A kiss in the gardens. A ruined reputation. A wager without a winner. Having been caught kissing an earl's heir in the gardens during a ball, Miss Lucy Fitzsimmons has been relegated to the company of potted palms and wallflowers at London entertainments. Despite behaving as a perfect young lady up until that fateful night, she knows time won't lessen the stain on her reputation. She'll rarely be asked to dance, nor does she expect to be courted by anyone, but then given the terms of the wager, she won't need to—her brother apparently gave the rake permission to court her! One thing is certain—when Marcus Higgins returns in two years, she intends to collect what she's owed. They had made a wager, and she won. Meanwhile, Marcus has disappeared from London. The second son of the late Earl of Greenley, he left on a Grand Tour the day after he accepted the terms of a wager and kissed the young woman he has secretly been in love with...

A sensual tale of mutual shyness and masterful slyness When the painfully shy Baron David Engleston receives an invitation to join a friend for a few days of playing cards and dancing at the Soho Club, he accepts. Given the incessant rain falling on all of England, he may as well spend some time in the capital. He can feel glum there just as well as in Kent—at least until the moment a young lady in a yellow gown appears from the room adjacent to his and asks, "Are you my betrothed?" Miss Marian Copper has come to the Soho Club in the company of her uncle and guardian, the Earl of Penhurst, believing he has arranged a marriage on her behalf. So when she nearly collides with a handsome man at the club, she assumes he's the one, especially when he doesn't hesitate to reply, "Why, yes. Yes I am." Without so much as an introduction, these two embark on one of the shortest betrothals possible. Given the earl's ridiculous terms and...

A baron hell-bent on revenge. An innocent earl. A countess caught in the crossfire. While departing the first ball of the Season, dowager countess Persephone discovers there's an intruder in her coach. She's momentarily shocked, until she realizes she knows the man. They had briefly been lovers years ago. But how did he end up in her coach, apparently three sheets to the wind? Jack, Earl of Wilmington, is sure he was drugged during the ball, for what else could explain his splitting headache and loss of memory? But who put him in Lady Castlewait's coach? And why? Persephone's driver Parker is just as bewildered, and he's determined to discover what he can. While Penelope and Jack renew their acquaintance, Parker returns to the scene of an abduction gone awry. Can switched hats, misidentified crests on coaches, and reports of gossip relating to the notorious 'Lord JW' provide the clues he needs to sort whodunit? Jack's fate depends on it in...

A man only gets one chance to find his Aphrodite ... but what if she finds him first?When archeologist Dr. Stewart Jones, a duke, goes missing and is feared dead while searching for an important Greek artifact, explorer Harold Tennison, Earl of Everly, is pressed into service by fellow members of the Royal Society to find him. Since Harry has already planned an expedition to the Cyclades to search for rare birds and flowers, he sets off for the Aegean to begin his quest.On his last visit to Delos, Harry was blessed with a visit from a young woman—his very own version of Aphrodite rising from the sea to regard him with an arched eyebrow and a simple question that left him so discombobulated, he could barely speak.Born of a Mykonian mother and a British duke, Lady Estelle isn't particularly comfortable in either world. With her father's recent disappearance and no prospects for marriage, Stella may end up stranded on Mykonos. She spends her days assisting her uncle in his hunt for...

When two brothers trade places, what can go wrong?After eight years in the British Navy, Will Slater returns to London to resume his life as the son of a marquess. He's determined to discover what's become of Lady Barbara. An earl's daughter, she pledged her love on their last night together and now seems to have disappeared from Society.Will's bastard brother, Stephen, served with him on his last ship and is ready to attend every ball and soirée necessary to earn acceptance in the ton. As the Marquess of Devonville's son and a dead ringer for his brother, he finds it easier than he should to navigate the choppy waters of aristocratic Society. And why wouldn't he? All the young ladies think he's his brother, especially after Will requests that they trade places and then leaves London to search for Barbara!Banished from her father's home seven years ago, Barbara lives in a ramshackle cottage in Oxfordshire. With little to eat, no prospects, and nothing in the way of income unless...

Everyone has plans ... until something—or someone—comes along to change them.At the age of thirty-five, Randall Roderick, Marquess of Reading, decides it's time to trade in his life as the 'Rake of Reading' for the life of a married man. Trouble is, his reputation precedes him, and he's not particularly attracted to the milk water misses who make up the eligible ladies of the ton. His counterpart, Charles Goodwin, Earl of Wakefield, is only twenty-five and enjoys his life as a rake far too much to consider marriage. A visiting prostitute may change his mind on the matter, though, if only because he wants to do the right thing.When the Earl of Norwick's skittish cousin, Constance, meets Randall in the park, she's intrigued by the gentleman she thinks is merely a well-to-do cit with a fascination for horse racing, but she's only in London to find out what's become of her inheritance. She's determined to return to her home and horses in Sussex to live the life of an independent...