Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland was a English writer, during her long career, she wrote over 700 books, making her one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century. She sold over 1,000 million copies throughout the world, earning her a place in the Guinness Book of Records. The world's most famous romantic novelist, she also wrote autobiographies, biographies, health and cookery books, and stage plays and recorded an album of love songs. She was often billed as the Queen of Romance, and became one of the United Kingdom's most popular media personalities, appearing often at public events and on television, dressed in her trademark pink and discoursing on love, health and social issues.
She started her writing career as a gossip columnist for the Daily Express. She published her first novel, Jigsaw, a society thriller, in 1923. It was a bestseller. She went on to write myriad novels and earn legions of fans, she also wrote under her married name Barbara McCorquodale. Some of her books were made into films. Ever the romantic, during WWII, she served as the Chief Lady Welfare Officer in Bedfordshire. She gathered as many wedding dresses as she could so that service brides would have a white gown to wear on their wedding day. She also campaigns for the rights of Gypsies, midwives and nurses.
Barbara Cartland passed away on 21 May 2000, with 160 still unpublished manuscripts, that are being published posthumously.
PRISONER OF WEALTH AND UNDISCOVERED PASSION Lady Diana Stanlier was the most desirable beauty in fashionable London. Headstrong, reckless, and adorable, her escapades scandal and delight of the press. Half the eligible men in town were helplessly en...
Original title: A Virgin in Mayfair A Debutante In Love Lovely young Maxine left the nuns' school eagerly awaiting the glamour and gaiety of coming out. Her sophisticated and beautiful Aunt Dorothy would teach her everything, introduce her to e...
She Had To Make Her Own Way... Fiona was an orphan at the height of the financial ruin of the late 1920's. She had no skills; she had no benefactor. A beautiful face and a lovely figure were the only tools with which she could earn her living. ...
Life for Doreen Wallis had reached its lowest point, child of a father who had been cashiered from his Regiment, and a querulous mother, she had been brought up rootless and insecure in Cairo. Pepi, rich and more than twice her age, had married her. ...
Love's Fortunes... Lovely Diana Headley, London's brightest socialite, had everything--wealth, beauty, her choice of suitors. Then tragedy struck her family. Overnight she was penniless, a social outcast. Leaving the remnants of her shattered l...
Gift Of Innocence Linda Snell, a rising young model at one of London's best fashion houses, had many rare qualities besides her golden hair and frail beauty--especially her courageous honesty and appealing innocence. Linda never denied that she...
Vanda Sudbury and Robert, the Earl of Cunningham, had been friends from childhood. They knew all each other's faults and weaknesses and squabbled like brother and sister.So when her father tried to force a marriage between them, they were equally hor...
"This book portrays a woman's pilgrimage as she searches for the enlightenment and illumination of her mind and soul. Every contact we make with other people, every difficulty, every disillusionment can teach us a lesson. Only in finding the Spiritua...
LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM To be alone with him was all Vivian desired. To feel Jimmy Loring's lips on hers, to hear his tender words of love was a dream of ecstasy. Then one night, as they stood together in the shadows of a summer-house in Monte Carlo, s...
Young, beautiful Marcia Fletcher was obliged to be her father's companion until she married, but the men she met on the Riviera filled her with loathing. She dreamed of a Prince Charming whom she would love and who would love her. She never showed a ...
LOVE'S PAINFUL INTERLUDE Ravishing Helga Hildergard had no way of knowing, when first she set eyes on Frank Swinton, that he would be the love of her life. Yet, before long, to be his bride was her only desire. Then, in a twinkling, Helga learned...
Love's Surprises When young attractive Lydia Brant was widowed, she agreed to become companion to the willful, golden-haired Ann Taverel. Eighteen-year-old Ann was determined to travel to Cairo, to visit the mother who had deserted her eleven year...
First meeting....? When young Lady Gwendolyn Sherbroke first meets Sir Philip Chadleigh, the devastatingly handsome Member of Parliament, she knows there is something strangely familiar about him. But she is sure she has never met him before. She ha...
Original title: The Gods Forget LOVE'S POWER Beautiful innocent Jacinda was defiant when Helen, her ravishing and impulsive mother, took her sister Fleur and fled the Castle. Since then, Jacinda had dedicated herself to her willful and exorbita...
LOVE'S GAMBLE Lorna was too busy being a mother to her younger brothers and sisters and brother to think about romance, even though the town's young doctor ardently wanted to marry her. Then a dashing airman swept into town, who came into Lorna's l...
TOO LATE FOR LOVE Lovely young Mela thought her heart was broken when her fiance Tim found a new love. Jilted, she tries to escape from unhappiness by flying from Canada to England, perhaps working as secretary for her uncle, who is a member of the ...
THE FLAMES OF LOVE Exquisite, flame-haired Mona had known an ecstasy too powerful to resist. But now the forbidden interlude was over. Now she was returning to her ancestral village, hiding the hurt in her heart. "At least," she thought, "I can find...
Journey to love Lady Stella Marsden had been crushed in an explosion. Only the incredible skill of a famous surgeon had saved her life. But lovely Stella longed to die. Her hopes and dreams had been shattered--first by the stinging cruelty of her ...
Nothing could have been further from Fenella's mind than romance when Major Rex Ransome appeared at her door and requested lodging. Her father's notorious lifestyle kept most passers-by from stopping at Four Gables, but Fenella was so busy running th...
CRISIS OF LOVE Theirs had been an ecstatic marriage, blessed with love and wealth and passion. But now their lives were strangely altered. Confined to a wheelchair for more than six years, beautiful Lydia's marriage had slowly crumbled about her. W...
UNCERTAINTY Christine read the letter in disbelief. Was she really to have another chance? Could she bear to return to her childhood home to care for her brother's three orphan children? She had run away with a married actor twenty years before an...
LOVE'S DARK SECRET Fleur Garton was lovely. Yet it seemed she was born under a tragically unlucky star. She was a perpetual refugee from the ravages of war. And she found herself an unwitting victim of a series of unhappy love affairs. Her destiny...
FORBIDDEN LOVE Yesterday her future seemed to rest upon the charity of a distant uncle who had always regarded her with contempt. But a deathbed promise had brought golden-haired Sylvia Wace to the imposing estate of Sir Robert Sheldon. There s...
LESSONS OF LOVE Sir John Melton was handsome, reserved, and formidably rich. When he offered to marry charming Ann, daughter of an impoverished country doctor, she reluctantly accepted. She would be able to keep her motherless family together. ...
Love's revenge When exquisite Cynthia Standish met Michael Fielding, he harshly accused her of betraying his friend. Outraged by Michael's arrogance, Cynthia was determined to get revenge. And so -- with the consummate art o f a woman bred to w...
A MAN OF MYSTERY Cynthia had lost the two things she loved most in the world--first Peter, the man she was to marry, and then Birch Vale, the country estate that had been her family's pride. She had not been able to help losing Peter. Birch Val...
SECRET DREAMS When their father died, he left a wealth of respect and affection behind, but very little money. So the enchanting sisters left Cornwall to look for work in London. Exquisite golden-haired Anne dreamed of marrying a distinguished ...
WEAPONS OF LOVE Now Jean knew that she loved him, overwhelmingly and with every fiber of her being. She had loved him from the first second of their meeting--loved him when she had first trusted him, when she had known she must do whatever he wished...
Could she set free from the secret that threatened their love? They were strangers, meeting by destiny in a lonely, moonlit wood. Because of an indiscretion, Lady Caroline Faye finds herself in a moonlit glade beside the body of a dead man, and hi...
CHILD OF CHANCE Serena Staverley was happy at Staverley Court. She loved to roam the stately gardens of her family manor and dream of her future love. But then a cruel fate dealt her a shattering blow. Her father was killed in a duel after losing h...
FAMILY SECRETS When her Aunt Amy died, lovely Sally St. Vincent had no choice but to go to London and seek the sanctuary of the mother who had deserted her many years before--the famous actress Lynn Lystell. Lynn Lystell was as beautiful as Sal...
KNAVE OF HEARTS He was altogether the wrong sort of guardian for a beautiful young heiress -- a worldly rake and heartbreaker to guard the morals of an innocent child just out of school! But such was the fascination of the dashing Duke of Melcomb...
