Showing results by narrator "Rebecca McKernan" in All Categories

They say only the brave ride Bridles Lane at night. Vicar Richard Dodge speaks of ghosts and demons, conducting elaborate exorcisms in his churchyard overlooking the lane. And with the villagers sheltering in fear, local smugglers carry their haul up the road to be hidden in the safety of the church. Isaac and Scarlett Bailey have spent their lives hiding contraband in Talland church. Forced into free trade by their father's mistakes, they want nothing more than to escape the smuggling syndicate and build a life above the law.

Journey through the colonies of 19th-century Australia with three stand-alone novels of love, loss, survival, and redemption. In 1806, a fateful decision sends Eleanor Marling from the salons of London to a prison ship bound for New South Wales. She is put to work at the female factory of Parramatta. English settler Grace Ashwell flees an abusive lover in Hobart Town, with six-year-old Violet in tow. Deep in the wilderness, they find a crude hut inhabited by an escaped convict long presumed dead.

Half vampire and half angel, Violet was abandoned amongst the humans in London as a baby. Suddenly discovering monstrous powers on her 21st birthday, she thinks she's the most dangerous creature to prowl the streets. She's wrong. When a snarky angel falls into her lap and her adopted sister disappears, she's forced into a new role: huntress.

Robbed of everything she loves, Viola mourns the sudden loss of her mother. Now burdened with an impossible debt to the Night Guild, she’s forced to train as a cunning thief. Subjected to cruelty at every turn, the scrawny criminal apprentice vows to survive long enough to become the kingdom’s best. Thrown together with unlikely allies, her burgeoning skills draw the attention of sadistic bullies and jealous rivals with dark intentions. But fueled by grief-filled rage, Viola won’t let anything distract her from preparing for the Guild’s most treacherous test.

Gabrielle Astley is quite used to being an afterthought, a burden, a nuisance. As the only child - and a useless female one at that - to a Baron, she was both spoiled materially and neglected emotionally. After her father's death, his third wife and her stepmother is remarried, to the stern and cold Marquess of Dunbury. Since the new Baron wants nothing to do with Gabrielle, the Marquess is her new guardian and Gabrielle finds herself in London, receiving her debut. Despite this turn of events, she can't quite shake her spite of her stepmother.

In the service of England's spymaster (well, his niece, but surely he'll appreciate the help), Miss Mary Wilson is on a mission to uncover a treasonous plot. Though her only clue leads to the debaucherous secret society of the marquess of Hartford, a lifetime of being overlooked should ensure her access to all of the gossip her assignment will require. There's just one problem: Mary is due to find a husband this season, and her aunt Elizabeth, the Viscountess Hood, is determined to see her niece shine bright.

Viola, a child sold to pay her father's debts, has lost everything: her mother, her home, and her identity. Thrown into a life among criminals, she has no time for grief as she endures the brutal training of an apprentice thief. The Night Guild molds an innocent waif into a cunning, agile outlaw skilled in the thieves' trade. She has only one choice: steal enough to pay her debts.

Adored. Cherished. Pampered. Lady Delilah Darling lives an enviable life. But when cruel hands drive her away from home and into the dangerous streets of London, she's suddenly frightened, vulnerable, and alone. Desperate for safety, Lady Delilah stumbles right into the arms of Henry Gaunt, the irresistible overlord of the London Underground.

Felix Hood had been fighting the urge to be leg-shackled ever since he met Gabrielle Astley, but once her honor was at stake, he knew he'd rather die than allow her to marry someone else. He's not a perfect man, and he has no experience with being in a relationship, but he's determined to make his marriage work, even if he has to spank his fiery bride daily to do so.

Lily Davies' first—and final, if she has anything to say about it—Season in London is mercifully coming to an end. Exhausted by the parade of balls, importuning gentlemen, and the endless dismissal of her suspicions about a certain captain, Lily wants nothing more than to return to her quiet life of country walks and intensive study. Unfortunately for this bluestocking, she is besieged en route to Derbyshire and kidnapped by a highwayman.

