Prequel to the Daughters of the Dagger series

Mirabelle de Burgh is desperate to give her husband an heir. She's heard of the superstition that to buy a jeweled dagger from a blind old hag would ensure her of conceiving a child. One child for each dagger bought.

The old hag she hunts down has many jeweled daggers, but Mirabelle has limited coins and wants many children. Her greed gets her in trouble and she finds herself in a predicament which causes many circumstances in her life to change.

Four jeweled daggers and four daughters, each with a story, and a surprise later in life that none of them would ever suspect, in Daughters of the Dagger.

Brody, captain of the Sea Mirage, finds himself a victim of his mutinous crew. When he's thrown overboard, he swims to an island. His vengeance of wanting to kill Old Man Muck, the pirate responsible for the upheaval, is what keeps him alive. Gwendolen Fisher is the daughter of a fisherman, trying desperately to fill the shoes of her three brothers, who have abandoned the family business and disappeared. When she spies a man adrift at sea, she convinces her father and the crew to help him. Once aboard the ship, the man is recognized as a pirate.

Spring has been raised as a warrior, not knowing she's been stolen as a baby by Cromwell Gunn. When her clan decides to launch a plan to seize their enemy's castle, she has no choice to go along with it. Shaw Gordon is laird and chieftain and also a widower with three children. He is looking for a wife. But he never expects the offer of his worst enemy's daughter in the form of an alliance.

The Taylor Twelve: Sons of a preacher, but far from saints, these men are nothing but trouble! Tarnished Saints' Christmas is an introduction to each of the twelve Taylor men when they were children. Told by the eldest son, Thomas, the author lets the listener into their lives one memorable Christmas. Each chapter is devoted to one of the brothers to show the trouble they caused in their earlier days, which carries into their present lives as well.

Hawke is the son of the well-known and respected laird Storm MacKeefe. When the King's chronicler arrives at the castle to record the heroic acts of the MacKeefe Clan, Hawke decides it is time for him to be noticed. But before he can devise a way to get mentioned in the Highland Chronicles, disaster strikes. A hunting trip turns into a deadly battle, and things go from bad to worse. Hawke is wounded and left for dead, and his grandfather, laird of the clan, is abducted by the enemy.

Sir Adam de Ware is on a mission as a spy for King Edward III. He is sent to Cavendish Castle to investigate some odd behavior from the earl. If he succeeds to get answers for the king, he will be rewarded when the mission is completed. Wanting to get close to the earl's daughter, the cold-hearted Lady Eva, to find out more, Adam decides to seduce her. But the only way to seduce a woman like this is to appeal to what she most desires, and that is sumptuous food! Adam uses his unique skill of being able to cook delectable holiday dishes to lure the woman closer.

Tristan Fisher and his brothers leave their father's fishing boat and return to a life of piracy, longing for the adventure and riches they once knew. With dwindling supplies and a restless crew, fate finally smiles on them when a storm at sea leaves behind flotsam. However, it is more than just boxes and barrels of supplies they find. Tristan and his brothers fish an old woman out of the water who claims to not only know the whereabouts of a treasure map, but who also says she is their long lost grandmother!

Drake of Dunsbard saves Brynn from being sacrificed to Dracus, the dragon of Lornoon. He is shocked to see the dragon's fire has not harmed her and realizes she must be the Lady of Fire that the villagers fear and call a witch. Brynn has faerie blood running through her veins, and while fire gives her power and cannot harm her, water weakens her and can destroy her. She is thrilled to have been saved by a heroic knight, until she awakes and realizes he has brought her to her late father's castle. She knows at once her savior is none other than the infamous Dragon's Son.

Can a rugged Highlander love a lass whose secrets threaten to ruin his one chance at redemption? And will a woman who has fallen in love with her captor be able to betray him if necessary?