THE DIVIDED HEART 1750, Scottish Highlands. Four years after Bonnie Prince Charles had lost the battle of Culloden Moor, he and his friends are planning another Rising. The Duke of Arkrae, Chief of the Clan MacCraggan, is of great importance, owing...
PAWN OF VENGEANCE It was the gayest season Monte Carlo had ever known, and of all the beautiful bejewelled women, Mademoiselle Fantôme was causing a sensation. Who was the exquisite "ghost," with her shining golden hair and dreaming dark eyes? Why ...
LOVE IN DANGER Armand, Viscount Sherringham, first saw the beautiful young Comptesse bathing in a magical moonlit wood near Paris. And the worldly Armand knew this was the one woman who could make his life a glorious and exciting adventure. Bu...
BEAUTY ON TRIAL Rivaled only by the King's mistress, Lady Panthea Vyne was the most widely adored young beauty at the sumptuous Court of Charles II. But she could only think of the mysterious Cavalier who had once saved her from a harrowing life of ...
A Perilous Plot When her cousin Elizabeth's betrothal to the handsome but arrogant Sir Rupert Wroth was announced, Nerina felt only pity for her. First because the timid Elizabeth was already in love with another, a gentle and far more worthy man....
STOWAWAY A French foundling and a royal Englishman--could the gulf that separated them be bridged by love? When Amé fled the convent and hid herself in the Duke's carriage, she had no idea what awaited her in Paris, a city in the grip of intr...
THE KISS The day Rodney Hawkhurst rode into her father's grand estate, Lizbeth was but a wild young girl of eighteen, red hair unkempt, dirt on her apron, and an archer's bow in her hand. Then Rodney rudely took her in his arms and kissed her ...
DANGEROUS MASQUERADE Lady Lily Bedlington, the most beautiful woman at the Court of Edward VII, is terrified when her husband suspects her of having a love affair with the handsome young Duke of Roehampton. She is also furious when she learns that s...
THE GIRL AND THE MONARCH The young Comtesse Wanda was lovely and innocent. She had come to Vienna to have fun, to go to balls, to meet eligible young men. But the first man she met was the handsome Prince de Metternich, the greatest statesman o...
MARRIED TO DANGER Skye Standish, rich, beautiful, and willful, does not want the things that most girls want. She does not want a husband to love, or a life of boring domesticity. What she wants is freedom, adventure--even danger. And she finds...
Wildly excited Sabina Wantage, the eldest daughter of a country parson, is on her way to Monte Carlo. She had come with a sense of excitement and anticipation. How different it all was from the country parsonage she had left in England. Unexpectedly ...
UNPROTECTED Cleona Wickham's mother preferred to keep hidden the fact that she had a grown daughter. She sent Cleona to the country far from her glittering, sophisticated world. But when her mother suddenly decided to visit the country estates, Cle...
The feverish blood of Czars and Kings ran in his veins, and it was hotter than anyone suspected. As a child, he adored his beautiful, vivacious mother. But in his teens he heard gossip of her amorous intrigue and in rage he flung himself away from he...
MASQUERADE IN MADRID With her dying breath Ventura's mother had said, "Go to Madrid," and Ventura knew that, somehow, her destiny lay in that city. She dared to travel as page to the English Lord Lynke who was on his way to an arranged marriage wi...
The Counterfeit Empress An amazing resemblance to the beautiful Empress Elizabeth of Austria led Lady Gisela Musgrave into a strange assignment-to pose as the empress for a visit to the aging Lord Hugo Quenby, so that Elizabeth would not have to int...
Shy, unworldly, and penniless, Zaria Mansford had never known the delights of love. Now, suddenly, she had inherited a fortune. And bewildered Zaria found herself a passenger on her own luxury yacht, disguised as another girl. Could she carry out the...
CARNIVAL IN VENICE Life was a gay charade for the exiled, disinherited Sir Harvey Drake, but it was a serious matter for Paolina, finding herself an orphan and alone in the world after a shipwreck off the coast of Italy. Reluctantly, she agreed to...
LOVE OR LOYALTY Sir Hugh Ruckley lives with his young sister Leona in a castle on the Sussex coast. The caves below the castle have been used as a cache for contraband for many years. Leona saw her pleasure-loving brother falling ever more heavily i...
NO ESCAPE From the moment Gretna set out for London she was entangled in a web of perilous adventure. Her sudden encounter with the strange Marquis of Stade introduced her to a world of reckless pleasure seekers. When she arrived in London she found...
THE STOWAWAY Elvina stood before the ship's captain feeling more afraid than she'd guessed she would. She watched him appraise her black hair, dyed the night before her skin darkened with berry juice, her skinny frame of a figure. She could see that...
LOVE'S DILEMMA When Andora Bland's old-fashioned, mud-splattered coach rattled into the courtyard of Greenwich Palace, Sir Hengist Wake roared with laughter at the traveling "Ark." Andora was only a country maid, but she had the pride of a tartar....
THE ENIGMA OF JOSEPHINE She was to lie in the bed of Marie Antoinette and be crowned Empress of France. She was wanton, seductive and often deceitful--generous, extravagant, and incredibly greedy. She kept Napoleon waiting for her embrace until sh...
PRISONER OF LOVE Amanda Burke, daughter of a country vicar, had little experience with men until the day the dissolute Lord Ravenscar saw her in his garden -- and decided he must have her. Amanda's family was both shocked and pleased by the lor...
Proud golden-haired Sheena McCraggan had come to France as companion to the young Mary Queen of Scots, who was taking refuge in the court of Henri II. Sheena had heard much about Henri's sumptuous court-about the beautiful flirtatious women and the...
The Malevolent Legacy The mysterious Lady Lynche's dying wish was that her small son be returned to Lynche Castle where he could claim his inheritance. Lovely Carina Warner, alone and penniless, agreed to accompany him despite misgivings. What she w...
THE SECRET HEARTBREAK To the world, it was the most fantastic of marriages. One day Lucinda was an obscure, dowdy country girl; the next, she was the diamond-decked mistress of a vast London town house and wife to a young lord, legendary for his w...
THE IMPRISONED HEART Sir Marcus Welton was wealthy beyond her wildest expectation -- wealthy and anxious to marry her. Was this not precisely the miracle for which Tina Croome had hoped when she urged her guardian, the Earl of Wynchingham, to spon...
A YOUNG GIRL'S RUDE AWAKENING It was the spring of 1909, when Gardenia Weedon's mother died, leaving her penniless, Gardenia ran to the Paris home of her one living relative--the wealthy and beautiful Duchess de Mabillon. Travel-stained, weary and p...
A BEAUTIFUL IMPOSTOR Cleona had agreed to the daring masquerade only for the sake of her best friend, Leonie. Cleona, impersonating her friend, was to visit the Dowager Duchess of Lynke--the grandmother who had not seen Leonie since childhood. ...
WAKE TO A NIGHTMARE Penniless and therefore of no consequence, Melinda lived with her uncle, Sir Hector Stanyon. But she was too beautiful for an orphan--too enchanting not to attract the young man her cousin Charlotte hoped to marry--she felt only ...
THE RANSOMED HEART In a swirling sea mist the Lord Trydon Raven, Duke of Westacre came upon an extraordinary young woman. She was beautiful, spoke with the voice of a lady, and treated him with disdain. Caroline Standish was, in fact, the most bewit...
In 1902. Plump Virginia Clay, was dominated by her mother, Mrs. Stuyvesant Clay, widow of an American millionaire. She knew quite well why Sebastian Ryll, the future Duke of Camberford, wanted to marry her. He was sorely in need of money--and Virgini...
When the Marquis of Meridale returned to his castle at last, many surprises awaited him. Among them was Arabella--a wispy, outspoken girl who was as baffling as she was beautiful. Why did Arabella shrink from his touch? Why did she never speak of he...
STRANGE PROPOSAL When the Prince of Meldenstein asks for Camilla's hand in marriage, he virtually saves her family from destruction. The huge marriage settlement will help her bankrupt father pay the doctor bills that will save her mother's life. Be...
AN INNOCENT IN LOVE... When her father dies, beautiful Candida Walcott, left penniless, knows she will have to sell the one thing she loves most in the world--her black stallion, Pegasus. But, as luck has it, Major Hooper, the London stable-owner wh...
TOO LATE FOR LOVE 'Druscilla, it is I - Valdo. For God's sake open the door.' It is the raffish, irresistible Marquis of Lynche, an avowed bachelor, who pleads for help. Earlier in the day he had taken refuge from some wild party games in the S...
