Showing results by author "Catherine Gayle" in All Categories

The first three full novels in Catherine Gayle's Lord Rotheby's Influence series....

It was supposed to be a night of fake names, half-truths, and anonymous sex. Keith Burns, star defenseman for the Portland Storm, was just looking for a way to pass the time. Brianna Hayden wanted to find herself after health issues changed everything. Anonymity is the name of their game; the rules were laid down at the outset. A chance encounter brings them back together long after the game should have ended, shattering their initial rules.

Hunter Fielding has long since proven himself to be one of the best goaltenders in the NHL. The problem? His former team had another (slightly better) backstop. They left Hunter out to dry, the upstart Tulsa Thunderbirds claimed him in the expansion draft, and he made a few stupid comments about backasswards Oklahomans. Now the T-Birds say the only way he can redeem himself is to make nice for the media with some local goody two shoes who's made some mistakes of her own.

She's reaching for a breakaway pass. Dana Campbell has spent the past seven years in self-imposed isolation for a crime she didn't commit. The danger is well in the past, but her panic attacks make it impossible to have a normal, healthy relationship with a man. Even her counselor has given up on her. She has to find someone she trusts to help her fight through the panic, or her seven-year ordeal will become a lifetime sentence. There's only one man she feels safe enough to ask.

It was supposed to be a single night of fake names, half-truths, and anonymous sex. Neither of them was prepared for it to become more. Keith Burns, star defenseman for the NHL's Portland Storm, was just looking for a way to pass the time and ease the loneliness of his lavish lifestyle. Brianna Hayden wanted to find herself - and maybe learn to love herself again - after health issues changed everything. Anonymity is the name of their game; the rules were laid down at the outset.

Tired of being the second-best Babcock, Levi “501” Babcock is ready to outshine his older brother. Outranking his brother proves harder than he imagined—until he meets a sinfully sexy gold-medal-winning figure skater. She might be the prize he’s been searching for all along. Bubbly and spirited Cadence Johnson is determined to escape the shackles of her former partner. Moving to Portland gives her the fresh start she’s craved, but the last thing she can afford is a distraction like Levi Babcock.

Everyone deserves a second chance. As general manager of the Portland Storm, Jim Sutter knows this all too well. And he's in the perfect position to grant second chances like he's Santa Claus - even if he never gives himself one. When his friends take matters into their own hands, Jim might just get the holiday surprise of a lifetime.

Nicky Ericsson has had a long fight with addiction, and because of it, he lost his spot as the Portland Storm's top goaltender. But he's on the road to a comeback - both in his personal life and on the ice. He's throwing himself into charity work, recovery group meetings, training...all the things he needs to do to become the best version of himself he can be, and to keep himself clean. He has no other choice.

When Aurora Hyatt loses her journal in Hyde Park, her ruin is a foregone conclusion. After all, if anyone discovers her writings, they'll find scandalous fantasies involving the newest rake in town alongside entirely-too-candid thoughts about her typical dreary suitors. Aurora will either be forced into a loveless marriage with the first nodcock to make an offer, or she'll be assigned a permanent position on the shelf. Oh, dear good Lord. What catastrophe will God smite down upon her next?

Dana Campbell has spent the past seven years in self-imposed isolation for a crime she didn't commit. The danger is well in the past, but her panic attacks make it impossible to have a normal, healthy relationship with a man. Even her counselor has given up on her. She has to find someone she trusts to help her fight through the panic, or her seven-year ordeal will become a lifetime sentence. There's only one man she feels safe enough to ask.

Katie Weber left her heart behind in Portland when she decided to follow her dreams in Hollywood. Now she's back to sing the national anthem for the Portland Storm for their annual Hockey Fights Cancer night. One look at the team's bench while she's singing is all it takes to know that Jamie Babcock is still hurting just as much as she is. She's done the Hollywood thing, though, and she's over it. She knows what she wants, and she wants Jamie, but she might have already done too much damage.

There's only one person in the world that Mattias Bergstrom allows to see his soft side: his younger sister, who was born with Down syndrome. She lives with their parents in Sweden, so there's no worry of accidentally showing his players any part of himself other than the hard-assed former defenseman and current head coach of the Portland Storm. At least not until the doppelganger of Matti's sister snags one of his young D-men in the corridor before the team's skills exhibition event, and his frozen heart melts.

With her father's health in question, Sara Thomas is focused on reducing his anxiety. That's no small feat, considering his high-stress job, not to mention her own distractions. Everyone knows Sara's single; no one knows she's pregnant. There's never a good time to unexpectedly get knocked up, but now is definitely not it. Regardless, she doesn't want anyone to know - especially not her father - until she has a game plan in place.

The Duke of Danby is matchmaking again. No matter what his overbearing duke of a grandfather wants, Thomas Goddard has no intention of marrying a high-born lady. He's the son of Danby's by-blow, for heaven's sake, and no gentleman! When yet another letter-complete with yet another marriage license-arrives, Thomas does as any reasonable man would do. He rips the thing to shreds, tosses it over the cliffs, and curses Danby's name. Regrettably, his shouted curse startles the very lady his grandfather intends for him to marry.

It's the NHL's draft day, but the whole Portland Storm team is back together for an entirely different event. Complete with a double wedding, an unanticipated guest, overdue apologies, unexpected goodbyes, and fresh starts, this big day has the potential to get them all called for a Double Major.

Mitchell "Q" Quincey, a journeyman playing for the Portland Storm, has three goals for his three-day Christmas break: move the rest of his gym equipment out of his ex-wife Mia's house, get his lawyer to file a petition for joint custody, and spend every last minute he can with his baby girl.

Life's been rough for Noelle Payne lately, but she's not one to let negativity rule her. So she lost her job. She'll find another one. The bank foreclosed on the house? Well, she can live out of her car for a while. There's always an upside to be found, but now Noelle needs to find something to give her life meaning. She owes it to the universe to figure it out, too, because a stranger just saved her life.

Injury after injury has put Brenden Campbell's NHL career on hold for years. Now he's playing for the Portland Storm and determined to make it stick. Few things in life drive him more than being told he can't have something he wants, and what he wants most is to prove he belongs. Brenden also wants Rachel Shaw, the cute, little redhead who just got hired as the general manager's new assistant. But then she went and made herself off-limits, telling him: "I don't date."

On a celebratory trip with his best friend, Ray "Razor" Chambers meets sultry Viktoriya Dubrovskaya and immediately recognizes the desperation in her eyes - a sight he remembers all too well. Permanently in survival mode, the destitute and broken Viktoriya makes him an offer - a proposition he immediately refuses. However, Razor's counter-offer changes everything for her.

Katie Weber has lost her health due to leukemia, and now her chemotherapy treatments have taken her hair. She's not about to show up to her senior prom bald and let her classmates steal her dignity, too. Prom is no place for a girl who looks more like an alien than a high school student, especially when her so-called friends all dropped her like she had the plague at the first mention of the word cancer.