Lighthearted Regency Romance With a Dash of Spice and Adventure
... featuring heroines who succeed despite the patriarchy
Scandalous Ladies
Three best friends and an older brother each find themselves falling in love with ... well, you know.
Brazen Bluestockings
Harriet Chase wasn't the only teacher or staff member who suddenly found herself out of work when the Torquay Academy for Young Ladies closed. What happened to the others?
What an Earl Wants
What's a Lord to do?
Benjamin, Earl of Sinclair, is living in chaos. So many of his well-trained servants are pairing up and running off to be wed that his friends begin calling him The Matchmaking Earl. Fortunately, his talented new secretary, J. Quincy, begins setting the household to rights. But imagine Sinclair’s surprise when he discovers the “J” stands for Josephine. His favorite employee is a lady in disguise!
Jo desperately needs this position, and never actually lied about her gender … though she didn’t expect Sinclair to figure out her secret so soon. If the ton finds out, the scandal could be devastating. She’s only going to stay long enough to earn sufficient money to move her ailing sister away from London. Can she succeed before word gets out and scandal brings them both down? And after working so closely with the handsome, charming Sinclair, can she leave with her heart intact … even if the earl now wants Jo as a match for himself?
Originally published January 2005. Lightly edited for 2021.
Available now as an e-book and paperback.
Heat level: 5/10
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Kiss From a Rogue
Lady Smuggler
Widowed and bankrupt, Sylvia, Lady Montgomery, reluctantly leads her village’s smuggling operation. Without her husband’s ship and protection, she’s forced to deal with a lecherous sea captain. When her gang captures a gentleman asking too many questions, they persuade the handsome stranger to pose as her new husband.
Aspiring Rake
Lacking direction in life, Tony Sinclair is trying on the role of rakehell. After spotting the lovely young widow at a quaint seaside inn, he’s delighted when she practically falls in his lap as his pretend wife. She’ll be his first conquest, then he’ll move on from the picturesque but poverty-stricken village.
Sylvia’s gang of seven protectors thwart Tony’s seduction attempts at every turn. What started as a lark turns deadly serious as danger closes in from the law and a rival smuggling gang. Tony finds himself fighting for the villagers, his life, and for Sylvia’s heart. But having been let down by so many men in her life already, Sylvia has no intention of falling for a charming rogue ... no matter how intoxicating his kisses.
Originally published in 2006. Lightly edited for 2021. Available as an e-book and paperback.
Heat level: 6/10
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Confessions of a Viscount
The Naked Truth . . .
Alistair, Viscount Moncreiffe, is much more interested in celestial bodies than the conniving ladies who are trying to trap the astronomer into marriage. But when dauntless, determined Charlotte Parnell literally drops into his arms one night, he’s quick to tender a marriage proposal when they are discovered in this scandalous position.
Better a Spy Than a Bride . . .
Charlotte would rather continue spying for the Crown than obey her brother’s wishes that she marry and live a quiet life. She's determined to solve an important and dangerous case before he does. After a misstep on a London rooftop lands her in Viscount Moncreiffe's embrace, the handsome scholar’s offer of a fake betrothal will simplify life for both of them. With a fiancé by her side, she'll arouse fewer suspicions. They’ll end their engagement once her mission is completed.
A close call has Alistair realizing his emotions are real, and he confesses he wants their engagement to end … in marriage. But Charlotte’s plans for her future don’t include a husband or a new partner. Will she have to give up the independence she’s fought so hard for in exchange for the love Alistair offers?
Originally published in 2006. Lightly edited for 2021 as part of the Scandalous Ladies series.
Available now as an e-book and paperback.
Heat level: 5/10
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The Viscount's Hidden Treasure
Can She Trust a Privateer?
Miss Harriet Chase has been in desperate financial straits since the closing of the Ladies’ Academy where she taught. Marriage to Sir Percival would provide for her mother and younger brother, and give her the safe, stable life she craves. But Percy won't propose unless she has a dowry. The treasure left by her father before he died might provide it, but it's in Spain. A thief just stole Harriet’s copy of the map. She has to go find the treasure now.
