Surprise! Dukes

Love is a luxury he can't afford . . . For years, he was known only as Blackrose's Blade, an elite assassin in the employ of the Crown. But after a mission cost him the use of his leg, Rourke Lindsay has unexpectedly inherited a dukedom . . . and along with it, the headache of a pair of hellion twins. Now, he's in dire need of a miracle. He just didn't expect her to be quite so tempting. Needing a safe place to hide, Miss Sophia Cuny has forged her references and settled into the Duke of Exingham's employ, unwilling to admit she knows next to nothing about children. She does, however, know all about the Duke's painful past and why the cynical warrior refuses to allow himself close to a pair of rapscallion troublemakers, no matter how desperately they need his love. The longer she tries to avoid the new duke, the more she sees the man beneath the scars-the man who needs love as well-even if he's unwilling to admit it. Too bad she can't afford to allow him into her heart, even as the danger she's running from closes in. Because Sophia possesses secrets about his past even Rourke doesn't know, and revealing the truth will ruin them all. Contains mature themes.

The whispers say he's a demon, but now he owns her . . . It is vital Lady Georgia Stoughton finds a way to pay her father's debt, but the cursed man who owns it refuses her money. So when she offers herself in repayment, the devil with the body of an angel calls her bluff. Now she belongs to him, body and soul, until the last hour of December. Lord Edymion, Demon Hayle, wants two things in his life: seclusion, and revenge on the man who scarred him, making him unfit for Society. Lady Georgia's father is the key to his revenge, but this contract is so much sweeter: the use of Georgia's body, whenever and however he wants, for the next month. It's going to be a Hayle of a holiday season. Georgia can't regret the arrangement that made her Demon's, not when she has free run of his castle, library, and neglected rose garden. And as she becomes addicted to the pleasure he shows her in the bedroom, she begins to doubt her own plans. Then comes the letter with the announcement Demon has just unexpectedly become a duke. Well, blast. Is he ready for London? It's up to Georgia now, but as the end of December looms nearer, Demon's revenge is slipping from his grasp . . . Contains mature themes.

How did she end up make-believe married to the Grump Next Door? Spinster scientist Felicity Montrose has always been curious. So when her dark and dangerous neighbor catches her breaking into his house, her body's reactions to his manhandling raises all sorts of interesting questions. Unfortunately, the irritating man refuses to help her in her experiments to replicate these titillating sensations. Blast.RR Griffin Calderbank is well aware that his enticing next-door neighbor is a lady, and thus so far off-limits she might as well be in Scotland. She's a dangerous distraction he can't afford, no matter how tantalizing her offer might be. His hands-off policy is working well, right up until their children enter them into a contest to give him a chance at the inheritance long denied him. The only catch? He'll have to pretend to be a happy husband to the odd, but oh-so-tempting Miss Montrose. Soon, however, it's not just a dukedom on the line, but the very future of the country. How can he be expected to concentrate on such stakes when there's a brilliant, quirky scientist in his bed, offering him her cooperation in exchange for satisfying her . . . curiosity? Contains mature themes.

Miss Olivia Wilson is desperate, and desperate women do daring things. She's willing to do just about anything to save her family's newspaper. When her biggest investor pulls his funding, she confronts him, willing to become his mistress if that's what it will take. He might not speak, but she can't deny his dark and dangerous appeal, and there would be worse hardships than becoming a duke's plaything. Alistair Kincaid, the Duke of Effinghell, would rather chew nails than allow society an opportunity to mock him for his silence. He might need a wife, but he isn't going find one at a ball or musicale or other bit of nonsense. Then he realizes the daring beauty currently berating him in his study is exactly what he needs; her desperation will allow him the upper hand in his bargain, and her curves make his inexperienced palms itch to stroke her. But this marriage of convenience is about to become complicated, as Olivia's newspaper unravels past mysteries and Alistair's ridiculous family gets involved. To save his inconvenient wife-again-he'll have to confront his deepest fears and lure a villain into the open. Olivia's daring might just mean disaster for them all! Contains mature themes.

To society, Fawkes MacMillan is a nobody; a hanger-on at the edge of respectability with a murky past and an even murkier lineage. But to Lady Danielle Aycock, he is her only hope of salvation before a horrible Christmas deadline. Having recently lost both her husband and her father, Danielle's only chance to save herself and her stepdaughter from destitution is to announce her pregnancy with her husband's heir, therefore prolonging the settlement of the estate. The problem? She's never been pregnant, and time is running out. Any man could change that, but she turns to her husband's cousin, desperate enough to brave the whispers about him. When he shows her unimaginable pleasure, Danielle begins to realize perhaps her previous plan was flawed, and she's found all she needs in his arms. But Fawkes's mysterious connection to the Duke of Stroken isn't his only secret, and as the hunt for a traitor to the Crown pulls him in, he's forced to choose between the only thing he's ever wanted, and the lass who is coming to own his heart. But what happens when she learns he's the reason she lost everything in the first place? Contains mature themes.

If there's one thing society knows about Thorne Cumming, the new Duke of Stroken, it's that he enjoys the pleasures offered by a lady. Or two ladies-or even a gentleman. Or all of them at once; he's not picky when it comes to pleasure. But now that his uncle's gone and selfishly died, Thorne is having to learn how to Duke-and must save the Crown from a traitor who is days away from falling into his trap! After years on stage, Kit Pastorino has come to London undercover; she wants to learn all she can about her estranged father before she reveals herself. What better way than to go into service dressed as a lad? Her new role as the Duke of Stroken's footman is going well . . . until she finds herself unexpectedly promoted to the man's valet. Her performing skills have never before been so useful-or more necessary. But . . . Thorne is a charmer, and while he makes it clear he could bring her all sorts of pleasure, Kit is doing her best to resist his allure and maintain her disguise. Until the horrible, wonderful moment he finds out the truth about her: not just what lies beneath her trousers, but who she really is . . . and how she can help him spring his trap. Contains mature themes.