Miss Zoë Armstrong is beautiful, charming, rich --- and utterly unmarriageable. So, while she may be the ton's most sparkling diamond, her choice of husbands looks more like a list of London's most unsavory fortune hunters. Since a true-love marriage seems impossible, Zoë has accepted --- no, embraced --- her role as society's most incomparable flirt and mischiefmaker ... until in one reckless, vulnerable moment, her future is shattered.
Stuart Rowland, the brooding Marquess of Mercer, has been part of Zoë's extended family since she was a child. As dark and cynical as Zoë is lively, Mercer has always known they would be the worst possible match ... until his scapegrace brother Robert does the unthinkable, and winds up betrothed to Zoë. Now, secluded on Mercer's vast estate to escape a looming scandal and the ton's prying eyes, Zoë and Mercer may find that a dark obsession has become a tempestuous passion that can no longer be denied ..
He built impenetrable walls around his heart.... THe built impenetrable walls around his heart.... The Black Death showed no mercy when it took Rowan Graham's beautiful, young wife. With his clan nearly decimated, his heart torn to shreds, he is left to raise his newborn daughter alone. Rowan tries to keep the promises he made to Kate on her deathbed, save for one: He is unable to give his heart to another. She has built walls around her own... Lady Arline is forced into yet another arranged marriage -- loveless and lonely. Behind Garrick Blackthorn's good looks lies a cruel, vindictive man. She wants nothing more than her marriage to end so that she might gain the freedom she has longed for. Fate will bring those walls tumbling down.... Just before her marriage comes to a bitter and ugly end, her cruel husband kidnaps a sweet, innocent child. Arline does not realize the child belongs to a man from her past, a man who has haunted her dreams for more than seven years, until the night he comes to rescue his daughter. Rowan Graham is surprised to learn that his enemy's wife is a woman he met but for a few short moments seven years earlier when dark times had fallen across Scotland. The same woman who had helped insure the freedom of his foster father and brother has been risking her life to care for his daughter. Fate brings them together...but others are determined to pull them apart.
Late 1800s: Three sisters. Three corners of the British Empire. Three lives intertwined… forever. As he travels the British Empire, diplomat Charles Kittridge leaves behind three daughters: Ailsa in the Scottish Highlands; Li-an in Peking, China; and Genevra in Delhi, India. Bound by threads they neither see nor understand, the three sisters are haunted by their absent father--each in her own way. Creative and intuitive, often lost and without hope, they come together through their dreams in times of fear and need. Those dreams grow vivid, changing as these extraordinary women learn the lessons the Empire has to teach. And the all-important lessons within their own hearts. No matter the courage and passion, betrayal and loss they experience, their dreams never leave them. In the end, they believe Charles Kittridge has the power to heal them. But the truth is far more complicated than any of them understand.
From the windswept, craggy coast of a remote British Isle comes the thrilling tale of a daring lady and a dangerous knight... bound by the tempests of fate—and the dawning of... Desire 
Scottish heiress Roslynn Chadwick needs the safety of marriage to protect her from an unscrupulous cousin and from the army of fortune-hunting scoundrels who covet her wealth and beauty. And Anthony Malory is everything she has been warned against. A ruthless, irresistibly handsome English rogue, Malory's sensual blue eyes speak of limitless pleasures. How she wishes she dare to love such a man... to believe the whispered murmurings of his passionate promise... and to follow the enchanting dream..
Kassandra "Kitt" Wentworth was no ordinary young woman. Headstrong and rebellious, this daughter of a viscount had no intention of obeying her father, submitting to a husband ... or falling in love. But she never thought a man like Clayton Harcourt would pursue her. As the bastard son of a wealthy duke, Clay was no stranger to scandal. Taking a wife was not his plan, but Kitt's wild spirit drew him like a flame in the darkness, and the gossip swirling around her awakened a desire to tame and protect her. When Clay lays a trap for marriage, Kitt can't help but surrender to the passion he stirs within her. But will a secret from her past keep her from trusting her heart to the magnificent rogue who arouses her most burning desires?
