Showing results by narrator "Philip Battley" in All Categories

Lucius Anselme, the new Marquess of Windmere, is no stranger to responsibility. He visits his new estate in the Berkshire countryside a man with a plan: Set Tamarix Hall to rights and return to London in time to enjoy everything the season has to offer—the theatre, the balls, the women. What he doesn’t plan for is making the acquaintance of Miss Cressida Ambrose. She’s clever, beautiful, and just the kind of young lady who might tempt him if he wasn’t wholeheartedly opposed to matrimony.

After her father was killed by outlaws, Jean Campbell was forced to take on the role of undertaker. Like so many other women in Apple Blossom, she did what had to be done after a devastating tragedy took the lives of an entire posse. But months later, things were becoming hard, and she wasn't sure what to do. And that's when they came to town. Six English brothers who took it upon themselves to help those in need. And so far, three of the brothers had found love. But Jean knew that wasn't about to happen to her. After all, who wanted to woo an undertaker?

I’m more than muscle and mastery. I’ve got more than just my head in the game. We’re so close to finding our target, so close to putting an end to the reign of one of the biggest human trafficking rings in the world. This is the worst time for my commander to add a green agent to my team, especially one who lacks self-confidence. I don’t have the will or the manpower to train her, but there’s something about the woman that attracts me like no other ever has.

While some of the members of Los Caballeros may be happily married, there are more of our favorite good-guy vigilantes going up for bid at the fundraising event that’s always the talk of the town—the Wicked Winemakers’ Ball. Dump those purses, open up those wallets, and get ready to pay for the bachelor you crave the most. Who’s ready to sip some wine while swooning over the hottest men in California?

In this latest horror story collection, author Scott W. Cook brings to you nine tales of the supernatural, the macabre and the extraordinary. Lovingly crafted to engage, frighten and maybe even invoke a little thought, each tale draws you deeper into a netherworld where anything is possible.

Incredibly smart and unbelievably stealthy, I take my name “Zeppelin” seriously. As a Brit who worked for the US NSA and NRO, I’m experienced and wise, with a penchant for technology. Traffickers can never get by me, and they never even see me coming. Teaming up with the young and assertive Verity is not my idea of a good time. But going undercover as her lovesick husband may be my worst nightmare. The last thing I want to do is pretend to like this chick. Let’s be honest, she’s not real happy with this make-believe coupling either. I may have heard her mumble “neanderthal” once or twice.

To the public, they’re winemakers—each a billionaire in his own right. However, there’s far more to these men than meets the eye. Their membership in the secret society known as Los Caballeros has been handed down to them from their fathers and grandfathers for generations. Their vow? To come to the aid of the innocent and less fortunate, offering protection and safety, even when it means putting their own lives on the line.

Geralyn Beauchamp presents Book 1 in the Doors of Muirara series.

They fight the good fight. They never back down. They come in quickly, quietly, and deadly. They’re K19 Allied Intelligence Team Two.

Surely the daughter of a viscount, even an impoverished one, ought to be able to live, just a little? But her father, Viscount Rennard, is a violent man, and one who is hard to thwart as he harshly restricts Keziah's society. When Keziah learns of her father's plans to marry the recently widowed and fabulously wealthy duchess of Chartley, it doesn't take the lovely Miss Todd long to realize that the woman's only son, Felix - the new duke of Chartley - is an inconvenience that her father will remove with haste.

Oliver Twist meets The Crimson Petal and the White in this devilishly funny, emotionally charged tale of finding a new path in life after a great fall. William Dempsey rose from a life of thieving and prostitution to be the personal plaything of the Marquess of Argyll. Then a betrayal sees him returned to the rough streets of London without patronage, his West End apartment, or a place among the ton.

Victor Silvius has spent nine years as an inmate at The Grange, a private sanatorium, for the crime of attacking judge Sir Giles Drury. Now, the judge's wife, Lady Elspeth Drury, believes that Silvius is the one responsible for a series of threatening letters her husband has recently received. Eager to avoid the scandal that involving the local police would entail, Lady Elspeth seeks out retired stage magician Joseph Spector, whose discreet involvement in a case Sir Giles recently presided over greatly impressed her.

Spring, 1593. A ballad is posted in the heart of London inciting violence. The Lord Mayor offers 100 crowns for the name of the author. Thomas Clarady wants that money and drags Francis Bacon into the game. At first it’s just a riddle to be solved. Tom talks to poets, while Francis analyzes the verse. Things take a dangerous turn when the authorities focus on two popular playmakers. One is cruelly tortured. Another is killed in dubious circumstances. Did he start a brawl that ended in tragedy? Or was he murdered by his dinner companions? The official story seems plausible, at first.

K19 Allied Intelligence, a covert paramilitary operations unit, is the world’s most secretive, deadly, and lowest profile special ops organization. When innocent lives are threatened, this team has the strength and intelligence to save them. As the K19 Allied Intelligence Team One agents gear up for counterattacks, the war on trafficking ignites. Come hell or high water, these agents will take down the enemy one by one. Get ready for a perilous and passionate ride in this five-book K19 spinoff series.

When Templar Knight Sir Marcus de Rancourt's sergeant and best friend, Simon Chastain, expresses doubts about the new life they have undertaken, Marcus urges him to seek out the family he hasn't seen in over thirty years, then choose his own path to follow.

Powerful new technologies enable us to see the details of how our neural systems work. We no longer need to speculate about how genes are expressed or the nature of consciousness. Now, we can understand how the brain functions from the bottom up, how we communicate, form ideas, and behave accordingly.

As a newly promoted agent in the ultra-secretive Unit 23, I thought I’d seen it all. But when my mentor is abducted and Kima goes missing on my watch, my world turns upside down. Suddenly, I’m thrust into a high-stakes game of betrayal and revenge with the woman I secretly love at its center. I’ve spent months hiding my feelings for Kima, keeping her at arm’s length to protect us both. But as we unravel a web of lies that leads back to her supposedly dead stepfather, I realize I can’t lose her again. With danger closing in from all sides, I have to choose between my duty and my heart.

Vivienne Emory runs in the first circles of London society, but there’s no telling how the ton would react if they knew she made a living as an oil painter. Her desire to follow her dreams means she must protect her secret—and her independence—at all costs.

Lunar New Year should be a time for familial reunions, ancestor worship, and consumption of an unhealthy amount of candied fruit. But when dragon prince Thuan brings home his brooding and ruthless husband Asmodeus for the New Year, they find not interminable family gatherings, but a corpse outside their quarters. Asmodeus is thrilled by the murder investigation; Thuan, who gets dragged into the political plotting he'd sworn off when he left, is less enthusiastic.

Widowed farmer Ned Hardy is facing a bleak winter and a lonely Christmas alone, when a beautiful young woman turns up on his doorstep in the middle of the night, frozen and terrified. Stunned by the arrival of a fine lady who looks like a Christmas angel, all of Ned’s protective instincts flare to life. Grace Honeyfield is on the run from her abusive brother and the terrifying man he’s forcing her to marry. Escaping into the darkness on a snowy night, she stumbles onto an isolated farm, and into the arms of a handsome farmer.