Showing results for "The Wager" in Literature & Fiction

Never expecting to lose the race to his cousin, Viscount Ashton, Darcy must now accept the terms of their wager. With the end in sight, only three more balls to attend, he travels with his good friend Bingley to Hertfordshire where he meets again Lady Elizabeth Hamilton Bennet, a woman he egregiously insulted six months prior.

All Lady Victoria Kirby wants is to dig in the dirt, take notations, and record history, thank you very much. Bumbling through ballrooms and getting disdained by the ton for her less than ideal looks, on the other hand, is the last thing she wants. But her reckless father has a different idea for her future when he puts up the ultimate ante - her hand in marriage - and loses. Over her dead body.

Hallie Piper is turning over a new leaf. After crawling out of a hotel room (hello, rock bottom), she decides it's time to become a full-on adult. She gets a new apartment, a new haircut, and a new wardrobe. But when she logs into the dating app to look for new love, she finds none other than Jack: the guy whose hotel room she'd snuck out of. After agreeing they are absolutely not interested in each other, Jack and Hallie realise that they're each other's perfect wing-person - and join forces in their searches for The One. They even make a wager to see who can find true love first.

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.

Anne Middleton never plays by the rules. She is willful when she should be obedient and unabashed when she should be decorous. Worse still, she can never resist a good wager . . . or a very naughty book. And Confessions of a Courtesan is about as risqué as a book can be. Michael Grey—Earl of Thornhill—had once courted Anne's sweet and modest sister. But whilst Anne is certainly no lady of decorum, her bold impulsiveness slips through his armor, and propriety is forgotten. Now he too is immersed in the book of forbidden delights, where each page is an invitation to sin.

After another disappointing Season fending off matchmaking mamas and grasping debutantes, Fitzwilliam Darcy has given up hope of finding a wife. His business partner, Edward Gardiner, suggests a sojourn into Hertfordshire to escape the machinations of Town—and meddlesome aunts who take every opportunity to help him on the marriage mart.

A massive blizzard has shut down nearly every East Coast airport, stranding travelers on the ground and in the air. When the control tower's radar suddenly goes dark, a mysterious caller known only as Number One announces that the countdown to terror has begun. Nineteen planes and their helpless passengers are now airborne hostages in the ruthless hands of a dangerous man on a deadly mission.

Lilith Davenant has ample reason to detest Julian Wyndhurst, Marquess of Brandon: He's exactly the kind of man who hastened the demise of her profligate husband, and the debt he owed to Julian has forced her to an engagement with a wealthy suitor for the sake of supporting her beloved nieces and nephews. Besides that, Lord Julian somehow manages to ignite disturbing...feelings...she's never felt before!

Ivy Cameo Johnson, an oil baroness from Houston, has wealth that draws men like flies to honey, yet she also possesses intelligence and an awkwardness that runs them off. John William Dalhart, a Texas oil baron himself, out to prove his father and new business partner both wrong, was also born into wealth. There’s been no end to the women interested in him, but is it for what he has rather than who he is?

It was an absolutely perfect day...until everything went absolutely perfectly wrong. Kent Anthony is a brilliant software engineer who is cashing in on a brilliant career. He's finally living the idyllic life, far from thoughts of theft and murder and other kinds of horrible criminal behavior. He's left his past far behind...or so he thinks.

Stuck in her little cottage with her three sisters and an aging father her entire life, Miss Beatrice Fowley has never had the chance to experience the real world. After being jilted by a charming viscount, she now has to marry a seventy-year-old lord intent on begetting an heir and a spare. Having read plenty of books—most of which are romance—Beatrice has a list of things she wants to experience before the church bells toll her doom. Unfortunately, real life is far more dangerous, and Beatrice quickly realizes that she needs a guide and a guard.

Gregor “the Black” MacLeod is on a mission. He has been tasked with raising an army to oust the Pretender King who usurped Scotland’s throne. But when he is met with naught but refusals, he must turn to his only asset - his brute strength. He spreads a wager through the Highlands - any man he defeats in single combat must pledge to stand against the Pretender. But when a bonny lass turns his challenge against him, he finds himself indebted to her service. Gregor intends to see his obligation through as swiftly as possible, but his heart may have other plans....

Lady Serena Grantley was born to the nobility, but fortune's whim placed her in control of her stepfather, who uses her beauty to lure young men to his gambling tables. Serena even dismissed her first love, the Honourable Sebastian Sullivan, at her stepfather's command. But when he attempts to force her into a liaison with a dissolute earl, Serena resolves to do his bidding no more.

He has one shot at regaining Pemberley. Fitzwilliam Darcy has worked tirelessly to earn back his family's estate. But the current master of Pemberley holds all the cards, and he knows his advantage.

Best-selling author of gunslinging Westerns like Turnback Creek, Robert J. Randisi takes listeners on the treacherous trail to Dodge City. Seeking refuge from assassins who murdered the rest of his wealthy family back east, Ty Butler feels at home among rough-hewn men willing to risk it all on a single wager. But if Ty expects to get out of Dodge alive, he'll need all the aces he can muster.

Sophie Campbell is determined to be mistress of her own fate. Surviving on her skill at cards, she never risks what she can’t afford to lose. Yet when the Duke of Ware proposes a scandalous wager that’s too extravagant to refuse, she can’t resist. If she wins, she’ll get 5,000 pounds, enough to secure her independence forever. Jack Lindeville, Duke of Ware, tells himself he’s at the Vega Club merely to save his reckless brother from losing everything, but he knows it’s a lie. He can’t keep his eyes off Sophie, and to get her he breaks his ironclad rule against gambling.

For the past year, their close loss in the annual Boarding Games has haunted Interceptor Team: Zuma’s Ghost. With this year’s competition looming, they’re looking forward to some payback - until an unexpected personnel change leaves them reeling. Their best swordsman has been transferred, and a new lieutenant has been assigned in his place. Maxine Carmichael is trying to carve a place in the world on her own - away from the pressure and influence of her powerful family. The last thing she wants is to cause trouble at her command on Jupiter Station.

When Hugh Deveraux discovers his newly inherited earldom is bankrupt, he sets about rebuilding the family fortune - in the gaming hells of London. But the most daring wager he takes isn’t at cards. A wealthy tradesman makes a tantalizing offer: marry the man’s spinster daughter and Hugh’s debts will be paid and his fortune made. The only catch is that she must never know about their agreement....

Sebastian Crawford, Duke of Hartford, cares about his duty, honor, and family. He has everything planned: His sister is engaged, and now, he plans to select his duchess from a list of eligible debutantes. The last thing he expects is his sister to go missing a few weeks before her wedding!

In August, 2014, years before the legalization of sports betting in the United States, when a mob-connected bookie named Zany is murdered, Eddie O’Connell is assigned to take over Zany’s operation and find the killer. The trail leads to an exclusive, private gambling club where simulcast wagering on horse racing is used as a front for illegal sports betting. With the assistance of Paula “Rudi” Rudinger, the manager of Zany’s bookie operation and former lover, Eddie meets those who owe gambling debts. Eddie had run up a gambling debt of his own, but now finds himself doing collection.