When the local magistrate jailed Jacelyn Trevaine's pet dog as a public nuisance, the country miss knew he meant to blackmail her into socializing with his nephew. High-spirited Jacelyn decided to free her dog by kidnapping the precious nephew, but unfortunately she abducted the wrong gentleman! Her captive was none other than handsome Lord Leigh Claibourne - returned war hero and rake extraordinaire. And four hours alone with the libertine Earl was tantamount to social ruin. Of course, she was already ruined.

Still unwed at 21, an unconventional high-spirited woman finds her affections sought by a handsome, devilishly charming earl, who is nicknamed "The Ideal" by the ton—for his combination of wealth and looks. Though at first she fights his advances, slowly she forms a heated alliance with him. But sparring with words soon turns into a succumbing passion.

Lord Galen Woodbridge decides to stir up a bit of a scandal by wedding London's most eligible and elusive songstress, Margot Montclaire. After Galen proposes, Margot confides that her sexy demeanor is merely an act. A baron's daughter, she took to the stage to escape the clutches of a diabolical uncle - and reluctantly left her fragile young brother behind in his care. To win Margot's hand, Galen agrees to save her sickly sibling - but in this marriage of mutual convenience, he never planned on losing his heart...

Lovely Lisanne Neville had always found solace in the verdant beauty of Sevrin Woods. But now the woods were about to be destroyed in order to pay off the gambling debts of the Duke of St. Sevrin. Clearly, drastic measures were called for. So Lisanne proposed marriage to the duke. The deal: her fortune for his woods.

He's a master of disguises...but he can't mask true love. Spymaster Harry Harmon's new assignment is to spy on enemies at a country house party. To do that, he'll require a courtesan: learned, truthful, and beautiful.... Poor, sensible, smart Simone Ryland has come to Mrs. Burton's bawdy house in search of work. But instead, she finds Harmon in need of her special skills.

Viscount Aubrey "Stony" Wellstone is at the end of his rope - and the end of his family's once-great fortune. Desperate, he tries his luck at the gaming tables, where an offer to exchange his debts for a gentlemanly favor leads to a profitable new profession. The fiercely independent, flame-tressed Miss Ellianne Kane would normally have no use for an upper-class attendant - even one as striking as Stony - but she needs Aubrey's help.

Robert Rothmore, Earl of Rockford, thinks Alissa Henning is simply delightful-exactly the kind of woman who'd make the perfect mother for his sons. But Alissa swore she'd spend the rest of her life scraping pennies together rather than wed the insufferable earl and become a glorified governess. Still, she couldn't very well let her own children starve - and there was no doubt that Rockford would give them all a good life. So, she reluctantly accepts his offer...but there's more to a good life than what's in one's pockets.

Though barely out of the schoolroom, Melody Ashton was determined to save her mother from scandal. Guardian of several "orphans" (in actuality the illegitimate children of the ton!) poor Mama was accused of pilfering contributions. To make matters worse, the infuriatingly handsome Lord Coe had accused them all of blackmailing his sister, whose child resided with them!

Coryn, Earl of Ardeth, has spent an eternity in Hell. Fed up, he gambles with the Devil and wins a second chance: if he can find his heart, his soul, and his hourglass in six months, he can return to life. Then he meets Genie, a disgraced water-girl at the Battle of Waterloo. Now, her only hope is this crazy stranger - and she's half-terrified of and half-in-love with the eccentric earl. Together they have to find his humanity, her social acceptance, and overcome someone bent on destroying their lives.

Give the gift of love this holiday season with five romantic, magical Christmas stories - and feel as if you've just been kissed beneath the mistletoe. Originally published in separate anthologies and out of print for many years, these Christmas-themed novellas by legendary Regency romance author Barbara Metzger are in one volume for the first time ever!

A war hero's widow, Graceanne, still has her adorable three year old twin boys to love, until she receives a letter from her late husband's demanding cousin, Leland Warrington, the Duke of Ware. It seems that the duke, 32 years old, twice widowed, and with no forseeable plans to marry again, is in desperate need of an heir. And seeing that Graceanne has two boys, she could easily spare one.

Lucinda's life was tragically cut short in a most scandalous manner, and her only means of entering heaven lies in saving Lord Stanford from hell. Perhaps while guiding the notorious rake onto a virtuous path, she can show him how true love will save his immortal soul....

Well-bred orphan Cristabel Swann tolerates her thankless teaching job - until her uncle dies unexpectedly. Arriving in London to claim her inheritance, Cristabel encounters something else entirely - a loutish naval captain who won all of the old man's property in an evening's gambling, leaving his niece nothing but debt! To his credit, Captain Chase recognizes her desperation and offers her a position as landlady of a boarding house in Kensington.

After the cold-blooded murder of her odious husband, Marisol Pendenning, a lovely but pregnant young widow, and Lord Kimbrough, the handsome aristocrat who had been the last to see the victim alive, are drawn into the search for a killer.

Delirious with fever, Rosellen Lockharte summons all her strength to pen several letters from her attic deathbed. Soon all who set her willy-nilly on this path to perdition as a penmanship teacher will learn that in her final hour she forgave them. All except him. But why wait for Judgment Day to tell Viscount Stanford she thinks he is the most heinous of humans?

Major Calborne Rutherford returns to England on the trail of an assassin, only to find he's become Lord Ashendon, with the responsibility for vast estates and dependent relatives. Cal can command the toughest of men, but his wild half-sisters are quite another matter. They might just be his undoing. When he discovers that Miss Emmaline Westwood, the girls' former teacher, guides them with ease, Cal offers her a marriage of convenience.

