Amazon
B & N
Historical Romance
Legacy, Devil's, & Star Series
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Legacy Series Devil's Duology
The Wyndham Legacy
Dear Reader:Welcome to The Wyndham Legacy, the first novel of the Legacy trilogy, set in England in my favorite era, the Regency period. There are actually two legacies: one from the distant past; the other a very current one that touches our main man very directly - indeed, one that smacks him in the chops.
Marcus Wyndham never asked to become the Earl of Chase. The Duchess never asked to be illegitimate, And neither of these two asked that their fates become so entwined.
Marcus is passionate, quick to rage, just as quick to laughter. He's tough, opinionated, domineering, known as the devil's own son. The Duchess is serene and aloof - she has silence down to a fine art. She is always in control, her smiles as rare as bawdy jests in the pulpit. She is self-reliant once she realizes that a very special talent can make her so, a talent no one suspects.
Surrounding this unlikely pair are three servants cast in the Shakespearean mold: Spears, Badger, and Maggie -cocky, smart, good plotters and better friends, who don't know the meaning of subservient.
Add to this the American Wyndhams - and who can trust an American Wyndham? - bucketfuls of intrigue, laughter, and a love story that will wring your wither. I hope you'll enjoy yourself thoroughly with The Wyndham Legacy.
The Nightingale Legacy
Dear Reader:In The Nightingale Legacy, Caroline Derwent-Jones is at the eve of her nineteenth birthday. She's chomping at the bit to get out from under the control of her smarmy guardian, the frighteningly obsessive Roland Ffalkes. But Ffalkes has other plans for Caroline. She manages to escape him only to find herself in the fascinating company of Frederick North Nightingale, Lord Childon.
As tragedy and mystery thicken the air, Caroline finds herself more and more drawn to Lord Chilton, a man who claims he's a lonely beggar, his soul suited for solitude and for walking his hounds on the moors.
Mysteries old and mysteries new abound. Misogyny is rampant in Lord Chilton's house, Mount Hawke, filled only with men. But to his surprise, Lord Chilton finds he wants nothing more than to have Caroline Derwent-Jones in his life.
Do let me know if I derail you on the mystery. Do enjoy Caroline and North, two of my all-time favorite characters.
The Valentine Legacy
Dear Reader:In the early 1820's, horse racing was a down and dirty sport. James Wyndham, who owns racing stables in both England and America, finds his racing nemesis in red-haired Jessie Warfield, renowned hoyden and champion jockey, who knows as many dirty racing tricks as James does. When either wins a race, the other's nose gets rubbed in the dirt.
Jessie has known James for six years, since she was fourteen years old. She often wants to kick him for the way he treats her, but more importantly, she adores him. She just doesn't know how to show it.
When chance throws Jessie out of a tree, finding her on top of James, she is pronounced Ruined. When she decides to run, she really goes for it, all the way to England, to James's cousins, Marcus and Duchess Wyndham.
James arrives, laden with guilt, to find a Jessie who sounds like the old Jessie but isn't. Jessie has undergone a transformation worthy of Pygmalion.
Will James do the Right Thing and undo Jessie's Ruin? What about Jessie's nightmares that seem to call up something terrible from her childhood?
There's a treasure to be found on the Outer Banks, a mystery to be solved, a love story that will plant a smile on your mouth for a long time, and lots of laughter.
Let me know which of the three Legacy novels you like best.
Devil's Embrace
Dear Reader:Welcome to my very first historical romance, Devil's Embrace, titled by my husband, and first published in 1982. I've updated it stylistically, edited it, trimmed it up just a bit, and the art department designed a splendid new cover that magically includes some of the original artwork.
Cassie Brougham and Anthony Welles, Earl of Clare, are my favorite characters of all time. Cassie has known the Earl of Clare all her life, but she's in love with a soldier she's been secretly writing to since she was fifteen. Now he's home and they're going to be married. But the day before her wedding, Anthony Welles kidnaps her aboard his yacht and sails away with her to Genoa, Italy; his stated intention to make her his wife.
Cassie is not happy about this.
This is an unusual love story, to say the least, that will make you weep and laugh and root for what you know is best for both of them. There is pain, doubt, captivation, and escape. But regardless of what happens, this is a love that is of the forever sort, something that is true and very real, and will stay close to your heart, I hope, for a very long time.
If you missed Devil's Embrace the first time around, do read it now.
Devil's Daughter
Dear Reader:Devil's Daughter is the story of Adam and Arabella Welles, the son and daughter of Cassie and Anthony Welles. I have updated the book, since, Like Devil's Embrace, it came out a while ago and needed some tidying up. It has a charming new cover, a blend of the old and the new.
Adam has enjoyed women but hasn't yet found the woman created just for him. As for Arabella, she is as independent and strong-willed as her brother and her parents. When both brother and sister go adventuring in Naples to solve the mystery of their father's missing ships and cargoes, they discover that the person behind this thievery is an enemy from their father's past. This enemy manages to drug Arabella and pack her off to a harem in North Africa, Adam in pursuit.