LOVE'S COMMAND 1803 is the year of the expected invasion of Bonaparte's fleet, and hundreds of flat-bottomed barges in the ports of France are waiting to carry his seasoned troops across the Channel. Unprepared England is in the grip of spy fever an...
LOVELESS BRIDE The handsome Earl of Droxford relished all the privileges of being wealthy--and a bachelor. Now, because of King William's decree, he must be married within a month. "Find me a wife," he told his beautiful mistress. "A complacent, c...
SHE IS LOVELY The Marquis gazed in amazement at Fortuna's gold-white hair and enchanting little face. "She's unlike anyone I've seen before:" But that was not true, he realized. She was like someone! Who was it? Who could it be? When the Mar...
REJECTED LOVE Handsome Lord Melburne was restless and bored. Bored with the Prince of Wales' lavish parties and the fashionable beauties who longed for his love. Then a strange message from an unknown woman lured him away from London. And he met t...
One of the most dashing and desirable bachelors in all London finds himself unexpectedly caught up in the plight of a beautiful young runaway. Lord Melsonby and the lovely young heiress, Perdita Lyford, become enmeshed in a romantic adventure that sw...
Paris in 1869 was a wildly extravagant society, one in which women valued jewels above love and lavish spending brought rich men to ruin. Yet it was to Paris that the breathtakingly beautiful Lady Corinna Vernon fled in order to escape her shrewish a...
The lovely young Orelia Stanyon is a country girl, who was alone in the world. She was a little family, only a dying uncle and a wild cousin. Her cousin Caroline, a beautiful woman who lived a wild and impetuous existence, hardly was the proper guard...
Celesta was terrified. Parentless and alone save for tl companionship of her old nurse, she had just learned that her brother Giles had lost their family home at the gambling tables. Celesta couldn't stay in her tiny cottage the edge of the estate wi...
IN SEARCH OF A DUCHESS "His Most Noble Perfection," the London Bucks called him. The elegant Duke of Selchester was indeed perfection--with his handsomely garbed figure and his devastatingly good looks. Now he wanted the perfect wife, well-bred and ...
For lovely young Atalanta Lynton, the proposed marriage to her cousin William, Viscount Cottesford, seemed an answer to her prayers-- until she found herself deeply in love with Paul Beaulieu, a handsome young painter. Atalanta is forced to choose be...
England, 1799. Alyna saw no escape. Her mother, a selfish and cruel woman, insisted that she marry the wealthy Prince Ahmadi of Kahriz, a man who made the beautiful Alyna cringe in horror. She saw only one way out -- a cold leap into the Thames. A...
Sir George Stanton dies leaving his wife, his four beautiful daughters and his son Nicky, the new baronet, with no money. To Lady Stanton, the idea was unthinkable. However, Nicky must finish his time at Oxford, so to help him Larisa decides to beco...
In 1819, Lady Vesta Cressinton-Font travels alone to the small Mediterranean island of Katona as bride by proxy to its hereditary Prince. As soon as she left her ship and set foot on to Katona, the blue-eyed, exquisitely beautiful Vesta felt frighten...
Lady Marisa Berrington-Crecy had decided to write a book--an amusing, scandalous, gossipy book that would set Edwardian society on its decadent ear. And what better place to gather information than Vox Castle, home of the Duke of Milverley, an attrac...
Beautiful young Kamala Lindsey knew she had to run away. Her cruel uncle, with his Victorian ideas, had threatened her life if she did not marry whom he wanted --a tired old man of sixty! And so, she did run away from her uncle's home. Riding toward...
The Earl of Rothingham was a rake, an unrepentant rake. All of eighteenth-century England declared him so after he refuses a request from the Prince of Wales requested to marry his mistress--Lady Elaine Wilmot-- to choose himself a bride and leaves t...
AN IMPOSSIBLE ARRANGEMENT When they were still children, their loving fathers had arranged that heiress Cassandra Sherburn would marry with the heir of the Duke of Alchester, the young Marquis of Charlbury. Now that Cassandra was old enough to beco...
1804. For as long as Lucretia Hedley could remember, she had loved the Merlyncourt estate and its handsome young lord, the Marquis of Merlyncourt. He was the most desired bachelor in all of England and now, suddenly, she was to become the Marquis' wi...
Lovely redheaded Fenella Lambert had loved her handsome cousin since they had played together as children. So when Lord Perequine Corbury returned from fighting Napoleon's Army to find himself destitute, it was she who suggested that daring plan that...
During a state ball at Buckingham palace, the lovelly half-Russian Tatika Lynch meets Lord Crowley, a wealthy member of Edwardian society. Tatika's exotic good looks first aroused the- attentions of the lecherous Lord Crowley. Later, her wit and inte...
Lord Ranulf Colwall, owner of a famous name and the most impressive Norman Castle in England having experienced one disastrous marriage decides to choose the mother of his heir with care. He picks out Natalia Grey-Stroke, a girl of fifteen with the r...
Lady Orissa Fane fled England in haste--her only thought to escape her abusive stepmother--and, enlisting her brother's aid, she booked passage for India under an assumed identity. Once there, she would join her uncle, Colonel Henry Hobart. But on...
1879. Lady Dorinda Burne had always led a retiring life --a disfiguring skin complaint made her feel uncomfortable in company. But now she was chaperoning her sister to Singapore where Lettice would marry the fabulously rich, brilliantly clever Maxim...
As she entered the empty ballroom, Alida heard the sound of music. Almost without realizing it, her feet carried her onto the polished floor on which the moonlight shone. She moved round the room, waltzing in an enchanted world. Then, her eyes...
It was hardly a love match. The couple met for the first time at the altar when they exchanged their marriage vows. The bride's wealthy, dictatorial father had bribed and blackmailed Major Kelvin Ward into marrying his only daughter. Kelvin had no c...
Emmeline Nevada Holtz was the richest -- and most sheltered--girl in America. She has been arranged to be married to one of England's wealthy dukes. An accident to her chaperone gives her temporarily alone in Paris, and Emmeline realized that this wa...
The Marquis of Melford was actually relieved to be alone on his yacht. Carnival in Venice was every bit as gay and abandoned as the Marquis had remembered, but after a few days the revelling had begun to bore him. Even the seductive charms of his da...
The Duke of Warminster was uncontrollably angry. First Jabina, the silly young twit had lied her way into his carriage--forcing him to drive halfway across Scotland with her. Then, when the carriage overturned and he was injured, she lied again and t...
"And remember, Tilda, it is a great honour that Queen Victoria herself has arranged your marriage." Lady Victoria Matilda Tetherton Smythe murmured assent to her mother's reminder, but secretly worried whether marriage to Prince Maximilian of Ober...
It was a message Lalitha Studley would rather have died than deliver. Her beautiful stepsister had suddenly decided not to go through with her elopement with the wealthy, handsome Lord Inigo Alexander Rothwyn. Lalitha had been sent to the church to i...
Natasha Melikov was a Countess and a hostage. Kidnapped from her home in Tzarist Russia by Moslem rebels, she and her young brother were being held captive high in the Caucasian mountains. Overcome with fear, Natasha made an otherwise unthinkable ...
The Duke of Atherstone had been driven to a frenzy. Every debutante in London wanted to marry him. Their determined mothers had transformed all of England into a matrimonial obstacle course. Fleeing to the safety of his yacht, the Duke set sail fo...
London, 1928. "Yes" was the one word everyone wanted from the beautiful, titian-haired Samantha Clyde.... "Yes" to the celebrated London photographer who wanted to make Samantha his top model.... "Yes" to the debonair young officers who always wan...
Her father had died on their way home to England, his career in shambles, his name disgraced by accusations of treason. Now Canuela Arlington and her mother were alone in London in desperate need of money. Canuela would have to find work. Knowing her...
As far as Melissa Wade was concerned, the future could have hardly looked blacker. Her father's second marriage had been a disaster. His new wife was as crude as she was rich, interested only in the unbridled pleasures of strong drink and the hunt...
Quintus Tiverton's handsome face was marred by an angry scowl. Granted he had saved Selina from a most unsavory predicament, but now he was forced to look after the girl. Quintus was on his way to fashionable Baden-Baden, pursuing his livelihood a...
