Showing results by author "Tess Thompson" in All Categories

After the trauma of my family’s abandonment and the forced adoption of my baby, I find solace in New York City, living in a fine apartment, thanks to my benefactor, Percival Bancroft. He asks for nothing in return except for one thing—dinner once a week. All would be well if it weren’t for my growing feelings for the kind man who rescued me from a life on the streets. He is not mine to love, as he belongs to another.

In the spring of 1910, an advertisement I spotted in the Boston newspaper called out to me: “Wealthy family in need of secretary on Whale Island. Must have an affinity for books.” When I’m offered the position, I do not hesitate to pack my meagre belongings and travel to Washington state. After all, I have nothing to lose. I’ve been dismissed from my current position. I have no family. It’s all a dream come true. The only problem? My employer, Benedict Tutheridge, makes my heart flutter and my knees wobble.

Brody Mullen is the best quarterback in the AFL, and his Super Bowl win only confirms what he's suspected his entire career: romantic entanglements are bad for his game. No women. No sex. No problems. But after hiring a beautiful nurse to care for his mother, his resolve begins to weaken.

When war threatened Europe, my parents sent me from our vineyard in France to safety in America, where I found a new life, with friends who become family. But even in a land untouched by the bombs, the shadows of war loomed over my heart. As secrets from my past emerge and the world around me is torn apart, I must confront the grief of loss, the weight of duty, and the delicate balance between love and loyalty.

Colorado, 1910. Quinn Cooper can’t help feeling uneasy. But securing a job as a schoolmarm in a tiny frontier town was the only way to save her family from starvation back in Boston. And her nerves aren’t eased by a stray gunshot that spooks the sleigh horses, casting her into the snow...until she’s rescued by a handsome stranger.

After a decade of playing hockey, a single injury ended Trapper Barnes’ career. But when he discovers that the woman who owns the local bakery is the girl who once shattered his dreams, the painful secret she’s been harboring all these years threatens to turn Trapper’s idyllic small-town future into a disaster. Will it take a forest fire threatening the mountain village to force Trapper and Brandi to confront their history?

Sparks fly when opposites attract, and so it goes with Ciaran Lanigan and Bliss Heywood. He's the handsome playboy. She's the studious executive. And their chemistry? It's off the charts. But beneath his charming facade, Ciaran is a haunted man. And the more he opens up to Bliss, the less she's sure she can trust him. Is he really in danger, or is he just a danger to Bliss? Can two people who love with all their hearts face the ever-lurking threats of secrets, lies, and family together?

Two years after her husband’s death on a ski trip, Crystal Whalen is devastated when a fire destroys her quiet Colorado mountain home. And when she can’t keep her hands off the gorgeous divorcé who’s become her new temporary housemate, it only feeds her grief and growing guilt. Garth Welte won’t be burned again. After his ex-wife took most of his money, the downhill-skiing Olympic medalist is determined to keep things casual with the sexy woman he can’t resist. But the more time they spend with each other, the harder it is to deny his burgeoning feelings.

1921. Cast out and alone, I lost everything weeks before my wedding—my betrothed, my family, my future. With nowhere to turn, I accept the help of a compassionate stranger, not knowing it may lead me towards a path I swore never to tread.

My heart shattered when my sister's fiancé took what he wanted against my will, leaving me pregnant and disavowed by my family. Driven to desperate measures, I agree to take a housekeeping job on a remote island off the cost of Washington state. The man I’m working for? He’s kind, handsome and has a unique understanding of my position.

After my twin sister’s betrayal, I started fresh in America working on a dude ranch in the middle of nowhere. The last thing I need is a cantankerous rancher with an attitude looking at me with disapproval in his eyes. My chattiness and optimism clearly irritate him, so I take the high road and choose to ignore him. But when Soren Moon offers to rent me a room in his house, I can’t refuse. A broke English girl doesn’t have that many options in Bluefern, Montana. Even though that leaves me alone with him way too often.

Fiona Barnes has a secret—one so big she's afraid it will destroy everything she holds dear. Not even her beloved music can save her. Li Wu has fought prejudice his entire life. But he's always felt safe and protected within the fierce love of the Barnes family. If only the object of his desire were free to be his, all would be well. Will he risk everything to be with the one he loves, or will societal pressures keep them apart?

I didn’t mean to kill my husband. All I wanted was to escape his abuse and start a new life with my daughter as far away from him as possible. But in one life-altering second, I had to decide—run or stay and face his family and a possible murder conviction. I ran. What else could I do? I’m all my daughter has in this world. I’ll do anything to make sure she’s safe.

I’m a mother above all else. My boys are my life and my heart. When I’m suddenly raising them alone, I must face the possibility of selling the ranch that’s been in my family for generations. The last thing on my mind is finding a second chance at love. Yet, when a buttoned-up banker offers his assistance, I can’t help but say yes. Will the man in a suit and leather loafers be the key to my next chapter?

When Dena Quinn rescues Doctor Shane Madden from his burning car on an icy Colorado highway, she becomes his accidental angel in this heartwarming romance novel. From that moment on, he can’t get Dena out of his mind. But Shane has a problem. He is involved with his boss’s beautiful, spoiled daughter.

After four years at a university, Delphia Barnes returns home to Emerson Pass as America prepares to join the war. Determined to resist a conventional life of marriage and children, she fights her attraction to her old pal Jack Depaul. However, her heart won’t listen to reason, falling in love anyway.

Blythe Heywood denied her destiny when she left Finn Lanigan behind 13 years ago to return to her fiancé, a wedding, and the life of safety and security that she'd yearned for since she was a child. But in the wake of her husband's betrayal, Blythe is forced to begin again. And it's her memories of Finn, the only man who ever weakened her knees, that call her across the Pacific Northwest in search of the next chapter in her life.

I didn’t want him here. I’d do anything to get rid of him. Sabotage his practice. Make sure the islanders knew he was not to be trusted. Push away his overtures of friendship and partnership. What good did a fancy city doctor do for the community anyway? My community. The residents of Whale Island could attest to my competency and compassion. We don’t need outsiders telling us what to do. Then I find out my mother is the one funding the interloper’s medical practice. My own mother. Why? I can’t fathom why she’d want to ruin my life.

Josephine Barnes wrote every day to her beloved fiancé battling in the trenches of the Great War. Devastated when he’s killed in action, she vows never to marry and buries her grief in the construction of the town’s first library. But she’s left breathless when she receives a request from a gracious gentleman to visit and return the letters containing her declarations of desire. Philip Baker survived the war, but returned home burdened with a secret. Though he knows it’s wrong, he can’t stop reading the beautiful sentiments left among his slain comrade’s possessions.

Devastated after both my fiancée and best friend betrayed me, I traveled to a distant isle in the Pacific Northwest, clinging to a job as an artist's assistant to escape my broken heart. Little did I know that I would find something else entirely when I met Briggs Tutheridge. His kindness and sensitivity were not at all what I expected. Still, his reputation was well-known and notorious, with bevies of admirers who wanted nothing more than a brief affair. That wasn't me. I was a wallflower destined to live in the shadows, and no amount of wishing could change that.