Niall MacIan, a Highland laird, desperately needs funds to save his impoverished clan. Lady Katherine Ruthven, a lowland heiress, is rumored to be “unmarriageable” and her uncle hopes to be granted her title and lands when the king sends her to a convent. King David II anxious to strengthen his alliances sees a solution that will give Ruthven the title he wants, and MacIan the money he needs. Laird MacIan will receive Lady Katherine’s hand along with her substantial dowry and her uncle will receive her lands and title. Lady Katherine must forfeit everything in exchange for a husband who does not want to be married and believes all women to be self-centered and deceitful. Can the lovely and gentle Katherine mend his heart and build a life with him or will he allow the treachery of others to destroy them?
To
Tame a Highland Earl
A man torn between two worlds. Both need
him...neither wants him.
Groomed for a life
amongst the English aristocracy, Lord Erroll Rushton is unexpectedly thrust
back into his father’s Scottish world when the Englishwoman he compromises
refuses to marry him.
No gentleman breaks into a lady’s
bedchamber...but then, no lady sleeps with a pistol under her pillow.
Miss
Eve Crenshaw will marry for love or won’t marry at all. When London’s most
notorious rakehell breaks into her bedchamber in the dead of night and compromises
her beyond repair, Eve plans a daring escape that shocks even the Earl.
To Tame a Highland Earl
My newest
book, To Tame a Highland Earl: A MacLean
Highlander Novel, is now availabe.
Excerpt--
March 1807
Manchester, England
If ever a woman deserved to be shot, it was Miss Crenshaw.
But dawn appointments weren’t meant for the weaker sex. Weaker sex. The lady was anything but weak, which is why Erroll
intended to throttle her.
Erroll laid a shilling in the innkeeper’s palm. “You
understand the need for discretion.”
“Indeed, I do, my lord,” the man replied. “Your betrothed’s
reputation is safe with me.”
Erroll managed to maintain a bland expression as the
innkeeper handed him the key to the lady’s room. So news of his impending
nuptials had sped from Coventry to Manchester even quicker than he had—which
meant London society would hear the news by morning light and the story would
cross the border to Edinburgh just as quickly.
Which of the gossipmongers had he to thank for that? He was
grateful to the heavenly powers that his mother had remained in Scotland and
not accompanied his father to England this month. God help him if she got wind
of this entanglement before he had a chance to extricate himself from the
tenacious claw of the husband-hunting wench.
“A beautiful woman is hard to resist,” the innkeeper said.
“Indeed,” Erroll murmured, glad the man had interrupted the
mental picture of his mother outfitting the deceitful huntress in her wedding
dress. No bachelor’s mother was more determined to see her son wed than
Erroll’s own dear mamma, and since his return from the navy, his father had put
his considerable weight behind her efforts.
He whirled toward the stairs, climbed to the second floor
and made a left down the hall. At the third door on the left, he stopped.
Erroll had endured his father’s hour-long diatribe that ended with the command
to marry the woman who had accused him of compromising her—a woman he’d never
laid eyes on—before he finally broke away to discover his accuser had fled
Coventry. The hard five hour ride to catch her before she reached her father’s
estate would have been in vain if not for the fact a wheel on her carriage
broke forty miles distance from Manchester.
This experience would teach him to dally with the women
outside of London. Had he satisfied himself with the eligible ladies in Town—if those females could be called
ladies—he wouldn’t have gone to Coventry and attended the damn house party that
had gotten him into trouble. The fact he’d spent a pleasurable hour with a lady
in the hostess’ gardens had only served to put him in the very place his
accuser said he’d been. Erroll felt sure the cunning creature was well aware
he’d been in the gardens, and therefore claimed to be the object of his
attentions.
Erroll quietly unlocked the door, slipped into the darkened
room, then eased the door shut and slipped the key into his pocket. Faint
moonlight filtered in through thin curtains and outlined the sleeping figure in
the bed. Erroll crept forward until he reached the bed. He braced a knee
against the side of the mattress, then placed a hand on each side of the woman
and brought his face to within an inch of hers.
She shifted in her
sleep and lush breasts grazed his chest. He wondered how long it would be
before she became aware a man was in her bed, then concluded that since she
hadn’t awoken with a shriek she must be accustomed to having a man in her bed.
He should ravish her as she’d said he had just for good measure. The thought
froze at the pressure of a pistol jammed against his abdomen.
