Showing results by author "Mary Jo Putney" in All Categories

The son of a proud naval dynasty, Gabriel Hawkins leaves the Royal Navy in disgrace and is disowned by his family. As captain of his own ship, he’s earned his living in ways both legal and illegal, and his experience makes him the best choice to ransom an aristocratic beauty captured by Barbary pirates. Having avoided the traps of convention and marriage, Lady Aurora Lawrence is horrified by the prospect of spending her life as a harem slave. Her only hope of escape is a quiet, steely captain who has a history with her captor - and who will do anything to free Rory.

He called himself Peregrine, the wanderer, and he came to London for revenge...Like the falcon he named himself for, Peregrine is wild and free, an exotic prince who fascinates 1839 London with his wealth, mystery, and dangerous allure. He emerged from his mysterious Asiatic past to exact retribution for an appalling crime. Nothing and no one can stop him - except perhaps Lady Sara St. James, whose fragile beauty conceals a gentle heart, genuine goodness, and a soul of steel.

Stephen Kenyon, Duke of Ashburton, has always taken the duties of his rank seriously - until a doctor's grim diagnosis sends him running from his world of privilege. Traveling incognito, he yearns to experience life to the fullest in what time he has left. When Stephen rescues a drowning child, he is drawn into the warm embrace of the Fitzgeralds, a family theatrical troupe brimming with laughter and affection. And their enchanting, compassionate daughter, Rosalind Jordan, stirs emotions he's never known before.

A master spy with the face of a fallen angel and a darkly heroic past, Lord Robert Andreville returns to his ancestral home in Yorkshire after a dozen harrowing years spying against Napoleon. But nothing soothes his ravaged spirit until a determined young beauty sweeps into his life. Half Mohawk and all American, Maxima Collins is a wary stranger in a strange land, but she will let nothing halt her journey to London to learn the truth about her father's sudden death...not even a self-appointed guardian who is all lazy charm and dangerous skill.

Sometimes, even the most proper young lady yearns for adventure. But when the very well bred Miss Sarah Clarke-Townsend impulsively takes the place of her pregnant twin, it puts her own life at risk. If the kidnappers after her sister discover they've abducted Sarah instead, she will surely pay with her life....

Wearied by his years as a British intelligence officer, Simon Duval resigns his commission after Napoleon’s abdication. Hoping to find new meaning in his life, he returns to England, where he discovers his cousin’s widow, Suzanne Duval, the Comtesse de Chambron. Working as a seamstress, living in reduced circumstances, Suzanne has had a life as complicated as Simon’s. While both believe they are beyond love, their sympathetic bond leads him to propose a marriage of companionship, and Suzanne accepts.

After the death of his sweetheart when he was at university, Daniel Herbert buried his grief in medical studies and his passion for healing. Viewed as a saint by those who know him, in his own mind, he never quite manages to live up to his own high standards. Most men would be thrilled to learn they've inherited a title and estate from a distant relative, but Daniel is appalled because the burden of wealth will interfere with his medical calling.

From New York Times best-selling author Mary Jo Putney - a classic love story that has become one of her most beloved and acclaimed historical romances.

Jean Macrae’s family is one of the most prominent clans of Guardians, humans whose magical powers come from nature, but Jean considers her skills modest at best. She has never been able to summon the intense, earth-altering ability that has marked the most talented Guardians, and she is content without the adventure that such skill brings, until the day she is confronted by a handsome stranger whose magic imprisons her on his pirate ship.

At 17, fiery Juliet Cameron fell passionately in love and married the perfect companion for the adventurous life she wanted to lead. Lord Ross Carlisle is handsome, dashing, and as eager to explore the world as she is. But social constraints and fear of an all-consuming love that threatens to engulf her independent spirit send Juliet fleeing to the distant land where she was raised as a diplomat’s child.

Emma Stone was raised a part of a large, loving aristocratic family, but after she was orphaned she became a tired, lonely governess. Then through an act of kindness, she inherits an unexpected fortune and realizes that she can now have the husband and family she craves.

England, 1803. The oldest foster child of the Earl and Countess Tremayne, Caden Tremayne was one of several abandoned children rescued into the fold of the “Tribe of Tremayne,” each bearing a special gift. Now Cade’s superior investigative abilities and talent for preventing violence—or when necessary, executing it—are urgently required by the Home Office. For after an all-too-brief peace, Britain and France are about to be at war again. But it isn’t the dangerous mission that concerns Cade. It’s his secret love for his sweet, bright, spirited accomplice.

Major Jack Howard, a weary veteran of the Peninsular Wars, has just returned to England and intends to travel to an unwelcoming family home for Christmas. But when a pompous secretary gives him too many orders, Jack hops on the next stagecoach leaving the London inn, not caring where it’s going. Too much whisky to stave off freezing leaves him sleeping it off in a different inn - and when an attractive young woman asks if he’s Jack Howard, he happily goes home with her.

James Markland, Lord Falconer, knows that he is ugly, very ugly, and he lives a life of seclusion, wearing a heavily cowled mantle to conceal his face from the world. When he learns that a neighboring girl, the exquisite, young Ariel Hawthorne, is about to be sold into marriage with a revolting lecher, he offers her the only protection he can: his name. Of course it will be a marriage in name only, because what woman could want him? A talented artist, Ariel is cursed by her beauty and vulnerability. Though she never sees her husband's face, she is drawn to his kindness and generosity.

A sheltered life in the countryside has left Diana Lindsay restless to see the wider world, for both herself and the son she is raising alone. She cannot marry, but perhaps as a courtesan she will find love and protection despite her painful past. Gathering her courage, she moves to London - and finds herself the city's most desired woman, as admired for her charm as for her beauty. But it is one man who captivates her - handsome, haunted, and harboring a secret as deep as her own....

James, Lord Kirkland, owns a shipping fleet, half a London gaming house, and is a ruthlessly effective spymaster. He is seldom self-indulgent… except when it comes to the gentle, indomitable beauty who was once his wife. Laurel Herbert gave James her heart as an innocent young girl - until she saw him perform an act of shocking violence before her very eyes. That night she left her husband, and he let her go without a word of protest.

Guests are arriving to celebrate Christmas at Lady Holly's ball, and at the top of each guest's wish list is a last chance to find true love before the new year. Amid the sumptuous delicacies, glittering decorations, and swell of the orchestra, every duchess and debutante, lord and lackey has a hopeful heart.

A sense of duty sends Bran Tremayne to Cornwall to confront his heritage of British nobility. Abandoned at birth, Bran wants nothing to do with the embittered remains of his family. But as a special agent for the Home Office, he senses trouble brewing along the coast. And he can't turn away from the vulnerable woman he encounters in the Cornish countryside. Merryn's amnesia makes her past a mystery to them both, but with her life in danger, the only thing Bran knows for sure is that the beautiful stranger needs his protection.

After the death of his fiancée, Kai Ramsay left Scotland to roam distant lands. He has searched ancient ruins, collected priceless antiquities, and escaped certain death after being imprisoned as a spy during the Napoleonic War. Ramsay has lived on the edge of danger for years — but everything changes the day a letter arrives for him from Scotland....

Startled to find a grown woman rather than a little girl, Ian quickly realizes that Laura is uniquely qualified to be his wife in an unconventional marriage. She accepts his offer and together, they begin the long journey home to Britain, with a side trip to the mountains to retrieve the belongings her uncle left with a friendly maharajah. In the process, they are swept into an adventure that threatens the future of India and brings them together with a love and passion that is more than either of them had dared dream of....