Feared as a demon because of his two different colored eyes, as well as by his outlandish actions, Highlander, Onyx MacKeefe is known as a madman. While celebrating his birthday one cold night at a Lowland pub, he meets a bonnie Englishwoman who says she is searching for her father's murderer and thief. And when he recognizes the name of the person she seeks as his own mother, his birthday takes a bad turn.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and no one is more desperate than Highlander Alasdair MacRae. His clan is on the verge of disaster thanks to continuous raids from the lying, thieving, murdering MacKenzies. Their latest strike has left Alasdair’s family on the precipice of starvation, and his brother badly wounded. The time has come to hit back, and what better blow to deliver than to kidnap his enemy’s daughter and use her to negotiate much-needed peace.

Clever and bold, Ella Sutherland has won the right to call herself chief of her clan and struggles to hold onto the chiefdom against those who doubt a woman’s rule. When she’s captured by the darkly handsome Sinclair chief, she chooses death over wedding him and giving up her clan to their long-time enemy. For she has a secret, an oath she took years ago to protect and keep the clan seat for a great ruler to come. Cain refuses to let his brother, Death, honor Ella’s choice with an execution. He’s never before met a woman so brave and passionate.

After each lifecycle, Catherine returns to the heavens for a new assignment. This time, she'll be born in the Highlands of Scotland, and she's thrilled to learn she'll meet her soulmate. Circumstances will try to wrest them apart, but they must stand strong if they're to live a happy life. There's one drawback: Catherine won't remember anything once she's born....

Through many centuries and lives, Merope has tried everything to avert disaster, but she has always failed. For his crimes against the gods, Orion is cursed to commit the unspeakable acts Merope tries so hard to prevent. Orion has little hope against the power of the gods - he is resigned that this cruel sentence will be his eternity. Until an unexpected twist of fate shows them both that this lifetime could be different.

Sixteen-year-old princess Piper Parish is a disappointment to the citizens of Capalon, a STEM-structured kingdom where innovation is valued above all. Her older sister, the queen, views Piper's tears during their parents' funeral as a weakness, not to mention her strange affinity for singing. When Piper receives an anonymous note stating her mother is still alive and living in the enemy kingdom of Mondaria, Piper chooses to risk death and flees Capalon to prove, once and for all, that she's not just the queen's defective little sister.

Judith Hampton was as beautiful as she was proud and loyal. Her dear Scottish friend from childhood was about to give birth, and Judith had promised to be at her side. But there was another reason for the journey from her bleak English home to the Highlands: to meet the father she had never known, the Laird Maclean. Nothing prepared her, however, for the sight of the Scottish barbarian who was to escort her into his land...Iain Maitland, laird of his clan, a man more powerfully compelling than any she had ever encountered.

By edict of the king, the mighty Scottish laird Alec Kincaid must take an English bride. His choice was Jamie the feisty youngest daughter of Baron Jamison. Alec ached to touch her, to tame her, to possess her forever. But Jamie vowed never to surrender to this highland barbarian. Though his kisses fired her blood, shadowed secrets from Alec's past threatened Jamie's happiness. She brazenly resisted him - until one rapturous moment quelled their clash of wills.

After years of fighting abroad, Ian MacDonald comes home to find his clan in peril. To save his kin, he must right the wrongs from his past... and claim the bride he's long resisted. As a young lass, Sìleas depended on Ian to play her knight in shining armor. Five years later, Sìleas has grown from an awkward girl into an independent beauty who knows she deserves better than the reluctant husband who preferred war to his wife. Now this devilishly handsome Highlander is finally falling in love. He wants Sìleas - and he won't take no for an answer....

His surcoat still bloody from battle, William FitzAlan comes to claim the strategic borderlands granted to him by the king. One last prize awaits him at the castle gates: the lovely Lady Catherine Rayburn. Catherine risked everything to spy for the crown. Her reward? Her lands are declared forfeit and she is given this choice: marry FitzAlan or be taken to the Tower. Catherine agrees to give her handsome new husband her body, but she's keeping secrets, and dare not give him her heart.

At the flower-bedecked altar, the first touch of their hands ignited an all-consuming passion. Gavin Montgomery looked deep into her golden eyes and burned with desire for her...but his heart had been pledged to another. Humiliated and alone in a strange castle, Judith resolved to hate this husband who took her body but rejected her love...never admitting her fear of losing him.

