Showing results by author "Christi Caldwell" in All Categories

Polite Society doesn't take Lady Anne Adamson seriously. However, Anne isn't just another pretty young miss. When she discovers her father betrayed her mother's love and her family descended into poverty, Anne comes up with a plan to marry a respectable, powerful, and honorable gentleman - a man nothing like her philandering father.

To distance herself from a personal scandal, Abigail Stone flees America to visit her uncle, the Duke of Somerset. She finds herself helplessly intrigued by the hard, too proper Geoffrey. With his strict appreciation for decorum and order, he's nothing like the man she's always dreamed of.

Lady Eve Pruitt has never forgotten her childhood friend, the young pickpocket Calum, who she feared had been condemned to the gallows. Now, years later, Eve is the one in danger. Her brother, made desperate by gambling debts, threatens to steal her inheritance, and Eve has no choice but to run. Under an assumed name, she takes a job as a bookkeeper at the notorious Hell and Sin Club. Nothing in this bawdy den shocks her more than discovering that her employer is none other than Calum. Keeping her identity a secret is one thing - but hiding her feelings for him is another.

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.

With ruin bearing down on his sisters, Wynn Masterson, Marquess of Exmoor, must find a respectable wife posthaste. Lovely and formidable brides-to-be accost him from one end of Mayfair to the other, but it’s the retiring Lady Caroline Brookfield who catches his eye.

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.

Lady Patrina Tidemore gave up on the ridiculous notion of true love after having her heart shattered and her trust destroyed by a black-hearted cad. Used as a pawn in a game of revenge against her brother, Patrina returns to London from a failed elopement with a tattered reputation and little hope for a respectable match. The only peace she finds is in her solitude on the cold winter days at Hyde Park.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

At the notorious Hell and Sin Club nestled in London's dark streets, Niall Marksman relishes taking the fortunes of the very same society that once disregarded his existence. Oh yes, Niall has sold his soul to the devil and paid dearly. It's only when Lady Diana Verney appears at the gaming club looking for help that Niall knows that the devil has finally come to collect...by forcing him to protect the duke's pampered daughter.

Lady Imogen Moore hasn't had an easy time of it since she made her coming out three seasons ago. With her betrothed, a powerful duke, breaking it off to wed her sister, she's become the tons favorite piece of gossip. Never again wanting to experience the pain of a broken heart, she's resolved to make a match with a polite, respectable gentleman. The last thing she wants is another reckless rogue.

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.

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.

After the tragic death of his wife, Jasper, the 8th Duke of Bainbridge buried himself away in the dark cold walls of his home, Castle Blackwood. When he's coaxed out of his self-imposed exile to attend the amusements of the Frost Fair, his life is irrevocably changed by his fateful meeting with Lady Katherine Adamson. With her tight brown ringlets and silly white-ruffled gowns, Lady Katherine Adamson has found her dance card empty for two Seasons.

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....