“I am a crack shot.” The feminine voice was steady—as was
the hand holding the gun. “But even the worst shot in Great Britain couldn’t
miss.” The gun dug deeper into his belly. “Move away.”
Erroll considered. Her calm response to his presence almost
made him think she’d expected him. “If I’m to be shot, I should at least commit
the crime for which I’m accused.” The click of the pistol’s hammer being pulled
back was his answer. “I see you do not agree.” He straightened off the bed.
“Step back,” she ordered.
He retreated two paces.
“More.”
He moved back another two paces.
“I promise you, sir, my aim is as true at such short a
distance as it was when you were an inch from my face. Back against the door.”
Erroll complied. A light click indicated she had released
the hammer back into place. She rose, a small figure in the shadows, and picked
up something from the night table. The clink of glass was followed by the
scrape of a match on wood, then light flared and he got his first look at the
woman who claimed he had ravished away her innocence. Dark brown eyes pinned
him with a hard stare. Honey-brown hair tumbled down her shoulders. The top of
her head was no higher than his chest.
The muff pistol remained pointed at him as her attention
shifted to the lamp on the nightstand. She bent slightly and her full breasts
strained against the nightgown as she lit the wick. His cock jerked and he
couldn’t deny his good fortune in not having met her at Lady Baldwin’s party.
He very well might have fallen prey to her charms and been guilty of her
accusations.
She blew out the match and tossed it onto a metal tray, then
took a step toward him. The lamplight illuminated the outline of her body
through the nightgown. The curves he discerned were fuller than were
fashionable and the kind he’d sought without success. His cock began to lift.
He might end up shot after all.
“You are no common housebreaker,” she said. “Who are you?”
Erroll’s mind snapped
to attention. The wench didn’t recognize him. Fury doused his lust. He gave a
mocking smile and bowed. “Lord Erroll Rushton, at your service.”
Shock registered on her face, then an answering fire
appeared in her eyes. “I see we shall have to break you of the habit of entering
a lady’s room uninvited.”
“You use the term lady too loosely.”
“That is the pot calling the kettle black.”
He nearly laughed.
“One would think a prospective groom could keep his cock in
his pants with his wedding but two days hence,” she said.
“Three days,” Erroll corrected. That was how long it would
take him to get the special license his father ordered him to procure. “Pray
tell, what sort of lady carries a gun?” He didn’t ask what lady used the word ‘cock’ as easily as the word ‘groom?’ That
was perhaps too obvious.
“The sort who knows what to expect of a man,” she replied.
“The very sort who understands a man might object to being
forced into marriage?” he said.
She gave a derisive laugh. “You are a rakehell, sir.”
“I never denied being a rake, madam, but I am no liar.”
She wasn't what he’d expected. He’d been told this was to be
her second season, but this woman was no debutante and, given the way she
unabashedly stood before him in her nightclothes, he would wager she was no
virgin.
“Surely, you’re a little old for this game?” he drawled.
Her brow knit, but he detected no shame. She was too
collected. But a level head—along with a liberal dose of nerve—is exactly what
it took to accuse a complete stranger of compromising her.
“Did you really think you could get away with it?” she
asked.
The question startled him.
“Now who is the pot calling the kettle black?” he said. She
shifted and Erroll could have sworn he discerned a dark patch between her legs.
“A shame we met under these circumstances.” He flicked a glance at her breasts.
“We could have been friends.”
Her mouth thinned. “By God, I really should shoot you.”
“Tut tut, love, not until the vows are said and I claim what
is left of your virtue.”
She drew in a sharp breath.
“Your righteous anger is completely undone by the fact that
you’re nearly naked.”
Her mouth twisted in a derisive smile. “Forgive me, my lord.
Had I known you were coming, I would have dressed for the occasion.”
“You are impeccably dressed for the occasion.”
Did she have any idea how visible the contours of her body
were with the lamplight behind her…or how her nipples pressed against her
nightgown? She shifted, widening her stance slightly and his cock jerked
harder.
Oh yes, the witch knew.
“I should send you to hell this instant,” she said.
He lifted a brow. “The marriage vows will take care of
that—had I any intentions of marrying.”
“My father will ensure that you do not escape this time.”
“That sounds as though you think I am getting what I
deserve.”
“You do not deserve such a good and innocent wife.”
