Showing results by author "Bertrice Small" in All Categories

Duncan Armstrong, laird of Duffdour, had sworn never to wed unless it was to a lass he truly loved. But when he needs a favor from King James, Duncan never expects what he's forced to pay in return: the taking of a bride he neither loves nor desires. When Highland heiress Ellen MacArther's marriage plans are thwarted by a murder attempt, she has no choice but to beg the king for help. The cost for her urgent plea: to surrender her heritage and become a border lord's bride.

Widowed with five children, stay at home mom Annie Miller has been just getting by . . . and growing restless because of it. Thinking Annie just needs a vacation, her sister enters her into a contest sponsored by The Channel, a network that caters to delivering women's fantasies. Annie wins the grand prize, a week at a luxurious spa—and gets a treat when she turns on the flat-screen TV. The one working channel lets Annie program—and experience—her own personal fantasy each night. Suddenly she's living out dreams she didn't even know she had.

On her mother's advice, Lady Autumn Leslie leaves war-torn England for France in the hope of making a suitable match. The wealthy and handsome Marquis d'Auriville is all she could wish for in a husband, but when Autumn is widowed only a few years after they are wed, she believes she will never give her heart to another man.

Princess Yasaman has been blessed with rapturous beauty, fierce intelligence, and an innocent sensuality that captivates two formidable men—her scheming half-brother, Salim, and her loving husband, Prince Jamal. But her days of bliss and nights of steamy passion are shattered when Jamal is murdered, and Yasaman flees to England and the court of James I. Calling herself Jasmine, she is reunited with her beautiful mother, Velvet, and her grandmother, the legendary Skye O'Malley de Marisco.

Brilliant, outspoken, willful - no one dared challenge stunning Miranda's wild ways.... Except Jared Dunham. Betrothed to this wildcat in a pact that allowed Miranda to remain mistress of her ancestral home off the New England coast, the roguish merchant-adventurer turns his wife's burning rage to searing ecstasy as he fires her most wanton desires. 

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?

The time of peace is over. After the murder of her husband, Lara - half faerie, half human - must leave the home she has made in the Outlands and follow the destiny that has long called her. Using her brilliant sword and even sharper mind, Lara must journey toward the coast, seeking alliances to protect the future of her land. But when treachery binds her once more in chains, the green-eyed beauty is taken far beyond the world she knows. Only there will she discover that destiny has a mind of its own - and that true passion knows no boundaries. 

Scandalizing all of England, Henry has his marriage annulled, for the queen cannot meet the bawdy desires of the insatiable king. Henry seeks a spirited, lusty new wife - and eyes the beautiful Nyssa. But in a land rife with conspiracy and rebellion, there are those in secret power determined to thwart Henry's intentions. A drugged Nyssa awakens in the arms of the notorious rake Varian de Winter. Her virtue destroyed, the outraged king orders them to wed.

A hundred years have passed since the faerie woman Lara last saved Hetar. Her youth and beauty remain as always. The waning years, however, have taken many of her friends and kin. And those who remember her heroism in times of peril are few. All the while Lara's son, the charming but nefarious Twilight Lord Kolgrim, waits patiently for his moment. Kolgrim won't repeat his father's mistakes by waging war. His way is more subtle but just as sinister - not even Lara's formidable powers will be able to stop him. 

The daughter of a powerful desert chieftain, beautiful raven-haired Zenobia, a descendent of Cleopatra, witnesses at an early age the shocking brutality of renegade Roman soldiers and vows to hate all of the blue-eyed strangers forever. Despite that pledge, she falls hopelessly and passionately in love with Marcus Alexander Britanus, a Roman. And it will take all her cunning and skill in war to keep the precious erotic rapture she can find only in his arms.

Meet the daughters of King Arthur's descendant, Merlin Pendragon: Averil: She may be the lord's eldest - and illegitimate-daughter, but Averil knows her dazzling beauty can buy her what she wants most: marriage to a great and powerful lord. Maia: As the legitimate heiress with a hefty dowry, Maia can have any man she chooses, namely Emrys Llyn, a descendant of Lancelot and the Lady of the Lake. Junia: As charming as she is irrepressible, Junia is the lord's youngest daughter. Junia is content to roam the countryside, where she can be alone with Richard de Bohun.