There was no doubt that this was the worst moment in Anastasia's young life. Standing trembling on the palace steps with the crowd cheering behind her, the exquisite little Princess was about to meet her future husband for the first time. Anast...
The Marquis of Ruckford was enchanted. Vanessa was as delicately beautiful as the miniatures she worked so patiently to restore. She was like no other woman the Marquis had ever known. In fact, the more he saw Vanessa, the more he realized life wi...
The mildness and beauty of Hong Kong were so welcome after the horrible English winters. As lovely and delicate as the flower she was named for, Azalea needed warmth and sunlight to survive. Not that Azalea would ever be truly happy in her new home....
Larina Wilton finds out that she has a month to live, and she decided contacted by her dead friend's brother, who was in Italy. Although he had dedicated much of his life to the pursuit of women, Wynstan Vanderfeld was unprepared for his first sight...
For once the handsome, self-assured Earl of Helstone had been caught off guard. The young lady had taken a nasty fall from her horse and the Earl rushed to her aid. But as he reached her side, he realized that the pretty little redhead was shammin...
Wealthy, self-confident and powerful, Lord Hawkston always got what he wanted. He swept into Dominica's life with a startling proposal. He wished to take the pretty vicar's daughter to his plantation in the Ceylonese mountains as a wife for his yo...
Linetta was alone in the world. Her dying governess instructed her to go to Paris and seek the help of her niece, Marie. Had that good lady known what had happened to simple, good-hearted Marie--now Blanche d'Antigny, the toast of the Paris demi-mon...
England, 1816. Andrina's two lovely sisters -- orphaned, penniless, buried in the country -- would never find suitable husbands unless they went to London, and to introduce them to society. Her sisters' beauty would accomplish the rest. Andrina i...
Yamina froze as a new wave of terror swept over her. Life had become so dangerous. Caught in Constantinople during the Crimean War, the exquisite young Russian had been forced to seek refuge in a Sultan's harem from a mob that would have torn her ap...
The very thought of marriage to Lord Bantham made Vita Ashford shudder. Why the man was old enough to be her father! She'd rather die than marry him. Cleverly, Vita planned her escape. Her destination: the Syrian desert, where her cousin--t...
Perhaps Olinda Selwyn's mother had been right after all. Olinda had accepted a job restoring embroidered tapestries for the Dowager Countess of Kelvedon. The Selwyns certainly needed the money. But Olinda's mother was afraid-afraid that her pretty, ...
Anthea Forthingdale had made the most costly mistake of her life. Granted she needed money to ease her mother and three sisters out of their impoverished existence. And granted Anthea's clever caricatures of London high society had been a smashing...
Lady Ancella Winn has taken the position of companion to the Russian Princess Feodogrova Vsevolovski after the death of her father. If Ancella's prim maiden aunts could see her, they'd be horrified. Here she was in the gambling casino at Monte Carlo...
The Earl of Lemsford's daughters were very diferent, the eldest was a perfect lady and the second a little tomboy. When Lord Athol, the Duke of Doncaster sought the hand of his second daughter, the Earl stared at his prospective son-in-law in undisgu...
It was impossible for Valda to do what her stepfather asked. He was French and the idea of arranged marriages came naturally to him. But she was not and the thought of being wed to a man she did not love -- did not even know -- repulsed her. "But V...
There was no question that the Marquis of Aldridge had saved her life. The townspeople were convinced she was a witch. They were dragging her to the river to administer the ultimate test. If she drowned, she was innocent. If she floated, she was e...
Leona stood before the Duke of Ardness, well aware that her whole body was trembling. "I understand that you rode off my land today," the Duke began slowly. Although he was speaking in a controlled, almost unemotional voice, Leona could feel the a...
Ilona knew what it meant to be alone. Knew how it felt to be hungry, mistreated, defenseless. But now Ilona was going home. All the hardships of exile were behind her. She was going back to Dabrozka, the tiny kingdom whose throne would someday be he...
Young Araminta is an innocent lady and a great cook, to help her family in a wager, she cooking undercover for the Marquis of Wayne. After the Marquis met her, he kissed her masterfully, passionately. "Tomorrow," he said, "I will take you to a house...
In a few short hours Cerissa would have everything she thought she wanted. A wealthy young lord was anxiously awaiting their wedding. Cerissa would become a great lady. No one would ever again mention her low birth. Yet her heart pounded for the ga...
Theola would have done anything to get out of England, but escape was proving more confining, more dangerous than her former prison. She had always been nothing more than a glorified Cinderella--a poor little cousin who waited hand-and-foot on the...
Shimona was face to face with the notorious Duke of Ravenstone. She had imagined an older man with slanting eyes, arched eyebrows, a long thin nose and pointed ears. But as she looked across the room she saw not the devil she had anticipated, but a s...
Lady Cordelia acompained her brother, who is on his way to Malta to become a Knight of St John. They are in Naples since the French are fighting in the seas and they meet up with their cousin, Mark Stanton, who is willing to take them to Malta. The ...
"How could I have been so foolish? How could this have happened to me?" Viola asked herself desperately as she looked at the grim prison walls surrounding her. Her only chance for release lay with the man she loved. Surely his influence could free...
"I dislike all men and I shall never marry one!" When Durstan Hayle first set eyes on Lady Lorinda Camborne, the toast of St Jame's, her eyes were alight with amusement. Circling the ballroom on a black horse, she appeared to be naked except for the...
Giselda had nowhere to turn. Without the money for the operation her young brother might die. Her wealthy employer, the Earl of Lyndhurst, might be kind and generous but she could never accept his charity. He must not know the terrible reason for he...
Melita's life at Martinique had seemed blessed with beauty. But when she heard the drums pounding softly in the night, she remembered what she had heard about Voodoo. Following the sound she pushed her way through the branches and saw a group of sla...
Orlena could hardly believe her eyes. There, standing in front of her, was her new Guardian, the Earl of Ulverston, the man her late father had chosen to protect her large fortune. But this was no elderly, solicitous friend of her father's. Nor was...
Lady Mary Emmeline Athena's grandmother has arranged her marriage to the Greek Prince of Parnassus. Disillusioned by the palace gossips she ran away to Delphi, the shrine of Apollo, to pray about her future marriage. There, Athena met the handsome Or...
As the ship rocked violently Shikara clung to the Marquis' lapel with a frantic grip. "I am afraid," she said. "I cannot help it--I have always been afraid in a storm "It's all right," he said soothingly. "It's quite understandable in -- a woma...
Their brilliant plan, Tempera Rothley reflected, had brought utter disaster. Left penniless by the death of Lord Rothley, she and her beautiful young stepmother had no hope but to marry as soon as possible. Lady Rothley's chance came first: a hous...
Rowena lived in a little village with her father, a doctor, when the Marquis of Swayne is injured in an accident and taken to their house. While recuperating, they fell in love. "I love you as I swear I have never loved a woman before," the Marquis ...
"What is your name?" the Duke of Arkcraig addressed her in a deep, low voice. "T-Tars... Your G-Grace." "Tara, you are to marry me. How old are you?" "Nearly eighteen, Your Grace." "Very well," he said as the door opened and the minister entered....
Yolande's desperation knew no bounds. Up until now her life was as perfect as any princess in a storybook. A landed countess, blessed with beauty, intelligence and wealth, she lived in a magnificent castle on the edge of a dark, mysterious forest....
Nevada van Arden was cruel, selfish and utterly spoiled. An American heiress as rich as she was beautiful, she delighted in encouraging young men to fall in love with her so that she might break their hearts. Enraged by her callousness, Tyrone Stro...
The masterful highwayman stood in the moonlight waiting for outrageous Lady Galatea Roysdon to relinquish her last jewel to his rakish, mocking command. "But you can not take this!" she protested. "It was my mother's and it is all I have left to rem...
Undercovered as governess in order to stay with her nephew and nieces after the death of their parents in a boating accident, Tamara started to work to their new guardian, the Duke of Granchester. The Duke's arms went around her and before Tamara re...
Stanton Ware pondered the person who would be chosen as his companion on this dangerous mission to Peking. Undoubtedly it would be a man who was used to spy out the secrets of rivals. Certainly he would be a brave and patriotic companion. The door o...
Bertilla's mother was a society beauty, who didn't want anyone to know she had a grown daughter, and decided send her away to her aunt in Sarawak. When she was fleeing a persistent suitor, she runs into handsome Lord Saire at the train station and la...
