After her mother Lottie's death in Paris, penniless young Clova has no one to turn to, so she heads for Scotland – to the Clan Lottie abandoned when Clova was just seven. Then fate intervenes and a vast inheritance from her dead mother's former lover makes her a rich woman.Nevertheless, she is afraid that her kin will despise her as they did her mother, who ran away with a 'Sassenach' to a life of 'sin' in Paris and Monte Carlo. But to her amazement, she is told that she has inherited the title of Marchioness of Strathblane and Chieftain of the McBlane Clan! But her new wealth and power are double-edged swords. Not only is her Clan embroiled in a bitter feud with the neighbouring McCowans, but her cousin Euan is also plotting to seize her title – by the foulest of means.Winning the hearts of her Clan with her brave leadership, she loses her own to the 'enemy' Laird – and if wicked Cousin Euan gets his way she will lose her life too.

With her aging grandfather on his deathbed and not expected by his doctors to live for more than two or three months, it comes as little comfort to the beautiful Gytha Sullivan that he has made her the heiress to his considerable fortune.What is much worse is Sir Robert Sullivan's fear that she will be seduced by some 'smarmy fortune-hunter', who will squander her inheritance.And this deep concern of his makes him insist that she marries one or other of her two loathsome cousins, Vincent and Jonathan, who will do anything to take his fortune for themselves.Desperate to escape from this terrible fate, Gytha goes to visit the Master of the neighbouring estate, the dashingly handsome Lord Locke, whose life her father once saved in the War against Napoleon, and beseeches him to, in turn, save her by becoming engaged to her, thereby making a forced marriage to either of her cousins impossible.Appalled by the poor girl's plight his Lordship agrees much to the anger of Gytha's family...

The dashing Duke of Selchester is on his way to visit Lord Upminster at Copple Hall when he is halted by a collision in the road ahead to find that a stagecoach has crashed into his own travelling carriage, the wheel of which is badly buckled.Worse still, his beloved pedigree stallion, Salamanca, needs re-shoeing.Arriving on foot at the nearest village, he finds a strikingly attractive young girl called Verena Winchcombe, who agrees to take him to the local blacksmith.It transpires that she has been awaiting the arrival of someone she calls 'the Odious Duke', who is due at Copple Hall, but who has so far failed to arrive. With horror the Duke realises that she is talking of none other than himself. So he introduces himself by his rank as 'Major Theron Royd'.When Verena confides in him about strange goings on at an old, perhaps haunted, Priory where he agrees to go along with her to investigate.And there he is bludgeoned unconscious by a...

Although Scottish born and bred, beautiful young Vara McDorn speaks with a refined English accent thanks to her education in the South, which is why she is called upon to become Reader to the new Chieftain of the McDorn Clan, who has been blinded by an Indian Fakir's curse while protecting the Viceroy at a Fort on the North-West Frontier of India.Troubled by his affliction and frustrated by his inability to understand the local Scots' brogue, the Chieftain, the Earl of Dornoch, soon comes to rely on Vara as his tutor in the customs and attitudes of his people as well as being his eyes on the estate.And, although he is terse and resentful at first, Vara finds herself warming to this haughtily handsome Nobleman.After taking him on an adventure that she hopes will restore his sight, Vara catches Hamish, the Earl's murderous relative, a rival for the title of Chieftain, attempting to stifle him with a pillow over his face and shoots him with her revolver,...

Now she is sixteen and a half, the beautiful young Lady Imeldra is eager to leave school and resume her exciting life with her father, the Earl of Kingsclere. He is renowned in Society as something of a 'man about town', but when he goes on his frequent extensive travels round the world, he always takes Imeldra with him and she just loves being with her father. She is dismayed when he announces that his rather decadent lifestyle is not conducive to the necessary task of presenting Imeldra to Society and at Court and finding her an appropriate suitor for her hand in marriage. And he is intending to send her to live with her strait-laced and disapproving grandmother, where she will lead a very dull and formal lifeRebelling, she enlists the help of an old family friend, William Gladwin, who is currently building an ornate orangery at the neighbouring estate of Marizon and passes herself off as Mr. Gladwin's grand-daughter so that she can stay at Marizon and...

Internationally celebrated musician, Paul Ferraris plays the violin like an angel, but since his beloved wife passed away he and beautiful young daughter Gisela have been almost destitute. Now desperate, they arrive in Vienna, where Paul is much admired and sure of finding work in one of the great theatres. In the pitch black of the Vienna Woods at night, Gisela's rescued from a rabble of rowdy students by a mysterious stranger. And even in the total darkness, somehow, she knows she's safe with him – and somehow she falls into his arms in a rapturous, unseeing kiss.With her father busily rehearsing for a major concert and love blossoming in her heart, life for Gisela is heavenly. But then in the very woods where they first kissed, her handsome stranger breaks the spell with the revelation that he's a Prince, heir to the Hungarian throne, and that he is leaving her forever to spare her the humiliation of a Royal family who will never accept the daughter of a mere musician....

