Showing results by author "Lauren Smith" in All Categories

Daphne Westfall is a lady desperate for a future, one that doesn't involve her dark past. On a cold night she receives aid from a mysterious stranger, one who tells her she can change her destiny, as long as she agrees to marry the man who wins her. The brooding Scottish lord that offers her his name and home is handsome but there's something sorrowful in his eyes that feels all too personal to her...

The American West is no safe haven for women—least of all in the Gold Rush town of Coloma, California. Not for Clara Tice, the blacksmith’s strange and stubborn daughter. Not for Mei, the healer whose calm presence in the makeshift camp for Chinese immigrants contrasts sharply with her brother’s hard-eyed pursuit of riches. And certainly not for Haloke, a Nisenan shaman’s granddaughter whose native village has been devastated by smallpox, hunger, and the relentless greed of Outsiders.

Bookish museum curator Rebecca Clark has given up on dating. Real life men aren’t nearly as perfect as the men in the paintings and statues she sees every day at her job. But one night, she whispers a prayer to the universe to send her the perfect man. She had no idea a goddess is listening.... When Rebecca discovers a naked man in her art gallery instead of a priceless statue at midnight, she has no idea he’s the answer to her prayers. Aphrodite sent Devon to be Rebecca’s perfect man.

Becoming the Earl of Castleton wasn’t something Arthur Brynnwood was expecting. Yes, his great-uncle was old, but Arthur had always imagined him living forever. But after he learned of his great-uncle’s passing he went from being just another gentleman to one of the highly sought after prizes by matchmaking mamas of the ton. Suddenly the responsibility of running such a vast estate was thrust on Arthur’s shoulders.

Kat Roberts has a plan. Love doesn't fit into it. Move to England. Study at Cambridge. Become a history professor. See? No room for dating or love. Life is going exactly according to plan….until she met him one snowy night in an English pub. If you thought this was a fairy-tale of a girl finding her Prince - er, Earl, and living happily ever after...then prepare yourself for one heck of an American Revolution.

Helen Banks is going to die. When her twin brother gambles away their fortune, she must save his life and take his place in a duel to satisfy the honor of a man her brother couldn't pay. Disguised as her brother, Helen faces the one man she's admired from afar, a widower with a dark past and eyes that scorch her very soul. Since Gareth Fairfax lost his wife, the darkness in his heart continues to grow. Lashing out at anyone who opposes him, Gareth is stunned to face a lovely young woman opposite his dueling pistol.

At 19, Christopher "Kit" Hollingsworth is spared the noose, but sentenced to serve seven years in Australia as a convict. The men who betrayed him have plans to make sure he never returns to England. But Kit's strong will and thirst for vengeance ensure his survival.

Bianca Wells, the President's daughter, experiences a close encounter with the aliens who invaded Earth five years ago. The Krinar are powerful, attractive, but also mysterious. There is one in particular she can't get out of her head - the seductive Krinar Ambassador named Soren. He came to Earth to ensure the survival of his people, but now he has one desire: to possess the brave and irresistible Bianca. Knowing he could destroy peaceful relations with the humans, he takes matters into his own hands, rescuing her from an assassin. After one kiss, he knows he can't let her go home.

Royce Devereaux isn't your average sexy professor. He has a lot of rules in his professional and personal life. He keeps both worlds separated. He has to. He’s somewhat of a public figure - and he’s made enemies climbing to the top. He likes his sex rough, and a whole lot of naughty. Which means his students are 100% off limits. One problem. His new graduate student assistant, Kenzie. She looks at him like a kid looks at birthday cake, and he doesn’t like it. Except, he does. He likes it too much. But then an enemy decides to use Kenzie to force his hand....

Tall, dark, and…Russian. Three things that Elena swore she’d never fall for again, but that’s exactly what happens when she meets Dimitri Razin on an international flight leaving Moscow. His penetrating blue eyes peer straight into the core of her soul, leaving her vulnerable and all too aware that he’s the kind of man she had fantasies about before her world fell apart.