Torilla heard voices drawing near and she braced herself for a contact with the Marquis--a man whose reputation for extravagance and cruelty terrified her. "Here is Gallen, Torilla, and now you can meet him," she heard her cousin say. With an e...
Life had become a nightmare of terror and despair for lovely Wivina Compton. Jeffrey Farlow, leader of the village gang of smugglers, was determined to make her his wife. Wivina despised him. His crude advances repulsed her, and she was certain he...
Lucilla now knew that her life had been empty before she came to Ecuador. At home in England, she was little more than a maid for her beautiful, temperamental older sister. But here in Ecuador, life was one glorious adventure after another -- beginn...
Jarita's hair was glinting in the light of the candles, and her eyes were wide and frightened in her small face. Another crash of lightning reverberated in the room and now, as if she could not help it, she reached out towards Lord Vernham and instan...
"When I marry," Zenka cried, "I shall marry for love and no Queen or anybody else will persuade me to do otherwise." Her defiant vow was as brave as it was useless. Queen Victoria had already decided to marry the fiery-haired Princess to King Mikl...
Vernita had never been so frightened or confused in her life. Trapped in Paris as Napoleon,was trying to imprison all English tourists, she was masquerading as a French seamstress. But she could never disguise her fresh young beauty and exquisi...
For a girl who'd led such a sheltered life, Bettina Charlwood had shot like a meteor to the dizzying heights of Regency society. To have gone straight from a convent school iri France to a yachting party hosted by the Prince Regent's most valued f...
Pandora was not eavesdropping. It was only by accident that she found herself overhearing the horrifying conversation between her uncle and guardian--the Bishop of Lindchester--and his wife. "I have not had a chance to tell you," began Pandora's u...
Can the Duke of Templecombe help her to scape to a married Russian Prince? Salena Cardenham knew something was desperately wrong the moment she saw her father waiting for her at the Monte Carlo railway station. "I think you have something to say t...
Saucy, headstrong Petrina had just escaped from her country school when she ran into her Guardian, Earl of Staverton. To her surprise he was not the old stuffed shirt she'd expected, but a young, strikingly handsome aristocrat--and without a doubt th...
The Prince Ivan gazed down at Lokita's upturned face, then gently bent his head as his lips found hers. It was as if he asked her to to allow her soul to become his. Lokita had never experienced such feeling, such power. It was so compelling, so gl...
How strange that a carriage accident could bring such enchantment into Petula's life. Buried in the country, she was completely unused to such witty or handsome company as Major Adrian Chester. What good fortune that he was forced to spend the nig...
"Miss Alexia Minton, M'Lord!" A girl came into the room slowly. "You are the Marquis of Osminton?" she asked in a soft, quiet voice. "I am," the Marquis replied. "I thought," Alexia continued, "you might be able to help me. As I now have ...
The king came to Xenia's bedside and looked at her luxurious red hair shining in the candlelight and at her tender lips, which were trembling because she was afraid. "Do you know how beautiful you are?" He said. Xenia knew the moment had finally co...
New York City, 1907. Devina looked out of the window, very conscious that Gordon Thorpe's eyes were on her face. "You are lovely in a way I did not realize when I first saw you," he said quietly. "I find myself looking at your spirit shining throug...
The Duc de Savigne turned his back on Syrilla and stood looking out of the turret window with unseeing eyes. "I am certainly not the Knight you believed me to be. I have committed every indecent crime imaginable. I have even ruined innocent women's ...
Every day since she had fled to the farm, Romara had yearned for Lord Ravenscar, and had cried many bitter tears over him at night into her pillow. How, she asked herself, could she have been so foolish, so stupid, as to fall in love with a man wh...
For a moment they both stood still as if turned to stone. Then with a little cry Roxana moved into the Count's arms. He held her close, kissing first her lips, then her wet eyes and the tears from her cheeks. She felt as if her prayer had been answer...
When Gracila turned up her exquisite face to gaze at Lord Damien, he said in a trembling voice: ''For God's sake, do not look at me like that... you who are so pure, so perfect, so innocent. Now when I see you, I know that I must go away. Go away!''...
The Earl put out his arms towards her. But Demelza did not move and he stopped before he touched her. "May I kiss you?" he whispered. "I think ... if you kissed me it would be more wonderful than anything else in the world ... but it would be ....
"Your heart spoke to my heart, and your soul to mine." Mariska was shocked that the German High Command should expect her to splay the spy -- and terrified of her husband's anger if she refused. While in Marienbad to report to Edward VII, Lord Arkle...
Vulcan glanced at his painting, then at the others lying against the wall. "As soon as this one is engraved," he said, "I shall take them all to Paris. Are you coming with me?" Astara simply stared, feeling that she could not have heard him correc...
Clint Wilbur was standing quietly in the Drawing-Room in front of the fireplace. Alita stood only a few feet away. "You are well?" "Of... course." The words they were speaking did not really matter. Something magnetic like a spark of fire ran betw...
The Marquis took off his snow-covered overcoat and lowered himself next to her by the hearth. "I did not expect the storm to happen," he said, "but now it has I find it quite an adventure." "It will not be so enjoyable if we have to stay the night,...
For a moment they looked at each other. Then Rex said: "I am afraid of telling you what is in my heart." Because his voice was very soft and gentle Quentella felt herself tremble. "You need not... be afraid." She was not sure whether she took a ste...
The Duke of Strathnarn went down on one knee before Clola and put his hands together, palm to palm. Then, looking up at her, he said very slowly: "I swear by Almighty God to protect and serve you. I will love you with my whole heart, worship you as ...
On leaving the Italian convent in which she was educated, Una Thoreau set out for Paris to join her father in Montmartre. She arrives to discover that her father is dead. Alone in foreign city, her father's picture dealer, Philippe Dubucheron, befrie...
Benedicta gave a little cry and threw herself against the Duke of Kingswood. "I am so frightened I may... disappoint you." He pulled her closer to him. "Do you think I want you to know anything but what I shall teach you?" he asked. "I adore your ...
The lovely young novice Saona walked into the garden and Andre found that he was following her. "It is very pretty," she said. "And so are you." She looked up at him in surprise, and as their eyes met, it was impossible to look away. They just st...
Major Tyson Dale returns home victorious from the wars against Napoleon to find his estate fallen into decay and the title stolen by his uncle. While drowning his sorrows at the local posting house, he overhears a plot to abduct a beautiful young gir...
"You have come!" The Prince Xanos of Cephalonia exclaimed. "Yes," said Angelina softly. "I have come." The prince paused for a moment looking at the beautiful young woman in a way that made her tremble. "You are so lovely and yet." There was a th...
Chandra Wardell, daughter of a world-renowned Sanskrit scholar, learns that her father has been commissioned to journey to Nepal to search for an ancient manuscript. Chandra is thrilled--till she discovers that the invitation, extended by staunch wom...
The Earl of Rochester thought that the room had suddenly been lit with a thousand candles as Ophelia's eyes met his. With a little murmur she moved towards him and hid her face against his shoulder. "I must be dreaming," she whispered. "I did not ...
The Marquis of Rosyth' voice deepened as he spoke, "Have I spoilt what you felt for me, my precious? Neoma moved a little nearer to him. "I am... sure that if you... kiss me... we will find it is still there." She only whispered the words but the M...
When handsome Duke of Welminster arrived in St. Petersburg to discuss the news of Napoleon's advance on Moscow. At that point, love is the furthest thing from his mind! Then, invited to the home of an old friend, Princess Sonia, the duke realizes...
The Earl of Winsford looked at her searchingly and then he said: "I want a wife to belong to me completely. To be mine exclusively for all time!" He paused before he said very quietly: "And I think, Sorilda, I have found her." Then, as in some mira...
Valeta looked at the Marquis of Troon with gratitude."How can I... thank you?" He pulled her into his arms. "Like this," he answered and his lips were on hers. For a moment Valeta was too astonished to speak. Then the Marquis' lips aroused in her ...
When the Duke held Aleta in his arms, he had never known such rapture. "Do you love me?" he asked. "Oh, Tybalt, you know I do." "You excite me so wildly, my precious." "I ... want to ... excite you ... as you excite me." The Duke co...
The Prince of Wales buys for Carlton House an exquisitely painted 15th century picture of "The Virgin of the Lilies" by Stefan Lochner. Both he and his close friend the Marquis of Fane are entranced by it. They are, however, stunned when the dealer b...
