Showing results by author "Lauren Smith" in All Categories

When the infamously cold-hearted Duke of Helston decides to catch a gang of jewel thieves stealing from London's elite circles, he never expects the thief to be a woman. She's not just any woman either she happens to be the bewitching creature he met in the darkened corridor during a musicale who changed his life forever.

Always prim and proper, lady's maid Gillian Beaumont has never acted with wild abandon the way her young, headstrong mistress does. But deep down she dreams of a life filled with love and a husband who will give her his whole heart even though she knows it's impossible. With a list of chores from her mistress, Gillian is given the chance to live the life of a gentle lady, and she clings to it, knowing that soon it will be over.

Targeted by the enemies of a friend, roguish Phillip Wilkes, the Earl of Kent, is nearly killed in a violent attack. Beaten and left for dead, he is rescued and nursed back to health by a beautiful angel that he's convinced exists only in his dreams. When he recovers and learns his heart was burning for none other than the sister of his closest friend, he knows she is forbidden to him. He runs away from the only woman who has ever shown him true kindness because who could ever learn to love a broken man?

Eleven years ago during Christmas, Martin Banks' family was thrown into the streets by wealthy landlord Edwin Hartwell. Now, this holiday season, fate has handed Martin an unexpected gift: vengeance. Defeating Hartwell at cards gives Martin the chance to financially ruin the man - but damn, instead of money, Hartwell offers his daughter as payment. And double damn, Martin stupidly accepts. How did retribution turn into seduction? Martin refuses to let himself fall in love, so there must be rules to this game. And perhaps a bit of romance.

Fleeing a cruel stepfather, Harriet Russell escapes into a stormy night, relying only on the mercy of servants to help her. Her coach overturns, leaving her and her driver injured. Seeking help from whoever lives nearby, she stumbles between a set of gates guarded by fierce demonic gargoyle statues. As she enters the shadowy, haunted lands belonging to the duke of Frostmore, she’s afraid of meeting with him, but she must in order to help her driver.

Tall, dark, and…Russian. Three things that Elena swore she’d never fall for again, but that’s exactly what happens when she meets Dimitri Razin on an international flight leaving Moscow. His penetrating blue eyes peer straight into the core of her soul, leaving her vulnerable and all too aware that he’s the kind of man she had fantasies about before her world fell apart.

The last thing Roberta Harcourt needs is to be trapped on a ship with pirates. After she is separated from her father, Roberta finds herself the unwilling guest of sinfully handsome Captain Dominic Grey. He gives her two choices: to share his bed and maintain her life as a lady, or she can sleep on the floor of his cabin and live the life of a cabin boy. Refusing to be seduced by a pirate, she dresses in breeches and assumes duties on board his ship among the men, but each night, she begins to wonder if letting him kiss her again might be a rule worth breaking...

Ambrose Worthing is no gentleman. He's a proud, coldhearted rake who's determined to stay a bachelor forever. He enjoys bedding a different woman every night without the risk of falling in love. When he hears about a wager over the seduction and ruination of the daughter of his father's best friend, he knows he must intervene. Committing himself to the bet, he agrees to seduce Lady Alexandra Rockford - for her own good.

Lord Vaughn, Viscount Darlington, has a dark reputation for sinful pleasures, putting off even the most ardent mamas who crave his title for their unmarried daughters. They say he's dangerous enough to ruin a woman with just one look...but he can't resist the pleas of a woman who needs his help. This rogue might yet be redeemed. All of London adores Perdita Darby. She receives invites to every party and has eligible gentlemen willing to wait for her, but she has no desire to marry.

Scottish rogue Brodie Kincade has never met a woman he didn't like...or didn't want to seduce. And he's about to meet his match in sweet-tempered, often overlooked Lydia Hunt, an English lady he mistakes for her scheming sister who hopes to snatch him up for a husband.

Miss Philippa Wilson's lot in life isn't what she'd choose, but being an upstairs maid for a wealthy baron is better than living on the streets. Little does she know, her lackluster days are about to become decidedly more interesting...and dangerous. When a madman wants Philippa dead, it's going to take more than the plan of her good-hearted employer to save her and find out why she's being targeted. It's going to take a hero...or maybe a rogue.

Joanna Lennox is a fine bred English lady. She's pretty, intelligent, witty, and . . . on the shelf. With an influential baron as her brother and a hefty dowry, she should have gentlemen lining up at her door but instead she seems doomed to become a spinster. Then one night a handsome highland lord steals a kiss from her in a library which stirs her deepest desires. Desperate for a life and a love of her own, she turns to the darkly handsome, brooding Scottish lord who lights a fire within her with his touch. But will his secrets and enemies tear them apart?

The world is on the brink of war when Elizabeth Mowbray breaks her engagement with a tea planter in India and returns home to the English countryside. Desperate to escape a stifling life under her parents’ roof, she moves to London seeking adventure and excitement.

Royce Devereaux isn't your average sexy professor. He has a lot of rules in his professional and personal life. He keeps both worlds separated. He has to. He’s somewhat of a public figure - and he’s made enemies climbing to the top. He likes his sex rough, and a whole lot of naughty. Which means his students are 100% off limits. One problem. His new graduate student assistant, Kenzie. She looks at him like a kid looks at birthday cake, and he doesn’t like it. Except, he does. He likes it too much. But then an enemy decides to use Kenzie to force his hand....

Rebecca Livingston has a problem: Her mother is desperate to marry her prettier, more talented, younger sister Lydia off to the handsome Duke of Wiltshire but when Rebecca and her family arrive at the grand ducal estate, it’s Rebecca who falls right into the handsome arms of the duke himself. Rebecca tries to avoid the seductive duke but neither she nor he can keep their hands off each other. Her mother is furious, her sister is thrilled for her – but can it be possible that the duke wants Rebecca as much as she discovers she wants him?

This prince charming has the world at his fingertips. Anything real estate mogul Thad Worthington wants, he gets—except true love. Until one cold night when he meets a woman with a warm heart. But his would-be princess has no desire to risk her heart for a second chance at a fairy tale, not when she’s already widowed and a single mother. After one scorching kiss that leaves him changed forever, Thad won’t let his princess run from him. When her wicked stepmother threatens to ruin this fairy tale, Thad is left holding a glass slipper and searching for the woman he can’t live without.

Bastian Carlisle, the Earl of Weymouth, doesn't believe in ghosts. Even though tragedy and mysterious hauntings have driven his family away from his ancestral home, Stormclyffe Hall, he is determined to restore the castle to its former glory. His plans are disrupted when a stubborn American shows up on his doorstep hoping to pry into his family's tragic history.

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. 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. After the magic of the night is over and the mysterious beauty has vanished, he remains haunted by her and what might have been.

Becoming the Earl of Castleton wasn’t something Arthur Brynnwood was expecting. Yes, his great-uncle was old, but Arthur had always imagined him living forever. But after he learned of his great-uncle’s passing he went from being just another gentleman to one of the highly sought after prizes by matchmaking mamas of the ton. Suddenly the responsibility of running such a vast estate was thrust on Arthur’s shoulders.

Lady Venetia Dunham has plenty of money and freedom, until her father dies, leaving her and her feisty grandmother at the hands of her less than noble cousin when he becomes the new earl. Her cousin makes his wishes clear. She will marry a man of his choosing, a man who will split her fortune with her cousin.