Half the treasure belongs to the heir of her father’s friend, Viscount Sheffield. Rumors swirl around Sheffield like the capes of his greatcoat, that he’s a privateer who’s killed a dozen men and bedded over a hundred women. He has a ship and can take her to Spain, but can she trust him ... with her life, her virtue, her half of the treasure?
Nicholas, Viscount Sheffield, inherited nothing but the title and entailed estates; his father gave away everything else. Nick is eager to claim the treasure his father didn’t want him to have, even if he has to bring this timid but tenacious woman with him. She has memorized what she thinks is the only copy of the treasure map.
As they follow clues, sailing from London to Spain to Portugal, they discover other hunters, not just the thief, are also racing to find the treasure. Amidst their adventures, Nick discovers the most important treasure is the woman at his side. But this journey opens Harriet’s eyes to a world of possibilities. Will she still want a staid life with Percy, or can Nick persuade her that he’s the prize she wants?
Published February 2022. Available as an e-book and paperback.
Heat level: 4/10
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My Reluctant Earl
How did a respectable spinster end up hiding an earl in her bedchamber?
Miss Ashley Hamlin has two months of the London Season to find a husband or another job at a ladies’ academy. Despite her experience and spotless reputation, rejection letters are piling up. And the gentlemen of the ton show no interest in courting this bluestocking.
David, Earl of Ravencroft, is a talented musician and singer who reluctantly inherited his title after a family tragedy. He gave up the carefree life of a second son and takes his new duty to protect very seriously. Perhaps too seriously: he winds up unconscious and bleeding after defending a woman.
He never expected to see again the lady he had previously rescued … yet here Ashley is, tending his wounds, concealing him and his secret identity.
Despite their friendship blossoming into romance, they both have secrets. Secrets that could tear them apart and ruin their carefully planned lives if exposed. Add in David’s affectionate but nosy sisters, a patron who doesn’t take no for an answer, and a prestigious competition David’s family wants his help to win … and his path to happily-ever-after with Ashley is anything but smooth.
A lighthearted, slow burn, friends-to-lovers story with more humor than heat, just a little too naughty to call it sweet.
Potential trigger warning: This story includes a Regency-style attempted date rape scene early on. Emphasis on “attempted.”
Published March 2023. Available as e-book and paperback.
Heat level: 3/10
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My Devoted Viscount
An unemployed music teacher down to her last pennies.
All Miss Sophia Walden has left is her reputation. Unemployed since the school where she taught music abruptly closed, she's found temporary work helping an elderly widow write her memoir. When a runaway former student asks Sophia to help her avoid an unwanted marriage, both of them could be ruined. The last thing Sophia needs is her employer's handsome nephew poking his patrician nose into her secrets.
Vincent, Viscount Fairfax, is on his way to Italy. He plans a quick detour to check on his aunt, to dispel the rumors of ghosts roaming his aunt's seaside estate, and then he'll be off again. But he didn't count on his aunt's intriguing new employee, a petite bluestocking who seems to be hiding something—though it isn't her talent playing the pianoforte or angelic singing voice. Is she connected to the "ghostly" activity?
As Vincent and Sophia engage in playful banter and musical duets, their connection deepens. Vincent believes this could be the prelude to something more, but he's just passing through.
Unwilling to betray her student, Sophia tries to resist Vincent's charm. He's on his way to Italy, and as soon as the memoir is complete, she will be on her way to employment far away from this manor by the sea. It will break her heart to leave but she doesn't see a future for a bluestocking teacher and a viscount … no matter how much he makes her heart sing.
In this lighthearted Regency romance, love and laughter mingle with secrets and intrigue.
A slow burn, strangers-to-friends-to-lovers story with more humor than heat, just a little too naughty to call it sweet.
Author's note; This story does not follow the current trend of the hero and heroine meeting in the first scene. Or even the first chapter. But when they do meet... well, I wrote the entire story around that scene.
Heat level: 3/10
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