Celia Lynton had been told her entire life that she couldn’t marry for love, marriage should be a business agreement, poor men were only after the family fortune, blah, blah, blah. But now, there is no fortune. There’s only debt and an urgency to find a way to pay her younger brother’s tuition at a school that can tend to his special needs. So yeah, there’s going to be a marriage. One of convenience. Just like her parents wanted. She’ll marry a future Scottish earl—a very rich future earl. There’s just one problem: Celia is in love with another man.

Gemma Haverford knows exactly who she will marry: James Randolph, the man she's had a secret understanding with for the last 11 years. With every letter written between them while he's been off at sea, their love has grown. Now they will be reunited with his return to England. There's just one problem. The man whose words she'd fallen in love with isn't James at all....

A daughter of rock ’n’ roll royalty has a secret crush. A lonely ticket-taker worries about his sister. An almost-famous songwriter nurses old wounds. A stage manager tires of being behind the scenes. A singer-songwriter struggles to untangle her feelings for her best friend and his girlfriend. In this live-out-loud anthology, the disparate protagonists of 16 stories are thrown together for one unforgettable event: their high school’s battle of the bands. 

As one of London’s biggest heartbreakers, Derrick, Viscount Seabright, has all the freedom in the world to choose any woman he wishes to marry...someday...when he actually wishes to marry. But for now he’s content to seduce anyone at his leisure...anyone that is except for Arianna Asgil. Derrick has spent years trying not to admit his best friend’s little sister has grown up into a beauty...an infuriating one. He’s a damned saint for resisting the urge to silence her during an argument with a kiss, especially when she’s flushed and furious at him.

He is exactly the kind of man Brie Honeyweather swore never to love...or lust after ever again: a sexy, arrogant, British bad boy in a designer suit. Alec is the last person Brie wants to be stuck on an international flight to London with, but hey...at least they’re in first class. When their flight has to make an emergency landing in a snowstorm just before Christmas, Brie and Alec are thrown together in a single bedroom in a tiny English village.

When the infamously cold-hearted Duke of Helston decides to catch a gang of jewel thieves stealing from London's elite circles, he never expects the thief to be a woman. She's not just any woman either she happens to be the bewitching creature he met in the darkened corridor during a musicale who changed his life forever.

Enter Beckham Ellicott: hot, rich, and the worst neighbor ever. His playboy ways with a never-ending line of companions should be an instant turn off for shy Poppy Ashford, but she can’t help but be curious. Ok, mildly interested. Ok, maybe interested but also completely annoyed from her much quieter apartment beneath his lavish penthouse. Until one night he shows up at her door completely naked with nothing but a dishtowel to cover his...well, you know. Can the inexperienced new lawyer survive the flirtatious real estate mogul?

Eleven years ago during Christmas, Martin Banks' family was thrown into the streets by wealthy landlord Edwin Hartwell. Now, this holiday season, fate has handed Martin an unexpected gift: vengeance. Defeating Hartwell at cards gives Martin the chance to financially ruin the man - but damn, instead of money, Hartwell offers his daughter as payment. And double damn, Martin stupidly accepts. How did retribution turn into seduction? Martin refuses to let himself fall in love, so there must be rules to this game. And perhaps a bit of romance.

Kat Roberts thought she knew what heartbreak was—until Tristan Kingsley, the gorgeous, arrogant, future Earl of Pembroke, shattered her with one brutal choice: walking away. Their love was forbidden from the start, but losing him feels unbearable. And worse? She doesn’t even know why. Tristan swore he’d never let his father control his life. But when the Earl’s threats put everything—and everyone—he cares about on the line, Tristan made the impossible choice. He gave Kat up. Now, he’s losing himself without her. Until he decides he won't anymore.

Nathan Powell, the Duke of Hastings, broke the heart of the only woman he ever loved when he ended their engagement in order to save her family. He demanded one promise of her…that she marry another man and live a happy life. Now he’s desperate to avoid marriage to someone else at all costs. When his younger brother tricks him into attending a Christmas Ball, he discovers his beloved Thea will be there.