She always dreamed of marrying a Stuart brother. Just not the one who meets her at the altar. Furious at the circumstances leading her to be wed to the wrong Stuart brother, Josephina Pennyworth clashes immediately with her bossy new husband. As she tests her husband's patience and the boundaries of her new life, the threat lurking in the shadows grows larger and places more lives in peril. Who among them will survive?

Angel World is no heaven.... Held prisoner, Violet never anticipated her long-lost mother would be the poisonous queen of angel world. Or that she’d be forced to rule as a corrupted princess or risk a perilous escape. When a harem boy angel draws Violet into the dark court, she’s thrown into deadly trials that even her monstrous powers may not be able to overcome. If she refuses, both the snarky angel and geek vampire she loves will be enslaved to a powerful cult.

Lydia's Penance: Lydia is desperate to escape her stepfather's household, so when she hears the Duke of Manchester say that he doesn't care who he weds, she decides his reputation for being an honorable man and his indifference to who his wife will be makes him the perfect husband. Unfortunately, the Duke is not pleased to be trapped into a marriage with a woman who is keeping secrets from him. Can love still find a way?

Amy is stuck in a rut. After graduating, she never left her temporary job at the motorway service station. Daily visits from a mysterious woman are the highlight of her days. Until one day, when the mystery woman vanishes. Amy investigates the disappearance and makes a shocking discovery. Suddenly, she's being framed, and no-nonsense Claudia McAllister is being sent to arrest her. Will Amy's unique approach to evading capture prove successful?

Interpol cop, Anna Leyton, spirals down into a hopeless vortex of sexual and emotional turmoil, as she fights to keep her professional cool in her latest assignment. A boxing referee is dead in a river, and millions of dollars are placed on sexy boxer and playboy Freddie La Salle's next fight. What will happen when the charismatic suspect she is tracking turns on his charm and seduces her? Will passion take control? Find out in this suspenseful, action-filled, pulse-pounding adventure that will take you on a roller-coaster ride of passionate romance, deception, danger, and love.

In 1806, a fateful decision sends Eleanor Marling from the salons of London to a prison ship bound for New South Wales. She is put to work at the female factory of Parramatta, where the women’s only hope of food and lodgings is to offer their bodies to the settlement’s men. Nell is given shelter by Lieutenant Blackwell, a brooding soldier to whom she is inexplicably drawn. Despite warnings from the other women, Blackwell’s motives seem decent, and beneath the roof of a military officer, Nell sees a chance to become more than a convict woman sent to the factory to be forgotten.

Lady Arabella Windham, sister to the Duke of Manchester, has given up on ever attracting the positive attention of Lord Thomas Hood. After discovering he still sees her as the same hoydenish young woman she was in the past, no matter her current perfectly ladylike behavior, and realizing she will never match up to his infamous list of attributes for a wife, she throws caution to the wind and becomes more reckless than ever. Why bother being good if it's not going to even be noticed, much less acknowledged?

Summoned from her contemplative life in the abbey, Alexandra Ashford finds herself at the mercy of her malicious guardian, a cousin she fears and despises. He plans to force her to marry his crony and so forfeit her estate. Her only chance of escape is to trust the wounded man imprisoned by her cousin. Taken captive and chained to his torturer's floor, clan laird Ian McGregor is left for dead after a brutal beating. He has little hope of escape. But when his enemy's betrothed offers him freedom and asks for his help, he realizes revenge could be sweet indeed.

Perpetually vexed by his misbehaving niece, the Marquess of Camden and Spymaster to the Crown is putting his foot down once and for all. If Evie wants to be part of the hunt for the traitor, she's going to do so under the auspices of Captain Anthony Browne...the man she seduced in France before disappearing into the night after he asked her to be his mistress.

Adrian Strathmore, a reclusive genius haunted by his past, leads a double life. By day, he is an enigmatic genius, revered for his intellect and eccentricity. But it is under the cover of darkness that he becomes Prometheus, the masked avenger who rescues innocent children from the clutches of a merciless underworld. Scarred both inside and out, he finds solace in his hidden identity and the noble purpose it serves.