AustLit

'A debauched duke and a lady with a secret band together in this fresh and sexy Regency romance series from award-winning author Amy Rose Bennett

'This bluestocking would do almost anything to save her reputation and her grandfather's legacy...even marry a scandalous duke.

'No-nonsense Jane Delaney divides her time between her grandfather's beloved bookstore and writing newspaper columns, determined to overcome a past that's left her with scars on her face and in her heart. But when the store ends up in unexpected financial jeopardy and Jane's secrets are threatened by a mysterious blackmailer, she finds herself in desperate need of money. All seems lost until a temptation like no other presents itself...

'Christopher Marsden is the new rakish Duke of Roxby...and someone wants him dead. The problem is, he has no idea who or why. Following a vicious attack, he's acquired a rare affliction where he can no longer recognize faces. But when he catches Miss Delaney attempting to steal a priceless book from his library, Christopher can tell her apart from the rest. Her scarred beauty stands out like a beacon, and he doesn't want to let her go. So he offers her an outrageous proposal- the money she needs in exchange for a marriage of convenience and her help in catching his would-be killer.

'As passion flares between the two unlikely newlyweds, dangerous truths are exposed and hidden enemies poise to strike. Can these two damaged souls survive long enough to find love?' (Publication summary)

'"I can think of the perfect way to keep you occupied and your mind diverted," she murmured. "Come to my room. If you're not too tired..."

'Lust flashed in his gaze, and then, he caught her face between his hands and kissed her. "For you, my beautiful Artemis, I'd stay up all night."

'Artemis Jones―"respectable" finishing-school teacher by day and Gothic romance writer by night―has never lost sight of her real dream: to open her own academic ladies' college. When Artemis is unexpectedly called upon by a dear friend, a fellow Byronic Book Club member, to navigate her first London Season, she comes at once. Who knows, perhaps she can court the interest of a wealthy patron for her school. As long as she can avoid her high-handed aunt's schemes to marry her off.

'Dominic Winters, the widowed Duke of Dartmoor, needs a wife―someone who will provide him with an heir and help him to manage his spitfire adolescent daughter. The problem is, Society has dubbed him "The Dastardly Duke." Rumors are rife that he murdered his mad wife, so his choices for a suitable bride are limited. But then, he meets the ravishing and passionate Artemis Jones, who might just be everything he needs.' (Publication summary)

'Lady Charlotte Hastings—already branded a hellion by polite society—is in a terrible scrape courtesy of London's most notorious blackguard. One thing is certain: her name cannot appear in the gossip rags… again. However, Charlie's bold attempt to extricate herself from the fine pickle she's in takes an unexpected turn when the devilishly handsome Maximilian, the Duke of Exmoor—the rakehell she's secretly loved for years—comes to her aid.

'Upon discovering the irrepressible Lady Charlotte—his best friend's younger sister—is in danger, Max Devereux feels duty bound to offer assistance. Only he soon realizes he's also mired in deep trouble when an entirely inconvenient desire for Charlie sparks to life. If that's not enough to contend with, Max's manipulative mother is busily engineering his betrothal to a perfectly polished debutante. A hardened rake with an armor-plated heart, Max has absolutely no intention of becoming leg-shackled to anyone. At least not this Season.

'When unforeseen disaster strikes plunging both Charlie and Max headlong into a new public scandal, Max proposes a deal: to restore Charlie's good name and to help Max avoid his mother's machinations, they'll enter a temporary engagement-of-convenience. But even the best laid plans can go awry. As passion flares between Max and Charlie, their arrangement doesn't seem like make-believe anymore… and hidden enemies intent on ruining Charlie once and for all, are waiting in the wings. Will a happily-ever-after ever be within their reach?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A reserved debutante and a former soldier make an unlikely but fated match as they hasten for the Isle of Skye.

'Orphaned heiress Olivia de Vere should have the world--or at least the men of the ton--at her feet. But when she's thrown out of a young ladies' academy, Olivia doubts she'll ever find someone who will love her, rather than her bank account. To make matters worse, her dissolute cousin Felix is determined to marry her against her wishes. A virtual prisoner in her guardians' London townhouse, Olivia can’t help but develop a tendre for her neighbor, a handsome Scottish marquess.

'Battle-scarred in more ways than one, Hamish MacQueen, Lord Sleat, has braved many dangers in life. But nothing has quite prepared him for the shock of having a young child dumped on his doorstep, with a note claiming she’s his daughter. Just in the nick of time his pretty neighbor appears, offering to act as a nursemaid for the young girl on their journey to his estate in Scotland. He suspects she has her own reasons for wanting to flee the country…
 
'The close traveling quarters leads to a fierce attraction between Olivia and Hamish that seems impossible to resist. But when ghosts from the past and monsters from the present threaten to tear them apart, will their unlikely love survive?'

