Showing results by author "Christi Caldwell" in All Categories

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.

Long ago, Dare Grey disappeared from privilege to help the downtrodden. Abandoning his future as a nobleman, he instead came of age as the most skilled - and wanted - thief in East London. But when the Robin Hood of the Rookeries is captured, his influential grandfather offers him a choice: face his heritage...or the gallows. And to step into his rightful role as marquess, Dare must find a wife. Little do they know, he already has. Marrying Dare rescued young Temperance Swift from a brutal life.

Society's most infamous scoundrel, Daniel Winterbourne, the Earl of Montfort, has been promised a small fortune if he can relinquish his wayward, carousing lifestyle. And behaving means he must also help find a respectable companion for his youngest sister - someone who will guide her and whom she can emulate. However, Daniel knows no such woman. But when he encounters a childhood friend, Daniel believes she may just be the answer to all of his problems.

Marcus, the Viscount Wessex has carefully crafted the image of rogue and charmer for polite society. Under that façade, however, dwells a man whose dreams were shattered almost eight years earlier by a young lady who captured his heart, pledged her love, and then left him, with nothing more than a curt note. Eight years earlier, faced with no other choice, Mrs. Eleanor Collins fled London and the only man she ever loved, Marcus, Viscount Wessex. he has now returned to serve as a companion for her elderly aunt, with a daughter in tow.

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.

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.

Gertrude, the eldest Killoran sister, has spent a lifetime being underestimated - especially by her own family. She may seem as vulnerable as a kitten, but given the chance, she can be as fierce as a tiger. Her adopted brother, Stephen, has just been snatched back by his true father, and she’ll be damned if she relinquishes the boy to the man reviled throughout London as the Mad Marquess.

Years ago, Miles Brookfield, the Marquess of Guilford, made a frivolous vow he never thought would come to fruition - he promised to marry his mother's goddaughter if he was unwed by the age of 30. Now, to his dismay, he's faced with honoring that pledge. But when he encounters the beautiful and intriguing Lady Philippa, Miles knows his true path in life. It's up to him to break down every belief Philippa carries about gentlemen, proving not only that is love real but that he is the man deserving of her sheltered heart.

To solve a mystery that’s become the talk of the ton, no clues run too deep for willful reporter Verity Lovelace. Not even in the sewers of London. That’s precisely where she finds happily self-sufficient scavenger Malcom North, lost heir to the Earl of Maxwell. Now that Verity’s made him front-page news, what will he make of her? Kidnapped as a child, with no memories of his well-heeled past, Malcom prefers the grimy spoils of the culverts to the gilded riches of society.

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.

Christopher Ansley, Earl of Waxham, has constructed a perfect image for the ton - the ladies love him and his company is desired by all. Only two people know the truth about Waxham's secret. Unfortunately, one of them is Miss Sophie Winters. Sophie Winters has known Christopher since she was in leading strings. As children, they delighted in tormenting each other. Now at one-and-twenty, she still has a tendency to find herself in scrapes, and her marital prospects are slim.

The death of her father leaves Miss Francesca Cornworthy alone and with one last wish to fulfill - that she marry a safe, respectable gentleman. She sets herself on a course to honor that request. That is, until she crosses paths with Mr. Lathan Holman - the very opposite type of gentleman her father wished her to wed.

Lieutenant Lucien Jones, son of a viscount, returned from war, to find his wife and child dead. Blaming his father for the commission that sent him off to fight Boney's forces, he was content to languish at London Hospital... until offered employment on the Marquess of Drake's staff. Through his position, Lucien found purpose in life and is content to keep his past buried.

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.

Once before, Lady Alice Winterbourne trusted her heart to an honorable, respectable man... only to be jilted in the scandal of the season. Longing for an escape from all the whispers and humiliation, Alice eagerly accepts an invitation to her friend’s house party. In the country, she hopes to find some peace from the embarrassment left in London.... Unfortunately, she finds her former betrothed and his new bride in attendance.

Destitute and determined to finally be free of any man's shackles, Lily Benedict sets out to salvage her honor. With no choice but to commit a crime that will save her from her past, she enters the home of the recluse Derek Winters, the new Duke of Blackthorne. But entering the "Beast of Blackthorne's" lair proves more threatening than she ever imagined.

Lady Genevieve Farendale has a scandalous past. Jilted at the altar years earlier and exiled by her family, she's now returned to London to prove she can be a proper lady. Even though she's not given up on the hope of marrying for love, she's wary of trusting again. Then she meets Cedric Falcot, the Marquess of St. Albans, whose seductive ways set her heart aflutter. But with her sordid history, Genevieve knows a rake can also easily destroy her.

Since his wife was killed in an accident that stole his happiness and left him injured, William Helling, the Duke of Aubrey, is a broken man. Neither strong drink and loose women nor the power he wields as leader of the Brethren of Lords can free him from the nightmares that haunt him. He prefers to be left alone, and has no desire to heal the wound his life has become. Then one day Miss Elsie Allenby, rumored to be a skilled healer, enters his household. He should send her away and yet he’s enthralled by the mysterious stranger.

Annalee Spencer and Wayland Smith were uninhibited young lovers until the Peterloo Massacre set them on two different paths. Raised to the title of Baron of Darlington in recognition of his courage, Wayland is now a model of propriety and heroism. As for Annalee, the trauma of that tragic day in Manchester is ever present. To dull the pain, she lives only for pleasure. And she derives immense pleasure from co-leading the Mismatch Society, a league of scandalously independent women. Perhaps too scandalous....

As passions flare between Christina and Martin, she must choose between a future defined by predictable security or one built - with Martin - on a foundation of love.