Showing results by narrator "Jessica Bright" in All Categories

Lady Augusta Penworthy is in dire straights. Her father has spent every last coin, and she and her sisters cannot even afford coal. One chance encounter and a torn gown changes everything. While one might think a sudden marriage to a wealthy lord a relief if that marriage is to the Duke of Blacktower, one would be vastly mistaken. For no young lady wishes to be that infamous rake's bride.

Other young ladies might occupy their spare time with drawing or needlework, but Sophia Monmouth spends hers scaling rooftops and shadowing suspicious characters. Her objective: to gain information that will free a friend wrongly accused of murder. She hasn't bargained on being spotted and followed back to the Clifford School by a mysterious earl who holds almost as many secrets as she does. Tristan Stratford, Lord Gray, earned the nickname the Ghost of Bow Street because no man has ever escaped him.

Lady Phoebe Fairchild is well aware that the ton would be appalled to learn of a young lady of quality involved in a trade. Therefore, she resorts to selling her beautiful handmade gowns under a fictitious name: Madame Dupree. So when circumstances force her to visit the estate of William Darby, the Viscount of Summerfield, to design ball gowns for his sisters, she assumes Madame's identity. Phoebe's discomfort in her new position as hired help is nothing compared to her visceral attraction to the viscount himself.

When Fiona Hay offers Angus Gordon her virtue in exchange for a dowry for her sisters, she so intrigues the rogue that he demands a higher payment: She will be his mistress. Thus begins a battle of wills and sensual delights. Destiny soon draws the ardent lovers into the turbulent court of King James. But soon the king's political schemes force Fiona away from the man she loves...and into the arms of a wild and passionate highlander, The MacDonald of Nairn. Will this coldhearted and callous betrayal forever destroy Fiona's chance at happiness?

Archer Tierney has devoted his life to becoming one of the most powerful men in London. He's cutthroat and merciless to anyone who crosses him and ruthless in his determination to always maintain the upper hand over friends and foes alike. There's no situation he can't control, no battle he can't win. Until one fierce woman enters his carefully guarded world, leaving danger and desire in her wake and bringing Archer to his knees.

Abducted from a life of privilege, she was sold into slavery in a distant land. For Lady Janet Leslie there would be no escaping the harem of the wealthy and powerful Sultan Selim. But from the moment the handsome ruler spied his breathtaking "Cyra," he was captivated—by the fiery desire that coursed through his veins. She belonged to him, body and soul-yet it was he who was enslaved.

Lady Greer Fairchild's only hope of avoiding marriage to the first bidder lies in journeying into the untamed Welsh countryside in search of an inheritance she's not sure even exists—one reportedly controlled by Rhodrick Glendower, Earl of Radnor, also known as the Prince of Powys. Rumor has it that the prince is rough, ruthless—even a murderer. But Greer never imagined that the brute would refuse to let her leave his remote castle until she has proven her identity.

Lady Janet Fraser didn't earn her reputation as Scotland's most notorious sinner by following the rules. A former mistress of King James IV, she's content to live her life from pleasure to pleasure. Even if those pleasures - and people - are forbidden.

The young ladies of the Fairchild family have just learned that their stepfather has absconded with their late mother's fortune. Ava, the eldest, decides to take matters into her own hands and hunts down the notoriously wealthy rakehell Jared Broderick, the Marquis of Middleton and heir to a dukedom. Much to her shock and delight, the marquis sweeps her into a whirlwind romance and proposes marriage. But after their passionate wedding night, Ava discovers Jared has ulterior motives of his own.

When Veronica said "I do" to Sebastian Sinclair, Duke of Edgefield, she thought all her dreams had come true. He was dashing and doting, and she absolutely adored him—until he betrayed her trust, shattering their marriage, and her heart, into a million tiny bits. She hasn't seen her husband in the two years since, and she'd just as soon make it twenty. But when she learns that her beloved grandfather's dying wish is for her and Sebastian to attend the family's Christmastide celebration, she swallows her pride and asks him a favor: to pretend they're the happy couple they once were.