Quite suddenly Susanna realized she was not alone. Someone was standing in the pool beside her. By the light of the moon she saw it was Fyfe! For a moment she thought she was imagining him, for there was no bandage over his eyes and he was looking a...
Brucena looked up, and, as she did so, Iain Huntley's lips took possession and held her captive. For a moment she felt nothing, not even surprise. But then as the man's arms tightened, her lips were suddenly soft beneath the insistence of his. Someth...
"Where have you been, Miss Windham?" The Duke of Strathrannock spoke so harshly that Fiona was startled. "I have...." she began feebly. "Do not bother to lie!" he said furiously. "Have you had enough lovemaking tonight or are you looking for more?"...
BEYOND HER WILDEST DREAMS "What is happening?" Zosina asked, her voice shaking. She raised her face instinctively as she spoke, and, without her having any intention of doing so, her mouth touched his. A streak of lightning seemed to run thr...
There was silence for a moment, then the Marquis of Sarne said: "There is only one way I can thank you, Romana." As he spoke he put his fingers under her chin and pressed his lips down on hers. His kiss was so perfect, so glorious, that Romana coul...
In the light from the candles and the moonlight outside, Kelda saw an expression in Lord Orsett's eyes that made her heart start beating furiously and she could not look away. "I want your heart," he began. "I want it more than I have ever wanted an...
Thalia walked slowly across the lawn, through a rose garden, to the lily pond. "It is a place for lovers," she thought instinctively. Then she drew her breath as if the thought stabbed her like a sharp dagger. "You are not crying, Thalia?" came an u...
THE DAWN OF LOVE The Duke stood beside Lorena. She did not turn her head. The Duke tightened his fingers on hers and knew that as he did so she gave a little quiver. Lorena gave a deep sigh that seemed to come from the depths of her being. S...
"Have you ever been kissed" Pierre teased. But before Zaza could protest, her eyes met his and everything else seemed to fade away . . . her father, the Palace, her life as a Princess . . . Then, as if it was part of poetry and music, his arms wen...
Bereaved of her beloved father at sixteen, and now her mother, Belinda Wyncombe’s only comfort is that she still has the family’s home. Until she finds her irresponsible stepfather, Captain D’Arcy Rowland, has squandered their moneyand fraudule...
ADVENTURE IN ROME Dacia Vancroft was young and pretty. And now she was in fabulous Rome, private nurse to Sir Marcus Cunningham. It would have been a thrilling week, if Sir Marcus hadn't been so hateful. He was rude, arrogant, and quarrelsome, and...
Prince Ivan's words were passionate, unyielding, yet Alana allowed herself no surrender. "Love is something that cannot be denied, cannot be refused," Ivan protested, "though I thought the real ecstasy and wonder of it was something that would never...
"They have gone!" Yolanda gave a deep sigh of relief as she went limp in the Duke of Ilkeston's arms. "They have gone!" As she turned her head to speak to him, his lips came down on hers. This was the beginning of love, a love that shot through her ...
Sir Norman Melton had not always been a wealthy man. Determination and a driving ambition took him from a lowly position on the factory floor to ownership of the Melton Motor Company. Fiercely independent, he also harbored a strong mistrust of women;...
The dashing and raffish Justin, Marquis of Veryan awakes from a drunken sleep to the appalling realisation that in the throes of passion he has proposed marriage to renowned Society beauty Lady Rose Caterham. Worse, still, she accepted and will soon ...
Love, true Love! For the lovely, widowed Lady Sherington, it bloomed in her thirty-sixth year, when she was still ravishing enough to pass as the twin of her daughter Trina. But her gentle heart was racked with doubt--for if she were to remarry, h...
"Why did you leave?" The Marquis of Sarle's question took Nolita by surprise. "Her Ladyship... dismissed me," she stammered. "Why?" Her heart quaking, she revealed the humiliating charges, certain that telling him would be the end of everything. Y...
The Duke of Oswestry was being blackmailed into marriage by his former mistress, who finds herself pregnant, but he knew that the child is by other man. He rescued the young inocent Udela, after his evil brother planned to send her to a London's brot...
The moon had risen and everything was enveloped with a light that seemed to come from the gods themselves. "It is so... lovely!" Latonia breathed. "And so are youl" Lord Branscombe replied softly. She felt his arm go around her as he said, "This. i...
Jemima knew that Viscount Ockley was only marrying her because he had been jilted by her cousin, Niobe. Now that she had run away, Jemima no longer cared. She could not go on being beaten by her uncle and made so desperately unhappy. Marriage to a Re...
"Marcia, you are tempting Fate," the Earl said. The gas lamps had been extinguished, making the room intimate. The Earl moved towards her. He put his arms around her, kissing her fiercely, making her forget everything but the rapture that rose withi...
Inspired and helped by Almiral of the Fleet the Earl Mountbatten of Burma. There was silence until Delora said, "so... you do not like... kissing me! To me it was the most wonderful thing that ever happened!" Captain Conrad Horn realised she was pe...
"I think, Prunella," the Earl of Winslow said slowly, "you are offering me a challenge." "I do not know what you are talking about," Prunella replied. "I am talking about love, and of course, your ignorance of it." To Prunella's astonishment, the E...
Larentia felt the Duke of Tregaron's eyes upon her, as though her were speaking to her without words. "Look at me, Larentia!" She could not take her eyes from the Duke's and knew that she was his prisoner whether she wished it or not. Very slowly, ...
The stars shone brilliantly over the harbor as Ola's words concealed what was in her heart: "You have told me that you hate women as I hate men..." The color rose in her cheeks. The Marquis of Elvington replied, "I think we have a great deal to lear...
The Earl of Hawkshead looked down at Baptista. Her face was hidden against his shoulder. "I am... sorry," she said in a muffled voice. "It was... my fault." He asked me if I... had ever been... kissed," Baptista said in a hesitating little voice, "a...
A warm wave of fragrance and sunlight greeted them as they crossed the room to the orchids. "I told you, Anita," said the Duke of Ollerton, "never come to a Conservatory alone with a man unless you want him to make love to you." Her eyes widened: "...
Heiress Oletha Ashurst's father has arranged her marriage to the Duke of Gorleston. To discover what her future husband is like, Oletha poses as the daughter of a curator engaged to find the duke......
SHE WAS BREATHLESS "You are mine, Caneda, and I want you! I want you now!" As Duc de Saumac finished speaking his lips were on hers and he was kissing her. Now there was a fire on his lips that was like nothing Caneda Lang had ever imagined, and ye...
"Gisela, It would not matter to me who you were. I realised that whatever the consequences, I could not live without you." The Prince of Hungary then kissed her fiercely, demandingly, as if he was still afraid he might lose her and the agonies he had...
Lucy, Lady Wymonde, reluctantly agrees to her husband’s request that she would chaperone his innocent orphaned young niece, Ina, for her first Season as a debutante. It was infuriating to have to take another guest with her to Chale Hall, the Ma...
Kistna straightened herself and turned to look at the water beneath her. With a shock of sheer horror the Marquis of Alchester realized what she intended to do. He reached her in a few strides and when he was beside her and his hands went out to tak...
The Duke of Buckminster drew Princess Militsa of Russia along the passage and as they reached the end of it there was the sound of music. The Duke had given her his arm, and now as her fingers tightened on his, she said: "I... I shall not know... h...
"I will never let you leave me." His lips came down on hers and swept away her fear, her unhappiness, and everything except the rapture of knowing that this was what Odetta had been longing for and thought she had lost forever. He kissed her while ...
THE HEAVENS OPENED The Marquis of Vange looked down at Davita's face for a long moment, as if he wished to engrave it on his memory forever, then as his arms tightened his lips sought hers. It was as if the Heavens opened, and she knew an inexpress...
Sona McCarron, in Scotland to attend a wedding, soon realized the match between the Marquis of Inver--heir to the Clan Chieftain--and Lady Jean, daughter of a neighboring Cheiftain, is an arranged one. Nothing can stop it, even though Sona and the Ma...
The Earl of Rockbrook, to escape an unwanted marriage, flees to the country where he meets with an accident...when he recovers consciousness, he finds himself being nursed by a simple country girl who he marries to escape the unwanted marriage, but f...
