Showing results by author "Bertrice Small" in All Categories

Nearly a spinster at 20, Fortune Lindley is leaving Scotland to return to her birthplace at Maguire's Ford, a vast Ulster estate that she will inherit only if she marries an Irish Protestant. To that end, Fortune has agreed to consider a match with the Protestant aristocrat William Devers, a man suited to her wealth and status. But it is the rebellious and disinherited Catholic elder brother, Kiernan Devers, who steals her heart, driving William to a black and murderous fury.

On her mother's advice, Lady Autumn Leslie leaves war-torn England for France in the hope of making a suitable match. The wealthy and handsome Marquis d'Auriville is all she could wish for in a husband, but when Autumn is widowed only a few years after they are wed, she believes she will never give her heart to another man.

Widowed with five children, stay at home mom Annie Miller has been just getting by . . . and growing restless because of it. Thinking Annie just needs a vacation, her sister enters her into a contest sponsored by The Channel, a network that caters to delivering women's fantasies. Annie wins the grand prize, a week at a luxurious spa—and gets a treat when she turns on the flat-screen TV. The one working channel lets Annie program—and experience—her own personal fantasy each night. Suddenly she's living out dreams she didn't even know she had.

The time of peace is over. After the murder of her husband, Lara - half faerie, half human - must leave the home she has made in the Outlands and follow the destiny that has long called her. Using her brilliant sword and even sharper mind, Lara must journey toward the coast, seeking alliances to protect the future of her land. But when treachery binds her once more in chains, the green-eyed beauty is taken far beyond the world she knows. Only there will she discover that destiny has a mind of its own - and that true passion knows no boundaries.

The year is 1461, and the winds of war rage across England, uprooting Alix Givet, the daughter of Queen Margaret's physician, and the rest of Henry VI's court. Alix's plight becomes bleaker still when, out of duty to her queen, and to her ill, widowed father, she's locked into a loveless marriage to a cruel Northumbrian. But when her luck changes, Alix has another chance to flee—this time to save herself. Escaping over the border into Scotland, she throws herself at the mercy of a brooding laird who might provide the everlasting love of her dream—if she can warm his cold heart.

Fancy: Surrounded by mystery and scandal, the widowed Fancy Devers, Fortune and Kieran's last child, arrives in England only to catch the roving eye of King Charles II—who makes the raven-haired, turquoise-eyed beauty one of his many lovers. But when their fiery romance settles into a comfortable friendship, the king is determined to find his glamorous mistress a husband—no matter her strenuous objections....

Flanna Brodie, heiress to Brae, is as vibrant and beautiful as the Scottish countryside, and just as wild. She wants no man—only her freedom. But the passions Patrick awakens in her run deeper than those of the flesh. The independent Flanna is determined to champion the royal Stuarts' cause, and restore Charles II to his throne despite her husband's objections. Patrick knows the dangers of such political intrigues; that the Stuarts have always brought misfortune to the Leslies of Glenkirk, and that a roguish king will ask far more of the naïve duchess than a simple vow of fealty.

Nora Buckley's worst nightmare has just come true. After years of being a devoted, dutiful housewife, she's found out her husband is leaving her for a younger woman. Her only comfort comes from her friends—the women of Ansley Court, who meet every Monday morning for coffee and gossip. Seeing Nora's desperation, her friends decide it's time to let her in on a secret. It's a way she can enter a new world of erotic adventure, and unleash passions she never dared to dream of.

Princess Yasaman has been blessed with rapturous beauty, fierce intelligence, and an innocent sensuality that captivates two formidable men—her scheming half-brother, Salim, and her loving husband, Prince Jamal. But her days of bliss and nights of steamy passion are shattered when Jamal is murdered, and Yasaman flees to England and the court of James I. Calling herself Jasmine, she is reunited with her beautiful mother, Velvet, and her grandmother, the legendary Skye O'Malley de Marisco.

Elizabeth Meredith, the youngest daughter of Rosamund Bolton, is nothing like her sensible sisters. Impatient with fancy manners, the young beauty has shunned the royal court in favor of a quiet life at Friarsgate. But to protect the future of the land she loves, she must venture into the court of King Henry VIII to find a suitable husband. Elizabeth soon scandalizes the court by forging a friendship with Anne Boleyn and by flirting with Flynn Stewart, bastard brother to King James V of Scotland.