(Source: publisher's blurb)

'A debutante with a scandalous past is whisked away from London only to create new headlines on the Continent.

'After being expelled from a young ladies’ academy, it seems Miss Arabella Jardine will never find a well-connected husband. Not that she minds. A bluestocking at heart, she’d rather bury her nose in a medical text than wed. When Arabella is forced to accompany her family on a Grand Tour in Switzerland, she unexpectedly encounters the irresistible rakehell-in-exile, Gabriel, the Earl of Langdale. Arabella soon realizes the only thing worse than getting married to a charismatic but unrepentant rake would be to fall in love with him.

'This bespectacled bluestocking is about to throw all the rules out the window this Christmas…

'Even though Lady Mary Fellows harbors secret, forbidden desires, she’s always tried to behave like a proper tonnish young lady… But not this festive season. In fact, Mary has just the nobleman in mind—a braw Scots earl who she’s often fantasized about from afar—to help her bend polite society’s rules, perhaps even break them. She just needs to convince the rakish Lord Skene to take part in her scandalous plan…

'Angus, Lord Skene, is at home minding his own business when Lady Mary Fellows, the bespectacled sister of one of his good friends, arrives unexpectedly on the snowy doorstep of Skene Castle in the far north of Scotland. When the usually reserved bluestocking asks him to tutor her in all things “erotic” over Christmas—she argues that she can hardly agree to become anyone’s wife unless she actually enjoys bed sport with a man—he’s shocked but also tempted to play his part…especially when he discovers Lady Mary might also fancy his neighbor and sometimes paramour, the flame-haired and sexually adventurous Nell, Lady Balmuir.

'As Angus and Nell help Mary embark on her journey of self-discovery, passions and hearts are set aflame. Who Mary will choose—if anyone at all—to spend her life with is uncertain. Although, there’s no doubt at all that a cold winter’s night is always hotter when the Lord of Misrule comes out to play…'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Anything can happen on Twelfth Night…

'When widowed countess Minerva, Lady Harlow, discovers a devastating secret about her late husband just before Christmas, she turns to trusted friend, Sir Tristan King, for support. However, when a long-denied desire flares to life—and Minerva and Tristan agree to a Twelfth Night tryst—Tristan worries a secret of his own will ruin a treasured friendship. But then again, perhaps this shared night of wicked, unbridled passion will spark an everlasting love...

(Source: publisher's blurb)

'A young lady's tarnished reputation might cost her everything in this first book in the Disreputable Debutantes series.

'Shy, bookish Sophie Brightwell is expected to make an advantageous match to improve her family's fortunes. However, Sophie's plans to make a spectacular debut go horribly awry when she and her three closest friends are expelled from a young ladies' academy for unbecoming conduct. Since the ton will be sure to close their doors on these disgraced debutantes, they determine that unconventional means need to be employed in the husband-hunting market. Rakehells—the beau monde's wickedest members—might be the only men willing to overlook a young lady's besmirched reputation.

'Attempting to mend a broken heart by indulging in an affair with a rakehell would not be the wisest course of action for a young lady of the ton. But when Miss Lily Godwin has a chance encounter with the mischievous Lord Nash at a Yuletide house party, she is sorely tempted to throw all dictates of decorum out the window. After all, it’s Christmas.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Revenge might be sweet, but love is far sweeter…

'Following the Battle of Culloden, Alexander MacIvor returns to his ancestral home, Blackloch Castle, only to find the Earl of Tay, chief of the rival Clan Campbell, has laid waste to everything he holds dear. In the face of such devastation, Alex seems doomed to live the life of a fugitive Jacobite...until a stroke of good luck allows him to escape the Highlands and begin again.

'Years later, styling himself as a wealthy Englishman, Alexander reclaims his forfeited estate, becoming the new Laird of Blackloch. But it’s not nearly enough to quell his thirst for vengeance. Hell-bent on destroying Lord Tay, he single-mindedly sets about driving his nemesis to bankruptcy. When he learns the earl intends to marry the very beautiful English heiress, Miss Sarah Lambert, thus escaping penury, he devises a devious plan: kidnap Miss Lambert and ransom her to hasten Tay’s ruin.

