Showing results by author "Christi Caldwell" in All Categories

Miss Marcia Collins's cameo-perfect life is destroyed, when scandal leaves her standing alone at the altar on her wedding day. Her heart shattered, she decides to embrace her ruined reputation, and explore every forbidden pleasure. All she needs is a little help from her long-time friend - and society’s most wicked rogue - Andrew Barrett, Viscount Waters. He has no interest in marriage, or respectability, but even he knows he should avoid Marcia, and her harebrained attempts to embark on a life of impropriety. That is, until they push the boundaries too far.

Lady Cara Falcot has only served one purpose to her loathsome father - to increase his power through a marriage to the future Duke of Billingsley. As such, she's built protective walls about her heart, and presents an icy facade to the world around her. Journeying home from her finishing school for the Christmas holidays, Cara's carriage is stranded during a winter storm. She's forced to tarry at a ramshackle inn, where she immediately antagonizes another patron - William.

Bookish and spirited Lady Lettie Brookfield is firmly on the shelf. The last thing she wants, however, is to spend the rest of her days as an unmarried sister, dependent upon her family’s charity. Accepting she won’t have a love match, she finds herself coming around to the idea of marrying the only suitor she’s ever had..that is until she's suddenly reunited with her brother's former best friend, the brooding, formally charming, Anthony, Duke of Granville.

Intrigued by the scandal of London’s Lost Lords, intrepid Miss Faye Poplar resolves to untangle the mystery of those complicit in the disappearance of the young lords and ladies - even if it leads her to the steps of the most powerful peers. But she’ll require the help only one man can provide...the ruthless Beast of Newgate.

Regina (Reggie) Spark has loved Broderick Killoran, the resourceful and protective proprietor of the Devil’s Den, ever since he saved her from the streets and made her his right hand at the notorious gaming hell. For just as long, Reggie has never admitted her true feelings for him. Nor has she revealed her spirited ambitions - to buck convention and expectations and open a music hall. While Broderick built his gaming empire with ruthless cunning, his loyalty to his employees is boundless.

A family scandal has left artist Claire Poplar without friends, suitors, or means. Art is her only joy and respite, despite her talent being mocked by famed artist Caleb Gray. On an impulse, knowing there is no way back to the life she had before, Claire decides on her own path. A path that will see her wed, and no longer a financial burden and spinster poor relation. The wedding may be a business arrangement, but it will give Claire freedom and stability away from the prying eyes and censure of society.

I don’t want visitors. But when the butler says the caller is a she, I spring to attention. The night just got a lot more interesting. Turns out the recently orphaned Helia Wallace has come to see my mother, her godmother, for help with a dastardly, dowry-chasing cousin. A likely story. But there’s a snowstorm brewing, and she begs me to let her stay the night. I reluctantly agree. It’s her reputation at stake, not mine.

Cailin Audley doesn’t fit in with Polite Society. A life spent among the working class taught her to value her independence in a way no newfound fortune or glittering ballroom could ever erase. When a major misstep sees the new heiress whisked away to the English countryside, Cailin soon realizes the vexing lengths her family will go to see her settled. But having risked her heart once before, Cailin has no interest in the men of the ton—especially not the frustratingly charming duke of St. James.

All she wants is security. The last place finishing school instructor Mrs. Jane Munroe belongs is in polite Society. Vowing to never wed, she's been scuttled around from post to post. Now she finds herself in the Marquess of Waverly's household. She's never met a nobleman she liked, and when she meets the pompous, arrogant marquess, she remembers why. But soon, she discovers Gabriel is unlike any gentleman she's ever known.

Years ago, when Nick Tallings, the recent Duke of Huntly, watched his family destroyed at the hands of a merciless nobleman, he vowed revenge. But his efforts had been futile, as his enemy, Lord Rutland is without weakness. With his rival finally happily married, Nick is able to set his ruthless scheme into motion. His plot hinges upon Lord Rutland's innocent, empty-headed sister-in-law, Justina Barrett. Nick will ruin her, marry her, and then leave her brokenhearted.