Lady Cicely Bowen, daughter of the Earl of Leighton, is sent away by her father when her jealous stepmother threatens her safety. Soon the exiled Cicely becomes best friends with Lady Joan Beaufort, the king's cousin, and when Joan is married to King James I of Scotland, she chooses Cicely as one of the ladies accompany her north. At the Scot's court Cicely finds herself pursued by two men—elegant Andrew Gordon, the laird of Fairlee, and Ian Douglas, the laird of Glengorm, a rough-spoken border lord.

The eldest child of Rosamund Bolton and heiress to the Friarsgate manor, Philippa Meredith is devastated when she discovers that the man she sought to marry has rebuffed her. But it is this sudden change of fortune that sweeps the spirited beauty back to her place in the court of Queen Katherine of Aragon - and into the arms of Crispin St. Clair, the Earl of Witton. But when Philippa stumbles onto a plot to assassinate King Henry VIII, their very love is tested as they attempt to unmask those who are plotting to tear the royal court asunder.

Magic coursing through his blood, Dillon, son of the Domina of Hetar, follows his path to the forgotten world of Belmair. Summoned to marry the king's daughter and inherit the throne, Dillon discovers Belmair is beautiful, enigmatic, and seductive - as is his strong-willed new queen. What's more, Hetar's brightest star may hold the key to his people's lost heritage - and his heart.

Mourn me but briefly. Then find your destiny, Lara, my love, my life. Now let me go.... With those words, the spirit of Magnus Hauk, Dominus of Terah, departs his body - leaving the fate of his nation to his wife, the half faerie Lara. While Lara's son Prince Taj is well loved by the people of Terah, he is too young to rule, so Lara must obey Magnus's dying command and govern in his stead. Yet some in Terah still believe that a female must never wear the crown...and Lara and her children will face old enemies who are not finished with their schemes for revenge.

Lara, Domina of Terah, has mysteriously disappeared, and Magnus Hauk is frantic to find his beloved wife. When no trace of her can be discovered, he turns to two strong allies - Prince Kaliq of the Shadows and Ilona, the most powerful of the faerie queens. Meanwhile, Kol - the Twilight Lord - revels in his victory. The exquisite Domina is now in his possession, and her powers will soon help him to conquer first Hetar and then Terah. But Lara will not stand for his treachery, even as she is seduced by his charisma.

A hundred years have passed since the faerie woman Lara last saved Hetar. Her youth and beauty remain as always. The waning years, however, have taken many of her friends and kin. And those who remember her heroism in times of peril are few. All the while Lara's son, the charming but nefarious Twilight Lord Kolgrim, waits patiently for his moment. Kolgrim won't repeat his father's mistakes by waging war. His way is more subtle but just as sinister - not even Lara's formidable powers will be able to stop him.

Abducted from a life of privilege, she was sold into slavery in a distant land. For Lady Janet Leslie there would be no escaping the harem of the wealthy and powerful Sultan Selim. But from the moment the handsome ruler spied his breathtaking "Cyra," he was captivated—by the fiery desire that coursed through his veins. She belonged to him, body and soul-yet it was he who was enslaved.

The daughter of a powerful desert chieftain, beautiful raven-haired Zenobia, a descendent of Cleopatra, witnesses at an early age the shocking brutality of renegade Roman soldiers and vows to hate all of the blue-eyed strangers forever. Despite that pledge, she falls hopelessly and passionately in love with Marcus Alexander Britanus, a Roman. And it will take all her cunning and skill in war to keep the precious erotic rapture she can find only in his arms.

Scandalizing all of England, Henry has his marriage annulled, for the queen cannot meet the bawdy desires of the insatiable king. Henry seeks a spirited, lusty new wife - and eyes the beautiful Nyssa. But in a land rife with conspiracy and rebellion, there are those in secret power determined to thwart Henry's intentions. A drugged Nyssa awakens in the arms of the notorious rake Varian de Winter. Her virtue destroyed, the outraged king orders them to wed.

Adora's mahogany hair and violet eyes captivated young Prince Murad the moment he saw her in a convent garden, and their love flowered like the peach blossoms surrounding them. But Orkahm, Grand Turk of an empire, claimed Adora for his bride, tearing her from her young love as she wept bitter tears. Destiny might carry them to other lands and other loves, but Murad and Adora were meant only for each other - forging a magnificent love that lies forever in the pages of history....