Treasure tales

Payton Hartwell, the Earl of Bellmeer, is on a quest to return signet rings to various less-than-noble men whom a dead man had blackmailed. Instead, he walks into his own kidnapping. Separated from his cousin and friend, and finding himself alone with his kidnapper's Scottish stepsister, his travels take on a serious tone. Saving her from Viscount Manning's despicable plans, as well as Payton's possible murder, takes a turn during a costume ball. Tara Scott cannot believe her stepbrother kidnapped a nobleman and tied him up in his country manor's barn. She saves Payton from the bitter cold and starvation, then is punished by an irate Viscount Manning. When Payton helps her escape, they find themselves on a journey into Scotland that is filled with ruffians, a Highland bull, wild weather, and a sexual awakening that surprises them both. Back in England at a New Year's ball and the second discovery of a huge blue diamond comes to a head when the viscount and his men attack. It will take Payton, Tara, and all his friends to thwart a man set on vengeance and treasure.

After Stone was wounded and thrust into an earldom, and Adele is widowed by an abusive husband, these star-crossed childhood friends meet at an English country ball, escape a kidnapper searching for a mysterious treasure, and depart for Scotland ahead of those intent on killing anyone in their way. In the year since Adele Maxwell's husband drowned while searching for treasure in a far-off land, leaving her with little but the dilapidated Maxwell estate, the Scottish baroness has kept it barely running. While attending a ball for the first time in years, in a borrowed gown, her evening is ruined by a coarsely-dressed ruffian intent on forcing her to take him to a hidden treasure. That she has no idea what he wants makes no difference to him.