Tula Audenshaw rose from where she had been sitting and walked slowly across the soft ground to the edge of the stream. "I have another suggestion," Lord Yelverton said at last. "Why do we not, because we are so lucky together, try to find another t...
Duke of Otterburn put his arms around Magnolia Vandevilt, then slowly, very slowly, as if he was still afraid to frighten her, his lips found hers. As he kissed her he knew, just as he had expected, her mouth was soft, sweet and innocent and gave hi...
When they had gone back to the yacht, the Duke of Darleston took her down to his private cabin to put his arms round her. "You are mine," he said. "Whatever happened in the past, we are now together, and I swear that as long as we shall live, I will...
"Shall we find out if the second time we kiss each other is a wonderful as the first?" Earl of Keswick did not wait for Alisa's answer, but his lips were on hers and Alisa knew at the first touch of them that this was what she had been longing and y...
Young and beautiful, Princess Marie-Therese of Wiedenstein is alarmed when her father tells her she is engaged to an English Duke -- she believes the English to be cold, arrogant and insensitive. And when her twin brother the Prince also hears unplea...
Bored by Society, the Duke of Brockenhurst bets that he can travel from London to York incognito. On his journey he helps Valora Melford escape from marriage to a cruel Baronet. Pursued, they embark on a daring ride to safety in York. The Duke's disg...
Zelina Tiverton lifted her face and he looked down at her for a long moment before his lips found hers. As he kissed her Zelina knew that his was what she had been waiting and longing for ever since they had been together on the Ischora. Lord Charn...
When he meets the beautiful Aspasis at the house of the Duchess of Grimstone, the Marquis of Thame assumes she is a skillful actress, superb in her role as an innocent girl. The debauchery of the Duchess and her guests is whispered about throughout E...
"I love you!" the Marquis said. "I love you until it is impossible to think of anything else but you. I cannot live without you!" Then his lips were on hers. To Mina it was as if there was a blazing light which came from the sky and enveloped them ...
The Earl of Heversham seemed to fill the whole room, the sky, and the world itself, and she knew as she saw his eyes that he looked younger and happier then and completely different from the man she had left behind. Neither of them could speak, they...
Giona had not slept well because she had sensed when the Duke of Alverstode had said goodnight that something had annoyed him. "What has... upset him? What could... I have... done?" she asked herself. Then she went over it in her mind. The Duke had ...
The Duke of Ravenstock awoke and was aware that everything was very silent. He looked for Anoushka, but at first he could not see her. Then he realised she was beside him in the bed, sound asleep. For the moment he was astonished. Then he realised t...
Lina was the spirited young daughter of the Earl of Wallingham, who escaping from an arranged marriage, applies for the post of a lady's maid - and finds herself involved in a plot to dupe a French roué - the Duc de Saverne.......
To allay the suspicions of his mistress's husband, the Marquis of Stowe pretends to be engaged to the lovely Ajanta. The ruse seems to succeed, until the jealous husband presents an unexpected ultimatum, one that will force Ajanta to reveal her heart...
Grania O'Kerry arrives back in Grenada, in 1795, and learns that her father intends her to marry Roderick Maigrin, a coarse, drunken, but rich planter. There is a rebellion and Grania flees to Secret Harbour for protection, but when she enters the ho...
Without thinking, simply because her terror about what had occurred was still with her, Lady Samala Wynn ran towards the Duke of Buckhurst and flung herself against him. "You... are safe!" Her hands had reached up towards the Duke's neck, and as he...
The Marquis of Staverton looked down at her cheeks wet with tears, her lips quivering, and her blue eyes too shy to meet his. "Tell me," he said, "why it matters to you what I think and feel about you." Gilda could only look up at him helplessly, th...
Lara is a country parson's daughter, eager for adventure, who trades places with a friend so she can experience first-hand the lives of the very rich. At the lavish estate of the Marquis of Keyston, masquerading as a governess, she learns an unexpect...
Suddenly and unexpectedly, there was the sound of the bolt being raised on the door, and Carmela Lyndon sat up, alert and half-fearful that it might be Matthews or Lane returning. Then as the sunlight flooded in she saw the outline of a man, large an...
Nelda Harle was a young English girl raised on the wild Colorado frontier. Orphaned in an Indian raid, she is rescued by her distant relative, the haughty and handsome Lord Harleston... but who will rescue Selby Harle when he finds himself falling in...
" I cannot ... bear it!" Paulina protested. "I am not ... strong like . . . you. I want to be with you ... to see you ... to love you." Prince Maximus laid his cheek against hers. "I shall think of you, dream of you, and wherever I am, I shall fee...
The Earl of Poynton is known throughout England for his superb taste in race-horses and for his affairs with married women. Yet the Lennox's raffish heart is touched by the beautiful young Cledra Melford, who asks him to help save her beloved thoroug...
How long Pierre Valery kissed her she had no idea. Simonetta knew only that the rapture and ecstasy of it was out of time and might have lasted a few seconds or many centuries. "I did not know... I never guessed a... kiss could be so wonderful... s...
"I think I... ought to... go away," Ilouka managed to say. The Earl of Lavenham smiled again. "Do you really think I would let you do that?" he asked. Ilouka stared at him as if she could not believe what he was saying. Then as she was trying to fi...
Zita was suddenly aware that somebody, a man, was moving between the trunks of the trees, catching only a glimpse as he passed behind first one, then another. She thought that it would be a bore if she had to stop and talk as was customary in that pa...
As their eyes met she felt herself quiver with a feeling Arina Beverley had never known before that seemed to be rising within her, which made her feel it was impossible to breathe. " I may be quite wrong," the Marquess Alistair McDonon said after m...
Marista Rockbourne was still praying when the door opened and as she turned her head she saw in the moonlight the Earl of Stanbrook coming in. Marista drew in her breath, and the Earl came close to look down at her, at her hair falling over her shoul...
The Marquis of Broome walked deep into the stable. "Where are you?" "I am... here," Cara replied. He realized that she had climbed up into the hayrack. He walked to stand immediately below her and put up his arms. "I will not let you fall." She pu...
Queen's Ford, a beautiful house built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, is crumbling into a ruin and the Forde family are so poor they can't afford to repair it. Jeremy, needing some new clothes, persuades is sister, Mariota, to help him hold up a coa...
Craig Vandervelt, handsome son of the richest man in America, is begged by his cousin, the Marquess of Landsdowne, the British Foreign Secretary, to undertake a secret mission. He must find a British agent who has disappeared in India. He encounters ...
At sixteen and a half, Lady Imeldra is ready to leave school and resume a carefree life with Earl Kingsclere, her father. But the Earl has other plans for Imeldra who rebels at being sent to live with her strict grandmother. She runs off to the estat...
The Duke of Arkholme, a very handsome and very bored bachelor, organizes a musical Competition to add some spice to his life and satisfy his love for good music. But much to the Duke's chagrin, the Competition falls flat ... until he is awakened one ...
Tormented by her cruel uncle, Sita contemplates suicide, but a mysterious Indian passenger on the voyage to Calcutta convinces her to go on. She was praying frantically, desperately, when she heard the bolt being lifted off the door. Now there was ...
Fabia's hands were clasped together, her head was bent, and the Duke of Ilminster was aware that she was praying. The Duke rose and walked towards her. " I... I had to come," she said. " I... I was... afraid." "There is no need to be," he said. Ver...
Never had Atayla seen a man looking so angry, and before she could speak, before she could think or ask what he was doing, the Earl said: "I am well aware of why you came here, Miss Lindsay, and why my wife sent you to seduce me into giving her the ...
Ilina could only feel the violent, frantic beating of her heart and that the room was filled with a blinding light that came from the sky and yet was a part of the Duke and herself. He drew a little closer to her but did not touch her, and after a m...
1860. At her rich, look-alike cousin's pleading, impoverished Sacha Waverley undertakes a daring masquerade. She travels to Scotland posing as Lady Deirdre to care for her cousin's fiance, the handsome, wealthy Duke of Silchester who has been tempora...
1894. The Marquis of Oakenshaw is asked by the Foreign Secretary to visit Siam to reassure the King who has been upset by Britain and France quarrelling over the frontiers. A dashing, wealthy and handsome bachelor, the Marquis asks several friends to...
1824. With her father dying of starvation, Lucia had to sell his paintings. In desperation she accosted the Marquis of Wynchcombe who, bored with life and his Venerian mistress, set taking coffee outside Florian's cafi. This meeting with a seeming be...
