to clear clutter, she finds an antique jade elephant among her husband’s possessions. When a secret panel pops open revealing a cryptic note with the name of his best friend—the man she’d wanted to marry as a young girl—she summons James, no matter that seeing him again will open old wounds not fully healed. James Percival Holles, Earl of Braxton, has just turned forty-two. It’s time to marry and set up his nursery, but every relationship he’s had has ended in disaster. When an urgent summons comes from Julianna, he’s immediately wary but intrigued, and agrees to travel to the Berkshire estate to, perhaps, vent his spleen and air old grievances. He would not let the fact that he still had a tendre for her sway his attitude. Emotions explode each time they’re together, to say nothing of her twenty-year-old son’s animosity toward James, yet when long-held secrets are brought into the light, both he and Julianna find a shaky peace and a new direction. As the August days pass, they give into the desire brewing between them, and trust is put to the forefront. If they can stop hiding their true selves and surrender to the strength and security found as a couple, they’ll have a chance to grasp a second chance at love.

Running into the arms of a handsome, powerful laird will either be her greatest folly or a profitable gamble. Donovan Ewan Campbell-Ainsley, Earl of Hollandbane, and the current sitting Laird of Lyon Castle is not best pleased when scandal lands on his doorstep in the form of a pretty young woman with nothing but gossip attached to her name. Though he’s half-Scottish and lives in London, he spends the summers and autumns at his castle in the Highlands for reasons he wishes to keep to himself. Yet she’s in immediate danger, and he’s nothing if not a gentleman. The Honorable Emma Radcliffe is no stranger to scandal, but when an arrangement her father made in her infancy comes due, she’s forced to flee from a life she never wanted. Resourceful and smart, she implores a friend to go with her over the Scottish border, and that’s when the trouble really begins. The moment she lays eyes on the laird, she knows he’ll be the perfect man to discourage her would-be suitor. It takes next to no time to hatch a haphazard plan: they’ll pretend an engagement. It will silence his family’s blather for him to find a bride as well as remove her from the snatches of a bounder. There’s one problem: neither of them expected to actually like the other. As the days go on, the fiction grows bigger until desire can no longer be denied, but unless she’s released from her prior betrothal, a happily ever after between them will be forever out of reach.

There’s no such thing as perfection but being stuck in the Scottish Highlands with a shot at a dream comes close. Caelan Stewart—Lord Everly—only son to Laird Breckenridge, is in Scotland on a hunting holiday, but when an accidental tumble on a hike gives him a badly sprained ankle and injures his wrist, the remainder of his holiday looks dull… until two red-haired scamps play tricks on him while he’s distracted by their attractive mother. Widowed two years and having recently lost her parents, American Clara Snyder needs a distraction. Consenting to spend several weeks on an estate in the Highlands, she barely settles into life there with her two small children when an intriguing Scotsman literally falls at her feet… and the feelings she thought long dead come alive again. With nothing to do except bedevil the intriguing widow, Caelan sets out to do just that. Though his antics amuse Clara, she falls under his spell. Desire grows, as does the bond between him and her children. But he’s not keen on offering up his heart again after the violent death of his first wife and she’s leery of loving someone else for fear they’ll die. The only way to a happily ever after is to jump in with eyes wide open… and a bit of innocent manipulation won’t hurt either.

As long as a lady has hope in her heart, it doesn't matter the obstacles she faces on the path to love. Miss Evelina Aston is the youngest child of a viscount. Through no fault of her own, she’s fallen headfirst into the scandal of the Season. With her father on the brink of bankruptcy, when she’s caught alone and in a compromising position with an earl, he calls for an immediate proposal. It doesn’t matter that the man she’s being forced to wed is a rake high on the instep, she has no say in the proceedings. Charles Bowling, Earl of Ethersham—and heir to the Duke of Tarkington—is in rather a spot of bother. Caught literally with his pants down in a lady’s retiring room at a ball, he’s mired in further disgrace when a woman—not the one he was waiting for—comes flying into the room, trips, and lands at his feet. Parental outrage ensues, and before he can protest, he’s wedded to the shy lady, and they’re bound for his father’s country estate in the Lake District to begin their life of married inconvenience. With tarnished reputations and gossip trailing in their wake, both Evelina and Charles are forced to endure each other’s company. As the July days go by, desire flares as hot as the summer sun while they explore the woodlands and fells, but differences and misunderstandings keep widening the gulf in their relationship. Unless they find trust and compromise, they’ll never be able to build something worthy of the future and perhaps love.