Golden-haired Aurora Kimberly possesses only one passion - to live a simple life on the lush island paradise bequeathed to her family by the English Crown. Now her peace is about to be threatened by the appearance of Valerian Hawkesworth, duke of Farminster, who has arrived to claim his own prize - an heiress promised to him in a marriage contract.

Valentina had been admired, married, widowed, yet had never known love.... Not even at the illustrious court of Queen Elizabeth, where her innocent, violet-eyed beauty fired the hearts of England's most gallant gentry, especially the roguish earl of Kempe and the irrepressible Lord Padraic Burke. But her innocence shattered when a deathbed confession revealed that her true father might not have been Lord Bliss, but the lustful Sultan Murad of Istanbul. Determined to find the truth, Valentina sets sail for the East, a voyage of unsurpassed danger...and sensual discovery.

The eldest child of Rosamund Bolton and heiress to the Friarsgate manor, Philippa Meredith is devastated when she discovers that the man she sought to marry has rebuffed her. But it is this sudden change of fortune that sweeps the spirited beauty back to her place in the court of Queen Katherine of Aragon - and into the arms of Crispin St. Clair, the Earl of Witton. But when Philippa stumbles onto a plot to assassinate King Henry VIII, their very love is tested as they attempt to unmask those who are plotting to tear the royal court asunder.

Replacing a social life with a career, bestselling romance novelist Emily Shann has gotten by on a vivid imagination, hiding a shocking secret that not even her publisher suspects—until she's asked to write something that's hotter, sexier, more explicit, and true to life. Emily has nowhere to turn for advice except to her new editor—tall, dark, and handsome Michael Devlin—who's already stirring her fantasies. So is The Channel—a secret network designed to tutor women in the art of sensual delight.

Fancy: Surrounded by mystery and scandal, the widowed Fancy Devers, Fortune and Kieran's last child, arrives in England only to catch the roving eye of King Charles II—who makes the raven-haired, turquoise-eyed beauty one of his many lovers. But when their fiery romance settles into a comfortable friendship, the king is determined to find his glamorous mistress a husband—no matter her strenuous objections....

Magic coursing through his blood, Dillon, son of the Domina of Hetar, follows his path to the forgotten world of Belmair. Summoned to marry the king's daughter and inherit the throne, Dillon discovers Belmair is beautiful, enigmatic, and seductive - as is his strong-willed new queen. What's more, Hetar's brightest star may hold the key to his people's lost heritage - and his heart. 

Lara, Domina of Terah, has mysteriously disappeared, and Magnus Hauk is frantic to find his beloved wife. When no trace of her can be discovered, he turns to two strong allies - Prince Kaliq of the Shadows and Ilona, the most powerful of the faerie queens. Meanwhile, Kol - the Twilight Lord - revels in his victory. The exquisite Domina is now in his possession, and her powers will soon help him to conquer first Hetar and then Terah. But Lara will not stand for his treachery, even as she is seduced by his charisma. 

Elizabeth Meredith, the youngest daughter of Rosamund Bolton, is nothing like her sensible sisters. Impatient with fancy manners, the young beauty has shunned the royal court in favor of a quiet life at Friarsgate. But to protect the future of the land she loves, she must venture into the court of King Henry VIII to find a suitable husband. Elizabeth soon scandalizes the court by forging a friendship with Anne Boleyn and by flirting with Flynn Stewart, bastard brother to King James V of Scotland. 

Young Wynne of Gwernach has no dreams of marriage. Innocent and pure of heart, she believes that love is an illusion. Instead, she devotes herself to managing the great family estate nestled in the raw beauty of Wales, vowing to protect it and her younger brother until he comes of age to inherit. And then Madoc of Powys enters into her life, claiming his betrothal to Wynne when she was a babe. Madoc is both feared and worshipped throughout the land, for his family's power is said to stem from Merlin himself.