Andrew Carrington, Earl of Bellingham, believes in being a gentleman, whether it's fishing a soggy stranger out of the Thames or assisting a fetching lady into his bed. If the stranger becomes a friend and the lady a mistress, all the better. He certainly welcomes the opportunity to help Laura Davenport, a dazzling young widow with a rebellious stepson. Her gratitude, he hopes, will take an amorous form. But from the moment he sets foot in her drawing room, he gets far more than he bargained for.

In New York Times best-selling author Cathy Maxwell's new novella, beautiful Jennifer Tarleton has no lack of noble suitors, but the only man who captures her attention is the one her father will never let her marry: Fyclan Morris. He's a brash adventurer, witty, courageous...and Irish! Even worse, her father blames her for their reversal of fortune. And it's a fortune - or, rather, his grandmother the fortune-teller - who foretold that Fyclan would meet "the one", a love prophesied in the stars.

The arrogant Duke of Trent intends to marry a well-bred Englishwoman. The last woman he would ever consider marrying is the adventuresome Merry Pelford - an American heiress who has infamously jilted two fiancés. But after one provocative encounter with the captivating Merry, Trent desires her more than any woman he has ever met. He is determined to have her as his wife, no matter what it takes. And Trent is a man who always gets what he wants.

Ellen Marling lives in terror of her wedding night to the beastly Baron Basil Brockhaven. Forced into the marriage by her father, a leap in the dark from the bedroom window seems more appealing than spending even one night with the loathsome lord. Until she discovers that her leap delivered her straight into the hands of the notorious Marquess of Trent, as handsome as he is hedonistic. Ellen has traded a monstrous husband for a masterly rake, and now faces the prospect of the greatest danger of all: falling in love.

Lady Isabella Wharton has little interest in the customs of the country. But when her godmother asks her to pay a visit to her bachelor grandson in Yorkshire, she goes to see the newly-titled - and notoriously rustic - Duke of Ormond. Trevor Carey doesn't care about what goes on behind ballroom doors. He is content with the simple life - and isn't ashamed to admit it to a society flirt like Lady Isabella. But the country air brings out a different side of Isabella - one full of longing and passion. Can her sophistication be hiding a desire for love?

He's inherited a title, but not a penny to speak of, so the Earl of Rochdale knows he must find a wife - preferably one tolerably pretty and good-tempered but definitely wealthy, and who will exchange her fortune for his family name. His choice: Leonie Charnock, one of the season's "Spinster Heiresses". Years before, the earl had saved the dark-eyed beauty's reputation, and she is still breathtakingly lovely, leading Rochdale to hope that their marriage will be more than in name only.

Lady Cassandra Howard has frequented gambling hells as her father's lucky charm since childhood - but luck ran out along the way. Now, her brother intends to sell her into marriage with a wealthy, dissolute rake. Cass has done many things for her family, but this won't be one of them. Her neighbor, “Saint” Wyatt Mannering, Earl of Merrick, has chosen a bride - one as proper and virtuous as he. But when lovely Cass attempts to trick him into marriage with seduction, he's almost tempted - except she's much too nave to be a seductress and his conscience won't let him.

Gareth Fitzallen is celebrated for four things: his handsome face, his notable charm, his aristocratic connections, and an ability to give the kind of pleasure that has women begging for more. Normally he bestows his talents on experienced, worldly women. But when he heads to Langdon's End to restore a property he inherited - and to investigate a massive art theft - he lays plans to seduce a most unlikely lady.

Hugh Philemon Ancaster, seventh Duke of Ripley, will never win prizes for virtue. But even he draws the line at running off with his best friend's bride. All he's trying to do is recapture the slightly inebriated Lady Olympia Hightower and return her to her intended bridegroom. For reasons that elude her, bookish, bespectacled Olympia is supposed to marry a gorgeous rake of a duke. The ton is flabbergasted. Her family's ecstatic. And Olympia? She's climbing out of a window, bent on a getaway.

In Vicky Dreiling’s enchanting Regency romance debut, Tristan - the rakish duke of Shelbourne - wants to marry and sire an heir. To help him choose among the dizzying array of wealthy but witless candidates, he secures the services of prim and proper matchmaker Miss Tessa Mansfield. But as Tessa seeks the perfect mate, the duke finds himself distracted by Tessa’s considerable charms.

Is Number 67 Clarges Steet the unluckiest house in Mayfair? Every season the beau mondes of the Regency would hire a house in the heart of London’s fashionable West End at disproportionately high rent for often inferior accommodation and yet Number 67 Clarges Street, a town house complete with staff, remains vacant from year to year. Could it be that it is associated with ill luck and even death? Something must be done so that the servants of this house don’t lose their livelihood.

When her vile brother's wicked scheming ruins her reputation, Eleanor Chivenham is forced into a marriage of convenience. Yet there is much more to her new husband than meets the eye, and soon her heart is filled with unexpected desires.

When scholarly Miss Ivy Wareham receives word that she's one of four young ladies who have inherited Lady Celeste Beauchamp's estate with a magnificent private library, she packs her trunks straightaway. Unfortunately, Lady Celeste's nephew, the rakish Quill Beauchamp, Marquess of Kerr, is determined to interrupt her studies one way or another.... Bequeathing Beauchamp House to four bluestockings - no matter how lovely they are to look at - is a travesty, and Quill simply won't have it.

Major Robert Kurland has returned to the quiet vistas of Kurland St. Mary to recuperate from the horrors of Waterloo. However injured his body may be, his mind is as active as ever. Too active, perhaps. When he glimpses a shadowy figure from his bedroom window struggling with a heavy load, the tranquil façade of the village begins to loom sinister....