Thanks to her older siblings, Lady Penelope Tidemore is no stranger to scandal. In order for her to make a good match, her secret longings for intrigue and romance must be quelled. Yet it is through terrible mischance that Penelope is caught in a compromising position—however innocent—with the darkly enigmatic viscount Ryker Black. Mr. Black is no gentleman. Raised from the streets and proprietor of the most notorious gaming hell in London, Black lives in a world filled with debauchery and danger.

When Bridget masquerades as the baron's newest housekeeper, he's hopelessly intrigued by her quick wit and her skill with antique tomes. It should be easy enough to keep Bridget at arm's length, yet desire for her dogs his steps. As they spend time in each other's company, understanding for life grows as does love, but when Bridget's integrity is called into question, Vail's world is shattered. Now Bridget and Vail will have to overcome the horrendous secrets and lies between them to grasp a love - and life - together.

Rex DuMond, the Marquess of Rutherford, rules over London’s most wicked gaming hell Forbidden Pleasures. His black-hearted peers might spend their evenings in polite society, but they spend their nights gambling their wealth, land, and secrets away at his tables. No man can turn him from his chosen life of decadence and debauchery, not even his domineering and disapproving father.

Content with her spinster lifestyle, Miss Sybil Cunning wants to prove that a future as an unmarried woman is the only life for her. As a bluestocking who values hard, empirical data, Sybil needs help with her research. Nolan Pratt, Baron Webb, one of society's most scandalous rakes, is the perfect gentleman to help her. After all, he inspires fear in proper mothers and desire within their daughters.

For 10 years, Lady Daisy Meadows has been in love with Auric, the Duke of Crawford. Ever since his gallant rescue years earlier, Daisy knew she was destined to be his Duchess. Unfortunately, Auric sees her as his best friend's sister and nothing more. But perhaps, if she can manage to find the fabled heart of a duke pendant, she will win over the heart of her duke.

A widow with a past...The last thing Victoria Barrett, the Viscountess Waters, has any interest in is romance. When the only man she's ever loved was killed, she endured an arranged marriage to a cruel man in order to survive. Now widowed, her only focus is on clearing her son's name from the charge of murder. That is until the love of her life returns from the grave. A leader of a once great agency...Nathaniel Archer, the Earl of Exeter head of the Crown's elite organization, The Brethren, is back on British soil.

Martha Donaldson went from being a nobleman's wife, and respected young mother, to the scandal of her village. After learning the dark lie perpetuated against her by her "husband", she knows better than to ever trust a man. Her children are her life, and she'll protect them at all costs. When a stranger arrives seeking the post of stable master, everything says to turn him out. So why does she let him stay?

Adair Thorne has just watched his gaming-hell dream disappear into a blaze of fire and ash, and he’s certain that his competitors, the Killorans, are behind it. His fury and passion burn even hotter when he meets Cleopatra Killoran, a tart-mouthed vixen who mocks him at every turn. If she were anyone else but the enemy, she’d ignite a desire in him that would be impossible to control. No one can make Cleopatra do anything. That said, she’ll do whatever it takes to protect her siblings—even if that means being sponsored by their rivals for a season in order to land a noble husband.

Christian Villiers, the Marquess of St. Cyr, despises the role he's been cast into as fortune hunter but requires the funds to keep his marquisate solvent. Yet, the sins of his past cloud his future, preventing him from seeing beyond his fateful actions at the Battle of Toulouse. For he knows inevitably it will catch up with him, and everyone will remember his actions on the battlefield that cost so many so much - particularly his best friend.

Ruthless, wicked, and dark, the Marquess of Rutland rouses terror in the breasts of ladies and noblemen alike. All Edmund wants in life is power. After he was publically humiliated by his one love, Lady Margaret, he vowed vengeance, using Margaret's niece as his pawn. Except he's thwarted by another more enticing target: Miss Phoebe Barrett.