Beautiful Lady Emily dreams of the rapture of love and the joys of marriage. The youngest daughter of an English lord at war, she is shaken by the arrival of a mysterious stranger to her father's castle. Could this breathtaking man be Emily's yearned-for lover? Indeed, Draven de Montague, earl of Ravenswood, has come for Emily...but romance has nothing to do with it.

English knight Sir Adam Dayne is offered the ultimate prize by the earl who raised him: lordship of Langford castle. All he must do is accept a betrothal to the Scottish Marcher warden's beautiful daughter, a match made to keep peace at the tumultuous Anglo-Scottish border. Sir Adam relishes the prospect - until he meets the woman he is to wed. Lady Cora Maxwell hates everything English, including the self-assured new lord who has claimed her hand in marriage. When Adam proposes a unique challenge, Cora is forced to face her greatest fears.

New York Times best-selling author Hannah Howell is a master of Scottish historical romance. In Highland Hero, she shares four of her finest short stories featuring heroes as wild and captivating as the Highlands themselves.

All Highland warrior Gavin Patrick wants is to get back to his native Scotland. Before Gavin leaves the battlefield, he's given a final mission - escort Lady Marie Colette to her fiancé. Under no circumstances is he to lay hands on the beautiful heiress...no matter how desperate the temptation. Forced to pose as a married couple to escape from France, Gavin and Marie Colette find themselves thrown into peril...and each other's arms. As the danger mounts, so does forbidden passion.

Though Honora Tannach came of age amid the misty moors of the Scottish highlands, where warring clans battled to the death for the future of their wild land, nothing frightens her so much as a lifetime trapped in the castle of her cruel stepfather. She is thrilled when a marriage is arranged to the son of a Scottish laird...until her betrothed is revealed to be Cavan Sinclare. Though the savage warrior once saved her life, Honora knows no one can tame the heart of such a brute, no matter now finely chiseled his features or how enticing his eyes...

Sweden, 1732. Strong-willed Jess van Sandt knows only too well that it's a man's world. She believes she's being swindled out of her inheritance by her stepfather and she's determined to stop it. When help appears in the unlikely form of handsome Scotsman Killian Kinross, Jess finds herself both intrigued and infuriated by him. In an attempt to recover her fortune, she proposes a marriage of convenience.

Duncan MacCoinnich's task... Travel to the twenty-first century Renaissance Faire, deflower the Druid virgins, and go home. Only his job is not so easily accomplished with the virgin in question, Tara McAllister. Time is running out. The evil is closing in on them both. Tara finds Duncan irresistible after what was supposed to be a mock hand-fasting binds them.

Eveline Armstrong is fiercely loved and protected by her powerful clan, but outsiders consider her "touched." Beautiful, fey, with a level, intent gaze, she doesn't speak. No one, not even her family, knows that she cannot hear. Content with her life of seclusion, Eveline has taught herself to read lips and allows the outside world to view her as daft. But when an arranged marriage into a rival clan makes Graeme Montgomery her husband, Eveline accepts her duty -unprepared for the delights to come.

Connor MacKiernan, a descendant of the Fae Prince, is a warrior who lives only for honor and duty. Though he's vowed never to marry, that's exactly what he must do to save his sister. Enter a little Faerie magic, and the search for a bride is on. Caitlyn Coryell is having a really bad day - she just discovered her fiance with another woman! Imagine her surprise when she puts on some sexy lingerie and an antique pendant and Connor appears in her bedroom, begging for her help. He offers a simple yet outrageous adventure: travel to his time, marry him, and return home.

1200 A.D.—After decades of warring between the Lairds of Kerr and Prudhoe Castle in Northumbria, a tentative peace is reached. The Lady Carington Kerr is sent to Prudhoe as a hostage to ensure her father's good behavior, and a more reluctant hostage there never was. Small and dark, with emerald eyes and a luscious figure, she is as gorgeous as she is fiery. Enter Sir Creed de Reyne; a gentle giant of a man, he is, by nature, calm and wise. He is the ice to Carington's fire.