Lady Phillipa's heart is on the verge of being broken. The man she has exchanged letters with for months now refuses to answer her missives. That man, after the death of his older brother, is now the Duke of Grey, one of the most powerful lords in the land. When his sister invites Phillipa to the country, she jumps at the chance to discover why the duke forsook their love. When she arrives, she finds a broken, brooding man who insists keeping her away is for her own protection. But in his beautiful face, marred by scars, she sees the soul of the man she loves.

The Duke of Clyde has been a friend to many, but none can climb the walls around his heart. None can thaw the ice that he has wrapped his soul in. Until a bluestocking invades his castle and his life and threatens to upend everything he has ever known.

Black women have never been more visible or more publicly celebrated. But for every milestone, every magazine cover, every new face elected to public office, the reality of everyday life for black women remains a complex, conflicted, contradiction-laden experience. An American journalist who has been living in London for a decade, Kenya Hunt has made a career of distilling moments, movements, and cultural moods into words. Her work takes the difficult and the indefinable and makes it accessible; it is razor sharp cultural observation threaded through evocative and relatable stories.

When a beautiful stranger ducks into his bookshop during a rainstorm, Cale Cameron, well-known rake, is instantly attracted to her. Elizabeth, Lady Thornhill, is restless and hungers for something she cannot name. Society would never accept a countess and a mere bookseller, so they agree to a one week affair to indulge their desire. As their passion ignites and their connection grows, Elizabeth threatens the one thing Cale has protected above all else—his heart.

She must become a companion to a recluse's sister in the wilds of Yorkshire, but the past wants to drag her back into the darkness. When she meets the Beast of Hardcastle, she doesn't know if her last chance is worth surviving the dark nights in his domain—until he begins to awaken her broken heart and tease her with the promise of pleasure.

When a governess of great talents is required, there is only one place the nobility of England go: the Governess Bureau. It was why Miss Meredith Hubert had worked so hard to gain her place there. Finishing with the Earl of Marnmouth's children, she is about to be given her next assignment—a Duke called Alfred Carmichael with a reputation to maintain and a half-brother who needs controlling. But Meredith has a secret to hide, and she's not the only one. Maids sent away in secret, items missing from the house—there is more than one mystery at Rochdale Abbey.

Going undercover as a governess is a first for Cecilia Gilchrist. But once she's installed in Darlington Castle, discovering whether the mysterious marquess murdered his wife proves more daunting than she imagined. Dashing widower Gideon Rhys, marquess of Darlington, is clearly harboring secrets - but is it possible a cold-blooded killer lurks behind his devastating gaze? Trailing his every move only brings her closer to him. But if her heart misleads her, she could pay with her life....

Anne Middleton never plays by the rules. She is willful when she should be obedient and unabashed when she should be decorous. Worse still, she can never resist a good wager . . . or a very naughty book. And Confessions of a Courtesan is about as risqué as a book can be. Michael Grey—Earl of Thornhill—had once courted Anne's sweet and modest sister. But whilst Anne is certainly no lady of decorum, her bold impulsiveness slips through his armor, and propriety is forgotten. Now he too is immersed in the book of forbidden delights, where each page is an invitation to sin.

To protect her family, she has done the darkest of deeds, and now she is determined to find the protection of a good marriage. A marriage that will let her pursue her dreams. A powerful friend has arranged for her to marry the Earl of Derby. But when she arrives, the earl does nothing as expected. He demands a trial. Drawn to the Earl, who seems to carry a shadow in his heart, she agrees. Margaret cannot deny her desire for him, but if he learns the truth, will he cast her out? When her heart begins to long for him, she is determined to keep him... and her secrets.

Hampshire, 1818. To her family, Olivia Middleton is a problem of the most vexing sort. With her older two sisters married off, Olivia is now the target of her mother's matrimonial scheming. Shy and somewhat plain, Olivia prefers the thrill of a gothic novel to the hunt for a husband. And as far as her family is concerned, something must be done. But Olivia has no interest in the men paraded before her—except, perhaps, the sought-after bachelor William Cross. But she's not about to inflate his already oversized ego by telling him so.