Showing results by narrator "Lucy Rayner" in All Categories

Miss Charlotte Harrington knows what’s expected of her. Properly raised and newly reminded of her duties after the unexpected death of her far-more-perfect twin sister, Charlotte is resigned to wedding the son of a near neighboring land owner and live a sedate and proper, respectable life. But Charlotte’s high spirits will not be contained, and she yearns deeply for a life of adventure, excitement, and love.

A Determined Highlander . . . Duncan MacConnoway, son of a powerful thane and used to getting his way in life, is desperate to wed the woman of his dreams. Her uncle, the wily Earl of Lochlann, demands that he fulfill three tasks that even Hercules would struggle to finish. Their love is all that lights his way through this dark labyrinth, that if only he can hang onto it long enough . . . The wise woman . . . Alina du Mas can see things that no one else believes, so she usually keeps her secrets to herself.

Alexandra Hayden, the current guardian of Nimway Hall, is badly in need of funding to repair the crumbling estate. American Robert Curtis has just arrived to take possession of the estate next to Nimway and his newly inherited title Viscount Brynmore. Alexandra needs money, and Robert could use a well-connected wife. Marriage would benefit both of them. But each has been having romantic dreams about the other, and a marriage of convenience could turn out to be anything but. And even on an estate filled with magic, it’s not always easy to recognize love is the greatest magic of all.

It's Christmas 1940, and Nimway Hall opens its ancient and enchanting heart to the wedding of Josie and Gideon! Wartime intelligence agents Josie and Gideon are in for a wild adventure as they negotiate the hidden dangers of planning a wedding in the midst of a war.

England 1803: Lady Christina Beaumont, daughter to the Earl of Whickerton, is on a mission. A mission to protect her best friend from being forced into a marriage that would see her delicate heart broken and her sensibilities shocked. Deep in debt, Lord Hartmore agreed to marry his daughter to a scoundrel. A man who grew up far from London's high society.

Tavish was the best boyfriend Kelsey ever had, but seven years ago he disappeared. She coped with her heartbreak by finishing her doctorate in Celtic Artwork, and now her career is taking off. Except Tavish keeps showing up at her job sites and butting into her business - all the while wearing that stupid sexy kilt. But she's here to see the ruins, not Tavish. So she'll just have to show him who's boss at this site. Because under these cliffs at Dunskey Castle, it is rumored, lies the ancient palace of the kings of Alba.

When Alice returns to the whimsical world of Underland, all is not well. The Mad Hatter has become horribly and certifiably normal. Soon, Alice realizes the only way to save him is to travel to the past and right old wrongs. But Time may not be on her side - in fact, he might even try to stop her!

A courageous young woman is just managing to keep up with her family’s vast, wartime farm when a handsome Lt. Colonel and his staff of officers take command of her home. A private war ensues between them, and the couple soon learns that resistance is futile when it comes to love in the heat of battle.

Joanna MacConnaway's future looks dark when her great-uncle passes, leaving Lochlann Castle in the hands of a new leader. This handsome stranger, who has haunted Joanna's dreams, soon finds himself in mortal danger. Joanna chooses to help him, against her misgivings and sense of impending doom. Can she trust him? And is he worthy of the feelings she soon develops for him?

Eager for distraction in the aftermath of her messy divorce, Ellie Mileham dives into moderating the petty squabbles on her local Facebook group. When a prankster starts trolling uptight members, it’s a welcome diversion at first. But then the war of words moves onto the streets of Forest Grove, with threatening letters escalating into violent destruction. It’s suddenly clear there’s something much more dangerous at play.

A story of love, tough choices, and the triumph of the human heart. Jenny Dempsey's little boy, Charlie, is starting school. The world is opening up for mother and child. Then fate steps in. When Charlie becomes seriously ill, single mom Jenny is forced to confront her past and all that she has turned from. She will do anything for Charlie... but will it be enough?

Gil Truman has eyes only for the beautiful Tilly - until he is forced to marry plain, sickly Rose Davenport to reclaim the lands his father foolishly gambled away. After a disastrous wedding night tainted with his bitterness, he deposits Rose at his remote, Northumbrian estate, soothing his guilt with the thought that she need never lay eyes on him again. Five years after the mortifying wedding night that destroyed all her romantic fantasies, Rose is fed up with hearing second - and third - hand reports of Gil's philandering ways. She is no longer the shy, homely girl he left behind.

Epic poetry and tragic drama provide us with some of the richest ancient Greek depictions of women who are married to soldiers. In tales of the Trojan War, as told by Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, we encounter these mythical warriors' wives: Penelope, isolated but resourceful as she awaits the return of Odysseus after his lengthy absence; the war widow Andromache, enslaved and displaced from her homeland after the fall of Troy; the unfaithful and murderous Clytemnestra; and Tecmessa, a war captive who witnesses her partner's breakdown and suicide in the aftermath of battle.

Kate and Cecy and their new husbands, Thomas and James, are off on a Grand Tour. Their plans? To leisurely travel about the Continent, take in a few antiquities, and - of course - purchase fabulous Parisian wardrobes. But once they arrive in France, mysterious things start to happen. Cecy receives a package containing a lost coronation treasure, Thomas's valet is assaulted, and Kate loses a glove. Soon it becomes clear that they have stumbled upon a dastardly, magical plot to take over Europe.

In the first book of a lush fantasy trilogy about warring countries, family secrets, and star-crossed lovers, 18-year-old Branwen finds an enemy washed up on the shore of her kingdom. Rather than let him die at the hands of her people, she nurses him back to health as they begin to fall in love. Branwen helps him escape with his life - only for him to return during a diplomatic visit under his true identity: Prince Tristan of Kernyv.

Hwyfar, eldest daughter of King Leodegraunce and famed libertine of Carelon, has returned to Avillion to find her father ruined by madness and a usurper poised to take the throne. Reluctantly she takes the mantle of Queen Regent to protect her kingdom, but she'll need an army—which King Arthur pledges to send her, providing she marries one of his knights and surrenders the crown.

Branwen has given herself over to the darkest parts of her magic in order to protect her kingdom, but in doing so, she may have lost herself - and the two people she loves most. Tristan and Eseult are missing. As Branwen searches for them, she must also hide the truth of her terrible actions from the night they disappeared. But there are those who don’t want the queen and her champion to be found; enemies who plot to bring a new reign into power and destroy the fragile peace Branwen has sacrificed everything to secure.

Servilia is often cited as one of the most influential women of the late Roman Republic. During her second marriage, she began an affair with Julius Caesar, which probably lasted for the rest of his life and is further indicative of the force of her charm and her exceptional intelligence.

Robert: Left on the steps of a church as a baby, Robert was often hungry but never stole food like the other orphans in town. Introverted and extraordinarily intelligent, he knew all the Latin prayers and hymns by heart by the time he was five years old. Georgette: Her own mother died in childbirth, leaving Georgette with a father who, seventeen at the time, had neither experience nor aptitude as a nurturing parent, and a brother known in town as Le Fuer - The Spitfire - for his terrible temper.

It's been a decade since Kate and Cecelia foiled Napoleon's plot to reclaim the French crown. The cousins now have estates, children, and a place at the height of wizarding society. It is 1828, and though magic remains at the heart of the British Empire, a new power has begun to make itself felt across England: the steam engine. As iron tracks crisscross the countryside, the shaking of the locomotives begins to disrupt the workings of English magic, threatening the very foundations of the Empire.