Showing results by narrator "Mary Jane Wells" in All Categories

Beloved authors Julia Quinn, Elizabeth Boyle, Laura Lee Guhrke, and Stefanie Sloane deliver the stories of four friends from Madame Rochambeaux's Gentle School for Girls who find an old sixpence in their bedchamber and decide that it will be the lucky coin for each of their weddings…

Desperate after her Season comes to a spectacularly disastrous end, the Honourable Miss Clara Vetry jumps into a carriage hired to take a housekeeper to Scotland. The laird of Castle CaerLaven has no interest in a wife, especially a love match - but when Caelan sees his new housekeeper, he changes his mind. Marriage to a delectable bookworm strikes him as a perfect arrangement. To his surprise, Clara refuses his proposal once . . . and again . . . yet again.

When Royal Academy painting student Lucy Coover trips over a naked man passed out in an East End alley, she does the decent thing. She covers him up and fetches help. Trouble is, she can't banish his muscular form from her dreams as easily. Compelled to capture every detail, she creates a stunning portrait but is forced to sell it when the rent comes due. What could be worse than surrendering the very picture of your desire? Meeting the man himself.

Suddenly guardian to twins, Viscount Dominic Kelbourne is luckily betrothed to a suitable lady - until she elopes. With no time to woo, Dominic decides to marry his fiancée's unconventional sister. Torie isn't perfect, but their kisses are so passionate that society thinks he's actually chosen her. She doubts Dominic is capable of love, let alone respect, but as their heated debates turn into something more, Torie begins to imagine a life as a wife, not a nanny.

Annabel was about to take the veil to become a nun, when her mother suddenly arrived at the abbey to take her home... so that she can marry the Scottish laird who is betrothed to her runaway sister! She knows nothing about being a wife, and definitely nothing about the marriage bed. But from the moment Ross MacKay sets eyes on Annabel, he is taken with his shy, sweet bride... and the fact that she's blessed with lush curves only makes him utter his own prayers of thanks. But when an enemy endangers her life, he'll move the Highlands themselves to save her.

The Duke of Ashbourn has a secret: he is the Berserker, the undefeated king of London’s brutal underground boxing ring. The nightly bareknuckle fights are his only release from the darkness that drives him…until he collides with the one woman he’s vowed not to touch.

On the eve of her wedding to the heir of Saiturn Manor, the stunningly beautiful Gytha is shocked to learn that her betrothed, a man she barely knew, is dead. Now she must marry the new heir, Thayer Saiturn, a battle-hardened knight known as the Red Devil.... With a face scarred in battle and a heart broken in love, Thayer has no interest in marriage. But not even the Red Devil can break the promise his foster-father made years ago and soon finds himself married to a woman whose exquisite beauty and sweet innocence intrigue him.

Grand Duchess Olga Romanov comes of age amid a shifting tide for the great dynasties of Europe. But even as unrest simmers in the capital, Olga is content to live within the confines of the sheltered life her parents have built for her and her three sisters: hiding from the world on account of their mother’s ill health, their brother Alexei’s secret affliction, and rising controversy over Father Grigori Rasputin, the priest on whom the tsarina has come to rely.

Twice he has been close to the altar and still no duchess. Will the third time be the charm? A duke can't marry just anyone. His wife must be of good family, be fertile, and be young. Struggling playwright Sarah Pettijohn is absolutely the last woman Gavin Whitridge, Duke of Baynton, would ever fall in love with. However, there is something about her that stirs his blood, which makes her perfect for a bargain he has in mind: In exchange for backing her play, he wants Sarah to teach him about love.

Lady Merritt Sterling, a strong-willed young widow who's running her late husband's shipping company, knows London society is dying to catch her in a scandal. So far, she's been too smart to provide them with one. But then she meets Keir MacRae, a rough-and-rugged Scottish whisky distiller, and all her sensible plans vanish like smoke. They couldn't be more different, but their attraction is powerful, raw and irresistible.

Lady Evangeline Raine prefers animals to people and has no interest in marriage—much to the dismay of her flirty younger sister, Viola. Because their father has one rule: Viola may be courted, only if Effie has a suitor as well. Saddled with debt, Gage Croft, Duke of Vale, is determined to rebuild his estates. When the owner of his vowels offers him a fortune to charm the impervious Lady Evangeline for the season so Lady Viola can be courted, the game is on, even if it means pretending to seduce an unconventional wallflower.

The Duke and Duchess, with their infant son, are living in a pretty villa on the outskirts of the royal township of Versailles, preparing for Antonia's court presentation. With them is Lord Vallentine—kicked out of his home by his pregnant wife—and Martin Ellicott, who receives news from the Duke that changes his life forever.

Britain, 1961. A beautiful blonde baby is born to Viscount Althorp, heir to the Spencer earldom. But Diana grows up amid the fallout of her parents’ messy divorce. She struggles at school. Her refuge throughout is romantic novels. She dreams of falling in love and being rescued by a handsome prince. In royal circles, there is concern about the Prince of Wales. Charles is nearing 30, and the right girl needs to be found fast. She must be young, aristocratic and completely free of past liaisons. Pure and innocent.

Lady Gemma Lively’s life as the darling of London’s fast set was carefree and fun, filled with exciting friends, daring fashions, and scandalous parties. But when the death of her father leaves her family with nothing but a dilapidated coaching inn at the end of the Earth, it’s up to Gemma to change their fate. She needs a rich husband immediately—but the only bachelor in sight is a devilishly distracting barkeep who doesn’t know the peerage from a pint glass.

Ruth’s childhood was a happy one, and her family—on her mother’s side—large and loving. But her father’s French origins have always remained a mystery. Now, with aged relatives beginning to die, Ruth decides to research her father’s family before it’s too late. When she discovers a series of long-lost cassettes, everything she thought she knew about them shatters. The tapes expose an unimaginable truth–an epic wartime story of hidden love and sacrifice, stretching back to occupied France.

The accidental governess...After her livelihood slips through her fingers, Alexandra Mountbatten takes on an impossible post: transforming a pair of wild orphans into proper young ladies. However, the girls don’t need discipline. They need a loving home. Try telling that to their guardian, Chase Reynaud. The ladies of London have tried - and failed - to make him settle down. Somehow, Alexandra must reach his heart...without risking her own.

Wealthy and ruthless, Gabriel Duke clawed his way from the lowliest slums to the pinnacle of high society - and now he wants to get even. Loyal and passionate, Lady Penelope Campion never met a lost or wounded creature she wouldn’t take into her home and her heart. When her imposing - and attractive - new neighbour demands she clear out the rescued animals, Penny sets him a challenge. She will part with her precious charges, if he can find them loving homes.

Now in her late 40s, Harriet is so staggeringly rich and powerful that she fears no one. Along with her sister, she settles down to enjoy her freedom and to live the eccentric life she has always desired, estranged from her disapproving family. An unexpected visit from a family member brings the neglected, timid Philippa into her life, and Harriet makes an impulsive decision which turns both her world and Philippa’s upside down.

More malefaction, malevolence, and misdeeds rise to the surface as Holmes investigates. A complicated string of clues leads him to a ring of corrupt cops with a deadly agenda.

Lord Lysander Blackstone, the stern Duke of Montcroix, has only one interest: increasing his considerable fortune. After a series of betrayals, he keeps his emotions buried deep. Money, after all, can't break a man's heart—or make promises it can’t keep. But when his reputation for being heartless jeopardizes a new business deal, he finds himself seeking a most unusual—and alluring—solution.