Monday, February 26, 2024

To Steal a Marquess is here!

 

To Steal a Marquess

The Sisterhood of Independent Ladies – Book Two


She returned to England to put him in his place—not put herself in his bed.

Alec Douglas, Duke of Lionwraith, a war hero betrayed on the home front while he was away at battle, trusts no one and prefers his solitude. But when his sister begs for help because she is ruined, he vows to make the man responsible pay. When the vile rakehell proves impossible to find, Alec isn’t swayed. He can just as easily destroy his enemy with a subtler attack. The Marquess of Ardsmere’s business provides the best wines and rarest imports to the finest houses in all the realm—but by the time Alec is finished, West Belgium International will cease to exist.

But the despicable marquess can’t be the ruination of Alec’s sister, because the man does not exist. However, Lady Francis, better known as Frannie and sometimes as the Marchioness of Ardsmere, is quite real. Born in Belgium after a terrible accident killed her father, Frannie was introduced to the world as the family’s ward rather than an Ardsmere daughter, and a fake Ardsmere son was fabricated for her to marry to keep the wealth, lands, and privileges of the title away from a heartless cousin. The ruse has served quite well, but now some quarrelsome duke threatens everything because his lightskirt sister tossed her reputation to the wind and ridiculously named the pretend marquess responsible.

Frannie is not about to lose her lucrative empire or expose herself as a fraud. There’s naught to be done but assume her usual role as the imaginary marquess’s wife and put the deplorable duke in his place. However, when she meets Alec’s sweet, trusting sister, she can’t bring herself to finish the poor girl off or take down her handsome brother. Cursing her soft-heartedness, Frannie agrees to help Alec. Not just because he’s a tempting challenge she can’t resist, but also because his sister is kindness itself.

While tracking down the real foe responsible, Alec and Frannie come together in a complicated dance that not only risks riches and reputations but also their hearts. Frannie’s life of lies has always provided everything she needs—except love. What’s she to do when the man who steals her heart despises anything that isn’t true?

What do a skillful liar and a man drowning in bitterness have in common? Loneliness and pent-up passion. An exciting combination until secrets are revealed and everything falls apart.

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Blessed by a Highland Curse is here!


He’s a Highlander from the past, seeking his soulmate. She loves coffee and air conditioning.
He’s determined to take her back to his time. She’s dead set on keeping him in hers.

Newly divorced, teetering on bankruptcy, and about to lose her land, Rachel Hawkins is hanging on by a frazzled thread, but she’s still hanging on and that’s what counts. But when she dreams about a handsome Highlander who treats her to a hotter night of loving than any she’s ever read about and then shows up on her doorstep the next morning, she wonders if her frazzled thread has snapped. While it’s true her grandmother was a talented witch and trained Rachel before she died, Granny never said anything about conjuring up the perfect lover in a dream and having him delivered to your door the next day. The last thing she needs right now is a man to complicate the mess that is her life. Unless he wants to rent out the room over her garage. Rent money? She can use that. A relationship? Not so much.

Caelan MacKay, laird of Clan MacKay in the Highlands of Scotland in the year 1379, is cursed. As was his father before him, and his father’s father, and so on. Cursed to dream of his soulmate until he finds her and makes her his wife—as he has done in all previous incarnations and will do in all future ones—as long as he succeeds in this one. But the woman haunting his dreams can’t be found anywhere in Scotland, and the dreams have become sheer torment. So, he seeks help from the old druid who once advised his father. The seer finds her living in the year 2007 in an unknown land called Kentucky.

So, a bargain is struck with the Fates and the Goddess Brid. Caelan is granted the full cycle of seven moons to travel to the future and convince his true love to return with him to the year 1379 of her own free will—no trickery or Highland kidnapping allowed. At the end of the allotted time, he returns to his era whether he succeeds or fails in his quest. If he fails, he’s doomed to a life alone and possibly the end of the MacKay bloodline, a bloodline gifted with power both envied and feared by the other clans.

Against her better judgment, Rachel can’t resist Caelan, but no way is she going back to 14th century Scotland and trying to survive that country’s dangerous past—time for Plan B. With the help of Granny’s grimoire, she’ll bind Caelan to her time, and they’ll have their happily ever after with modern conveniences. But that’s the thing about the Fates and the Goddess Brid. They ignore everyone’s Plan B but their own.