Shadows and Silk

Lord Nicholas Asquith needs his wife. Too bad he broke her heart ten years ago. Can he resist a second chance at the love he lost? When Mariana catches the eye of the man at the center of an assassination plot, Nick puts aside their painful past and enlists her to obtain information by any means necessary, even if it means seducing the enemy agent. Even if the thought makes his blood boil. Only by keeping his distance from Mariana these last ten years was he able to pretend indifference to her. With every moment spent with her, he feels his tightly held control slipping... Can she trust the spy who broke her heart? Mariana spent the last decade forgetting Nick. Now she has the chance to best him at his own game, an opportunity she can't resist, even as her view of him begins to shift. Increasingly, she wants nothing more than to seduce her own husband... It's only a matter of time before mad passion ignites, a passion never convincingly extinguished. A passion that insists on surrendering to the yearning of the flesh and, quite possibly, of the heart.

London, April 1825 Lord Jakob Radclyffe left his past behind in the Far East. Or so he thinks until a ruthless thief surfaces in London, threatening to ruin his daughter's reputation. With the clock ticking, Jake needs the scandalous Lady Olivia Montfort's connections in the art world to protect his daughter's future. Olivia, too, has a past she'd like to escape. By purchasing her very own Mayfair townhouse, she'll be able to start a new life independent from all men. There's one problem: she needs a powerful man's name to do so. The Viscount St. Alban is the perfect name. A bargain is struck. What Olivia doesn't anticipate is the temptation of the viscount. The undeniable spark of awareness that races between them undermines her vow to leave love behind. Soon, she has no choice but to rid her system of Jake by surrendering to her craving for a single scorching encounter. But is once enough? Sometimes once only stokes the flame of desire higher and hotter. And sometimes once is all the heart needs to risk all and follow a mad passion wherever it may lead.

Like a vengeful Norse God, Captain John Nylander has come from the sea to steal the only home that Callie has ever known. And that might not be all he's after. Can a Viking... Orphaned as a child, Nylander has never known a real home. Now he is ready to leave the dangers of his past behind and put down the roots he has always longed for. The only thing standing in his way is a lanky aristocratic lady who is more at home on the farm than in the ballroom. And she has secrets... And a Viscountess... Callie, the Dowager Viscountess St. Alban, has poured all her energy into making Wyldcombe Grange her home. Managing an estate is not what she dreamed of, but her late husband's rejection made it clear that love and a family would never be hers. Now she may lose even that to the sinfully handsome Captain. But Nylander is making her dream again... Turn passion into love? Nylander inspires a recklessness in Callie that she can't control. Soon she finds herself conspiring with pirates and contemplating midnight trysts with the very Viking who has turned her life upside down. For Nylander, being with Callie embodies everything he's always wanted-home. As midnight strikes, will all their secret, sinful dreams come true?

Lord Percival Bretagne is used to playing games. He survived being a spy for a decade using his wits alone. But that was just life and death, now he's playing for the most important prize of all-love. He'll Stop at Nothing... Ten years after his family gave him up for dead, British spy Lord Percival Bretagne is back home, but his mission is far from over. Playing the aristocrat in London gambling dens and at country house parties is just a cover for Percy's real quest. He's hunting the man who stole everything from him-his family, his marriage, even his identity. And this time nothing, and no one, will stand in his way. She'll Risk it All... But one night with Isabel Galante changes everything. She's willing to gamble a woman's most intimate prize in order to save her imprisoned father, but she didn't expect a devilishly handsome opponent with a dangerously attractive wicked streak. Isabel would do anything for her family, including betraying Percy, but she has no idea that she's stumbled into the middle of a decade-long quest for revenge. Who Will Win in the Game Called Love? Percy has been betrayed before, and now the man who destroyed his life is using Isabel to strike again. With the fate of the government and his new life in the balance, he'll have to keep Isabel seductively, scandalously close. They begin a passionate game of truth and lies, deception and dalliance, uncovering the heart of who they really are and realizing that winning might mean losing what matters the most-each other.

Hortense Marchand has played many roles, but never wife. Until one desperate marquess seeks the lady spy's help - and her hand... Thief. Spy. Wife. Orphaned as a child, Hortense has had to fight her way to becoming the ton's favorite private investigator. But for a woman who lives on the edge, the past is never dead. When her former spymaster asks her to find his wastrel brother Jamie, the Marquess of Clare, she thinks it's just one more job uncovering the ton's dirty secrets. She has no idea that she's about to find her future... Lord. Lover. Husband. To her surprise, Lord James Asquith isn't as wayward as his brother thinks, and when Jamie catches Hortense searching his study one night, neither can ignore the sparks that fly. Intrigued, he tracks her through London, watching her work. But when his rakish past comes back to haunt him, Jamie can think of no one better to help him than the talented, and very fetching, lady spy... When Lord Becomes Lover and Thief Becomes Wife... Their quest takes them back to Hortense's dark past as a child pickpocket, where she and Jamie will have no choice but to work together to do the bidding of a powerful thief lord - even if that means marriage! Despite their chaste intentions, passion flares and as they grow closer Jamie and Hortense can't help but wonder if love will be enough to make their marriage more than a masquerade...

Nell never dreamed she'd have a holiday romance… Miss Nell Tait is nobody's fool-at least not now. In her youth, a man had taken advantage of her and changed her whole life. Now she's left the East End behind and is a successful modiste to the ton-and will never fall for another man's lies. And certainly not with an eligible Duke masquerading as a valet… His Grace Lucas Kendall, the Duke of Amherst, hadn't meant to lie to Nell. But he couldn't miss the chance to know the smart, spirited woman who laughs at mishaps and asks after his injured horse. The woman who doesn't know he's a peer. But anything can happen when it comes to true love… When Nell learns the man she is falling for is a duke, she knows her dreams will never come true. But Lucas knows two things that Nell doesn't. Despite his deception, she knows him better than anyone else-and dukes can do anything they like…

Just one night changed their lives… When Spanish émigré Eva Galante meets French aristocrat Lucien Capet, it's love at first sight. But their meeting isn't by chance, and Eva isn't who Lucien believed her to be. After a whirlwind romance and a flight to Gretna Green, Lucien learns the truth about what loving Eva could cost him. A single betrayal tore them apart… Four years later, Eva is London's most sought-after modiste and Lucien is now Marquis de Touraine, about to become engaged to Eva's best client-as long as he's not still married to Eva! Confronting their past means a journey across England to the Scottish border. With each mile memories are raised, and passions reignited, sparking one last night together. Or so they think... Can a second chance reunite them forever? But the past isn't ready to give up its secrets just yet. As Lucien and Eva confront an old foe, new truths are revealed… and a deeper understanding of each other that love-at-first-sight never gave them. Despite the betrayals of the past, feelings are rekindled that were never quite extinguished. Will one last secret pull them apart-or bind them together forever?