Zokala, 1850. Princess Ileana of Zokala was proud, headstrong, and fiercely devoted to her people. Besieged by suitors at court, Princess Ileana vows never to marry. Yet the Statesmen decreed that she could never rule until she found a husband. Many ...
Original title: The Captive Heart Sabina had come to Monte Carlo with a sense of excitement and anticipation. How different it all was from the country parsonage she had left in England. It was exciting to be traveling alone, though a little frigh...
The Duke of Tynemouth, who is having a wild affair with the Countess of Langstone, learns that Queen Victoria is planning that he should marry. In a desperate effort to escape and to save his reputation, the Duke agrees to marry the Countess's niece ...
California, 1885. Amongst the mountains and lush plains of the American West, young and beautiful Lady Roberta Worth found the miracle of true love with the brilliant and passionate Adam Garson. But Adam's heart was torn between the spirited British ...
1825. Because of her gypsy ancestry Princess Laetitia invoked the help of Romanies to waylay the King Viktor of Zvotana in the guise of a dancer to do whatever she could to prevent his betrothal to Stephanie, the girl her brother Kyril loved. They g...
The Prince Janos Kovac gently put his arms around Forella and drew her close to him. He looked down at her for a long moment. "How can you be so perfect, so exquisite," he asked, "that I find it hard even when I am touching you to believe that you a...
1970. After the death of her mother, Lady Ivona is forced by her uncle and guardian to become a postulant in a convent noted for its severity. During the journey across Alsace she manages to elude her escort and shares an unexpected refuge with the D...
On a day unlike any other, Hermia Brooke, the poor but beautiful daughter of the Vicar of Little Millbrooke, stumbled upon a man who had difficulty removing a shoe from his horse's hoof in a country lane, and she helped him. He was a dark and very s...
England, 1818. Lady Alvina Harling tore from her bedroom and along the corridor towards the master suite on the other side of the castle. She turned the handle and went into the small and elegant hall. There was one light flickering low in a sconce ...
England, 1819. When Diona Grantley becames an orphan at her father's death, she is compelled to live with her uncle, Sir Hereward Grantley and his dim-witted son Simon. Her father died in debt, Her only comfort is her beloved dog, a Dalmatian called ...
Minella faced the Earl, her eyes flashing with anger. Then tears suddenly blinded her eyes and ran down her cheeks. She felt the Earl's arms go round her. She put her face against his shoulder and went on crying. "A do not want you to upset yourself...
Pandia looked down at the book in her hand. Then as if he could not wait for her answer Lord Silvester asked: "Have you thought about me?" "It would be ... difficult to think of anything ... else." "That is what I hoped," he said. "Your face is...
When the Marquis of Ardley boasts that he could always tell a woman of high breeding, Lord Frodham and Sir James Overton decide to take up the challenge to find a woman who can fool him. On their way, they rescue beautiful Indira and persuade her to ...
For a moment Rocana found it impossible to believe that the idea of the Marquis of Quorn driving some beautiful lady as he had driven her could evoke an agonizing sensation, which she though was even more painful than the wound in her arm had been. ...
Tony Burke, the son of Lord Birkenhall, persuades his sister Octavia to run away with him in order to avoid the debts left by their father. Tony plans to meet up with the girl he hopes to marry. But when they meet in Alexandria, there's no room for O...
When fog maroons the dashing Duke of Marazion at a bleak inn, he soothes his restless soul with a brandy, a book, and a roaring fire. Never does he suspect that the furtive knock at his door will reveal the lovely artist Ilitta, or that he will guide...
" I... love you!" Tora was not even aware she had said the words, and yet they came to her lips. Miklos drew in his breath. Then he was kissing her again, kissing her with long, slow, passionate kisses that made her quiver in his arms, and she knew ...
"Marquis of Buckwood"--for that title Magnolia had betrayed Warren, and it had been that betrayal that sent Warren to Africa to forget the woman who held such sway over his senses. But now that Fate had made Warren master of the same title, Magnol...
Was it the power of love itself that cast Lydia and the Earl ashore under the sensuous Hawaiian sun? Never would they be free to speak of the love that devoured them -- and that could never be theirs, prisoners as they both were to the code of honor ...
England, 1875. Lovely, impetuous Aldora rejects the advances of the dashing and rakish Duke of Wydeminster until a close encounter with disaster gives her new insight into her feelings. Driving to the Goodwood races the Duke of Wydeminster thought w...
At last Theresa felt safe. It was unlikely that her guardian, the Earl of Denholme, would trace her to the French countryside where she reigned--as chef to the Marquis de Sare! The Marquis himself seldom visited the chateau--caught up as he was in...
His sister's folly and an aristocratic thief had combined to threaten the reputation of Lord Mere's family. The handsome peer was forced to leave his London pleasures for the ancient palazzi of Florence. While he is recovering his sister's valuable n...
It was obvious to Delysia that her lovely sister, Fleur, was deeply in love with young Lord Sheldon, and he with her. It was in fact obvious to all London, including Lord Sheldon's betrothed and Lord Sheldon's intimidating Uncle, the redoubtable Magn...
The Marquis of Falcon needed a wife in a hurry. The solution seemed simple: marry the daughter of his fabulously wealthy country neighbor, the Earl of Warnborough. Then a misunderstanding saw him married to the wrong daughter, but the right wife--and...
1887. Vida Anstruther knows there is no other way. Her father, the Crown's most brilliant diplomat, has disappeared in Hungary, and his sudden silence has become ominous. When official channels prove helpless, it is up to the brave young beauty to di...
The queen's request was, of course, a command, intended to cure the maddeningly handsome Marquis of Weybourne of his dangerous penchant for the wives of peers. Still, London's most eligible bachelor, with his spellbinding charm, was an odd choice of ...
"You are mine!" Torquil said fiercely. "Mine, and nothing in the world will stop me from loving you and keeping you with me from now throughout eternity!" " I... love... you!" Pepita whispered. He would have kissed her again but she put up her hand...
In the exclusive worlds of Paris and London, exquisite Kitrina had little more than the angelic beauty born of her parents scandalous love. Then the handsome, bold worldly wise Marquis of Elkesley knew all too clearly the shining young woman's future...
Dordogne, 1886. Governess in the ancient and splendid chateau of the Duc Etienne de Sauterre! To exquisite young Lady Arletta Cherrington-Weir, left penniless and alone by her father's death, the timely job seemed the fairy-tale answer to a young wom...
England, 1817. Tiny, golden-haired Farica Chalfont had much to think about: The intriguing yet cunning Earl of Lydbrooke had proposed marriage, and she suspected more for her fortune than her beauty. She had gone riding to try and decide whether to ...
Schooled at the most elite academies, violet-eyed Ilita Darrington-Coombe lived in pampered luxury. Then tragedy struck: her father died and a spiteful, bitter aunt exiled her to decaying Lyss Castle. Ilita was unaware how her courageous spirit and h...
Talbot McCaron's fierce Highland heart rebelled against his arranged marriage to the wealthy Lady Jane, Countess of Dalbeth. Yet the handsome young Duke of Invercaron knew this was a secret battle that honor and duty must win. But something was wrong...
"You will be hanged from a gibbet for your crimes..." Even as the handsome Gentleman spoke, Idona Overton saw the other Highwayman pointing a pistol at him. Without thinking, she fired her own pistol.... Idona was horrified to learn that before her...
After he unexpectedly returns to Paris, handsome but cynical Lord Kirkly takes on the cause of Otilia Ashe, a very pretty, desperate young heiress, and becomes involved in a scheme he will surely regret....
Impoverished but beautiful Salrina could hardly believe what she was hearing. A French plot to kill the prince regent! She must tell someone -- and her only choice seemed to be the cynical, arrogant, maddeningly handsome Earl of Fleetwood, her next-d...
Princess Giona's young and tender beauty was pledged to a loveless alliance of State with King Ferdinand of Slavonia, the old and cruel Monarch who lived in terror of the brave and handsome rightful King Miklos. But Giona's proud heart was with the r...
Black magic? Dorina Stanfield, the Vicar's young and lovely daughter could not believe that she was hearing Jarvis Yarde's murderous incantations against the one man who stood between himself and the ancient Earldom of Yardcombe. Yet it was true... a...