Rich, powerful and handsome, the Duke of Melyncourt is journeying to Paris on a secret mission for the British Prime Minister when he discovers that a bewitchingly beautiful flame-haired girl has stowed away in his carriage.Amé, as she is a called, has run away from the Convent where she is a novice and to which her unknown mother had entrusted her as a baby in arms. It transpires that she fled to enjoy a last taste of freedom after for some reason the sinister Cardinal de Rohan insisted that she take her nun's Orders without delay, far sooner than other novices would. The Duke knows that this French Cardinal is not to be trusted and agrees after much pleading to take Amé with him to Paris disguised as his pageboy.It is not long before the Cardinal's men are in pursuit, enquiring whether the Duke has seen the missing novice. And the Duke realises that there is something ominous afoot. So begins an adventure in which Amé and the Duke find themselves amid the turmoil between the...

Diana, the flighty, flirty, and very beautiful social butterfly with a rich father and aristocratic pedigree... Lord Hugo Dalk, the handsome 'man about town' who pursues her relentlessly...And in contrast, the brilliant young philosopher and Oriental adventurer, Barry Dunbar. Barry despises Diana's trivial lifestyle – but not as much as she hates his superior attitude. Everything changes, though, when her father's financial empire collapses and he's found dead by his own hand. Now a penniless social outcast, at death's door with double pneumonia, she realises she's loved Barry Dunbar all along... only to learn that on his oriental travels, he has become a Buddhist monk. Has she just discovered the love of her life, only to lose him forever?

Paris, 1802. The French Revolution is over, but Madame Guillotine still casts a long and bloody shadow over the last of the Aristocracy. In the bowels of the Château de Marigny, the beautiful young Comtesse Lynetta hides in terror – until her Knight in Shining Armour appears. Smitten by her delicate loveliness, the dashingly decadent Darril, Earl of Charncliffe rolls her up in a rug like Cleopatra and whisks her away under the nose of Napoleon Bonaparte himself. Posing as honeymooning newlyweds, they flee with a gang of bloodthirsty revolutionaries hard on their heels and, hardly daring to believe that she has not lost her head to the guillotine, a trembling Lynetta suddenly knows that she has lost her heart.

Riding in the woods, beautiful young Farica encounters a handsome yet sad young gentleman called John Hamilton – whom she is sure is about to commit suicide. After intervening she is instantly, irresistibly attracted to him – but, as she explains, she is already, unwillingly, promised in marriage to Fergus, the new Earl of Lydbrooke . Not only does she not love him – she feels sure the Earl is marrying her only for her father's large fortune (it is common knowledge the Fergus is wildly extravagant and in terrible debt).Soon it is revealed that "John Hamilton!" is actually Ivan, the true Earl of Lydbrooke – thought killed at Waterloo and replaced by Fergus a nephew of the old Earl. On hearing that Ivan is alive, Fergus had tried not once but twice to murder him in the hope of holding on to the title. Now Farica is caught up in a "crusade, of right against wrong, of good against evil that we have to win!" But the real question is can Love be the victor!

Freshly home from her Finishing School in Florence, the beautiful young Lady Odela Ford finds to her dismay that her new stepmother, the Countess of Shalford, is scheming against her and her beloved father. Odela's mother, who she adored, has died and her father has married again rather too quickly.To her horror and mystification she overhears one day her stepmother ordering her lover, the Viscount More, to marry Odela – for her money as he has very little himself.This is the first that Odela hears of the American oil shares that her late mother left her, which have now accumulated into a vast fortune. Unwilling to tell her father that he is being betrayed by his wife, Odela seeks refuge with her old Nanny at the country house of the Marquis of Trancombe. Almost straight away there is an undeniable and irresistible attraction between her and the handsome Marquis. But no sooner has she found safety than new danger appears in the form of a...

The brooding and haughty, handsome yet strangely haunted Earl, Lord of all he surveys in an ancient Lincolnshire castle with its dungeons, priest holes and dark secrets... The forlorn young beauty, grief-stricken and alone in an exotic flower-filled villa in sun-kissed Sorrento...

Exceedingly lovely, grey eyed-beauty Lady Marcia Woode is the apple of her father's eye as his only child.But unlike the other Society debutantes she is reluctant to be pinned down by marriage – indeed she has refused proposals from countless suitable suitors, the latest being from the richest Duke in the whole of England.Infuriated, Marcia's father decides to force her to marry the illustrious French Duc de Roux, whose father was an old and distinguished friend of his.Arriving in France, Marcia is swept off her feet by the Duc's awe-inspiring château, the magnificent gorges of the Dordogne and, best of all, his stable of fine thoroughbred horses, if not at first by the Duc himself, who is extremely tall and handsomeImpressive though he is, Marcia knows that he is not in love with her, nor is she with him. And she will not marry unless it is for love and love alone.And yet, almost in spite of herself, she realises that her heart has other ideas.When she finds out that the...

Beautiful young Charisa Templeton always loved her father's old friend the Marquis of Mawdelyn – and as a child she roamed Mawdelyn Priory with his nephew Vincent, whom she adored. Saddened to hear that the Marquis has died – she's glad his heir, Vincent, will be coming home from his army posting in India to claim his title. But then Fate strikes another blow with the news that Vincent has been killed! Reluctantly, Charisa and her father prepare to welcome the next in line – half-French Gervais Mawde.But as soon as he arrives they sense something is wrong. Penniless, he immediately sets about selling off the family treasures and dismissing loyal servants, even the Vicar! Worse still he forces his attentions on a shy and unworldly Charisa. But just as she begins to despair, her prayers are answered and Vincent appears – alive, but in terrible danger. Someone is trying to kill him and now they realise who! None other than Gervais who is not only a murderer but also a Devil...