Erroll laughed. “Innocent? A woman who puts herself in such
a position is no innocent.”
“How dare you?” she hissed.
“How dare I? I understand there were several suitors for the
honorable Miss Crenshaw’s attentions at Lady Baldwin’s party. I wager none of
them were as good a prospect as I, which is why you gambled that no one would
notice if I was included on that list.”
He didn’t miss the way her fingers flexed on the gun.
“In that we are alike. Should my father succeed in coercing
me into marriage, I will make the worst sort of husband you can imagine. I will
not settle down and sire an heir as he expects. Instead, I will send my wife to
the family estate in Scotland while I go about my pleasures in London.”
“So the choice is desertion or ruination?”
“Be honest, the ruination was done long before you concocted
this plan.”
“Plan?” she repeated. “I feel certain I can convince the
magistrate of self-defense. After all, you broke into my room.”
“Think again.” Erroll reached into his pocket.
“Beware,” she said.
He slowly withdrew the key from his pocket and held it up.
“The innkeeper was very obliging. He feels nothing should stand in the way of
true love.”
She frowned, then comprehension cleared her expression. “I
should have guessed. You think you can browbeat me into helping you avoid the
marriage vows. You, sir, are the worst sort of knave.”
“So we do understand one another.”
“You are a fool,” she muttered.
He’d had enough. “You are the fool if you believe I will
marry you.”
“Marry me? What—”
Erroll started toward her.
She took a faltering step backwards and he lunged. She gave
a startled cry. He seized the hand holding the gun and shoved it upward in
their tumble backwards. They landed on the bed, him on top of her. Her lush
body yielded beneath his hard planes—his stiffening cock in particular. To his
surprise, she didn’t struggle, but released the pistol. The weapon bounced off
the mattress and struck the carpet with a thud.
“Is this how you described my having ravished you?” he
demanded.
Shock registered on her face. He blew out a frustrated
breath. He’d come ready to battle the vixen and she was already crumbling.
Moisture appeared in her eyes. Ah, there it was. She was simply moving onto
another tactic.
“Lies, pistols, tears, and…” He moved suggestively against
her breasts and felt the rigid nipples beneath his shirt. “Your arsenal of
weapons is impressive, madam.”
“I tell you, mamma, I heard a scream.”
A woman’s voice penetrated the door on the right wall.
Erroll jerked his gaze in that direction as the door swung open. Two women
stood in the doorway staring, one young—in her second season, he would
guess—the other, the mamma the girl had addressed.
Erroll looked at the woman lying beneath him. “I thought
that was a closet.”
15 comments:
I've read quite a few of the books in your list, but I think my favorite is "Highland Velvet" by Jude Deveraux
You know I wish I could pick just one :( but there is no way. Everyone I have every read had me at the word Highlander... woo I love them kilts ;) Who doesn't
There's a lot of them I like so can't really pick a fave but I have enjoyed reading a lot of the books mentioned above. Donna Grant and Jennifer Ashley also have written some awesome highlander series :)
I've read a few but my first was Julie Garwood's "The Bride". You always remember your first.
Lynn
lareynolds0316@gmail.com
My favorite highlander romance is Outlander.
I'm dying to read the book after that fabulous excerpt!
A ll of Donna Grant and Janet Chapmans highlanders ,Mary Whites ,Eliza Knight ,Donna Fletcher,to name a few of my most favorite highlander writers .
ooooh... this looks and sounds awesome! Thanks so much for sharing :) My fav is both The Bride and the Secret by Julie Garwood. They were my gateway into historical romane.
My wild Highlander.
My favorite Highlander is Jamie Fraser from the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Loved the excerpt from To Tame a Highland Earl. Thanks for sharing.
So many! Karen Ranney writes wonderful Highland Romances!
I started reading Julia Garwoods books about 10 years ago, and I too love the Bride. I think Alex is one of the hottest characters for Highland books. We visited Scotland two years ago, and took The Bride with me for my car reads. Its one you can read over and over again :-)
One of my favorites is Highland Solution by Ceci Giltenan.
Jamie and Claire from Outlander and all the Karen Marie Moning Highlanders.
I love Karen Hawkins books about the Highland...she made me fall in love with them!!!!
I love Janet Chapman's highlander books!
Thanks for the chance to win!
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