'When Sarah Lambert learns Lord Tay is not the man she thought he was during a masquerade ball in Edinburgh, she is devastated. Reeling from her discovery, things go from bad to worse when a mysterious yet charming guest by the name of Alexander Black turns out to be a true devil in disguise. Abducted and whisked way into the wild Highlands by Black, Sarah is imprisoned in a remote, island-bound tower. Refusing to be a pawn in Black’s diabolical plan for revenge, she determines that somehow, some way, she will regain her freedom. If only she could unlock Black’s secrets...

'Living in such close quarters, Alexander quickly discovers the spirited Sarah is more than a match for him, and even the best laid plans can go awry when passion flares and the spark of love threatens to revive his long-dead heart. When the shadows of the past begin to gather, will Alexander and Sarah find their way forward...or will the threatening darkness destroy them both?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Robert Grant has returned home to Lochrose Castle in the Highlands to reconcile with his long-estranged father, the Earl of Strathburn. But there is a price on Robert’s head, and his avaricious younger half-brother, Simon, doesn’t want him reclaiming his birthright. And it’s not only Simon and the redcoats that threaten to destroy Robert’s plans after a flame-haired complication of the feminine kind enters the scene...

'Jessie Munroe is forced to flee Lochrose Castle after the dissolute Simon Grant tries to coerce her into becoming his mistress. After a fateful encounter with a mysterious and handsome hunter, Robert, in a remote Highland glen, she throws her lot in with the stranger—even though she suspects he is a fugitive. She soon realises that this man is dangerous in an entirely different way to Simon...

'Despite their searing attraction, Robert and Jessie struggle to trust each other as they both seek a place to call home. The stakes are high and only one thing is certain: Simon Grant is in pursuit of them both...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Miss Kate Woodville, teacher and bluestocking, enjoys her independence, thank you very much. But when a very determined viscount insists she accompany him on a mad dash through the snow to Gretna Green to stop his younger sister, Violet, eloping with Kate’s own brother, she has little choice but to go. She’ll risk the ruin of her own pristine reputation if it means she can save Freddie from Lord Stanton’s wrath.

'As they race along the road north and then back to Hollystone Hall in Buckinghamshire for a New Year’s Eve charity ball, hearts and wills are certain to collide. But will anyone—Freddie and Violet, or Kate and Lord Stanton—find the path to everlasting love?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Lusting after one’s employer is certainly not the done thing when you are a governess. But Miss Abigail Adams cannot seem to help herself...

'Abigail Adams, the resident governess of Hartfield Hall, might appear to be a very proper young woman, yet she secretly yearns for excitement to brighten her mundane life. And what she does want, she really shouldn’t long for—Sir Nicholas Barsby, the indecently handsome, charismatic master of Hartfield.

'Sir Nicholas Barsby returns home from a tour of the Continent to discover his widowed sister-in-law has employed a decidedly delectable governess for his nieces. When it becomes blatantly apparent that the attraction is mutual, Nicholas ruthlessly decides to present Miss Adams with a thoroughly wicked proposal.

'Abigail is initially shocked by Sir Nicholas’s outrageous and highly improper offer to become his mistress. Having wanton thoughts about a man is undoubtedly sinful but leading the life of a fallen woman is something else entirely. Nevertheless, falling into Sir Nicholas’s arms might just prove to be an invitation too tempting for Abigail to ignore. One thing is clear, whether she’s a governess or mistress, she must not lose her heart...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Georgiana Dudley, the ‘Ice Duchess’, has just emerged from mourning after a nine-year marriage of convenience to the Duke of Darby, her twin brother’s lover. Deeply hurt by a scoundrel a decade ago, Georgie swore she would never turn her head for any man, let alone another rakehell. But then she encounters the wickedly handsome and all too charming Rafe Landsbury, the Earl of Markham and against her better judgment, her interest is reluctantly aroused. An affair may be impossible to resist but dare she trust Lord Markham with her most intimate secrets... and her heart?

'Society believes Rafe to be a diplomat but for many years he has been working on the Continent as a spy for the Crown. Leaving the shadowy world of espionage behind, he returns to London with the intention of finding a wife. When he is paired with the frosty yet fascinating Duchess of Darby at the picquet table during a ton ball, he is intrigued. Do-or-die man that he is, he’s certainly not going to let her cool demeanor dissuade him from pursuing her.

'When Rafe’s dark past returns to endanger Georgie, he is determined to protect her at all costs, even if that means hiding who he once was. With the stakes so high, both Georgie and Rafe must decide if love is a risk worth taking... '

Source: Publisher's blurb.