But Adam isn't alone, there's a stowaway with him he certainly doesn't expect. Her name is Rayna Lyndhurst, daughter of a man who is dead set against the Welles family. But do children ever pay attention to their parents?
Arabella finds the harem a frightening yet fascinating place, a golden prison from which there is little chance of escape. Her master is Kamal, the Bey of Oran, a man who must be her enemy but who is unlike any man she has ever known, As for Kamal, he suddenly finds himself faced with a woman willing to fight him to the death - a woman who both bewitches and infuriates him.
I hope you enjoy the adventures of Adam and Rayna, Arabella and Kamal. These are people I'll never forget.
Star Series
The Evening Star
Dear Reader:Evening Star, formerly titled Sweet Surrender, first appeared in 1985. Now this novel is where it belongs - it's the first book in what has become the Star Quartet. In Midnight Star, the first book in the former Star Trilogy, you met Delaney Saxton in San Francisco in 1851. Evening Star features his older brother, Alex Saxton, with Delaney making a cameo appearance.
Giana Van Cleve, the heroine, has fallen in love with a vicious fortune hunter. Her mother, the renowned shipowner and builder Aurora Van Cleve, is desperate to save her daughter. She agrees to support Giana's wedding if Giana agrees first to spend an unusual three months in Rome with her Uncle Daniele.
But Giana's uncle takes this bargain far beyond what Aurora ever imagined.
Thus, Giana first sees Alex Saxton not in a society drawing room but in a brothel. The next time she sees him, she is one of the virgins to be sold to the highest bidder at the infamous Roman Flower Auction. He wins the bid and her, but not for long.
Four years later, when Alex meets Giana again in London, she has become a woman intent on success in a man's world. Alexis set on revenge - he will have her and nothing will stop him.
Would you make Giana's bargain with Daniele? Would you keep the bargain? Agree to be part of the Roman Flower Auction? Let me know-
Evening Star (originally titled Sweet Surrender) became, appropriately, the first book of the Star series because Alex Saxton is Delaney Saxton's brother. In Midnight Star you continue with Delaney Saxton.
Midnight Star
Dear Reader:Midnight Star, the second of the four Star novels, came out more than ten years ago. I have not rewritten it. This is the story of Delaney Saxton, a man who struck it rich in the California gold rush of 1849 and stayed to build a great city, and Chauncey Fitzhugh, an heiress from England who travels to San Francisco to avenge her father. She believes Delaney Saxton ruined him and plans to destroy Saxton in the same way he destroyed her father - leaving him betrayed and penniless.
But her prey isn't what she expected. He is charming, too handsome for his own good, rich - and elusive as a wisp of smoke. As for Chauncey, as bright and creative as she is, she can't come up with a plan to ruin him financially until, quite by accident, she is hurt and ends up in his bed and in his care. Naturally, one thing leads to another.
Chauncey gains what she wants, but soon the tables are turned. These two strong-willed people must overcome their distrust of each other and deal with a relentless killer from halfway across the world.
You'll also meet Brent Hammond and Saint Morris, the two lovely men from the final "Quadruplets" - Wild Star and Jade Star.
If you missed Midnight Star a decade ago, do try it now and let me know what you think of this adventure that has more surprises than a cat has whiskers.
Wild Star
Dear Reader:Wild Star is the third of the Star novels that first appeared eleven years ago. I have not rewritten it. It is, however, wearing new clothes, but it's still the same story that will have you forever guessing what's to come next.
There are men and then there are MEN, and then there's Brent Hammond, a gambler who's handsome as sin, distrustful as only a betrayed man can be, and wilder than an unbroken stallion.
When he meets Byrony by chance in San Diego, he can't help himself - he's charmed -until he sees her again in San Francisco as the petted wife of an older rich man. All his distrust and cynicism come out, and he treats her very badly indeed. He fights as only a man can who's willing to do anything to keep himself protected. Until her life is threatened, and he is the only one to protect her.
Byrony is innocent, honorable, and more alone than a single star in a black sky. She is caught in a web of deception that will kill her if she can't escape it. She also has fallen in love with a man who despises her one minute and tries to seduce her the next. What she does shouldn't really surprise you because you'll see soon enough that she has guts.
This third "quadruplet" is as sprawling and colorful as a Medieval tapestry, with familiar characters from the other Star novels as well as new characters to both enchant and infuriate you.
Let me know what you think of Wild Star.
Jade Star
Dear Reader:Jade Star, the final novel of the Star series, first appeared in May1987. I haven't rewritten this novel; it's just wearing nice new clothes. Saint Morris has always been my favorite character among all the wonderful San Francisco men. He is fascinating, honorable, and sexy - the perfect hero.
Saint first meets Juliana DuPres on the island of Maui when he is a very young doctor, just landed off a whaler, and she is the fourteen-year-old daughter of an impossibly puritanical minister. When he leaves Maui he takes her girl's heart with him.
When Saint sees Juliana again it is four years later and she is being sold in a Barbary Coast slave auction in San Francisco. He saves her, then returns her to her parents on Maui.
But there is no welcome home for Juliana. She is an outcast, reviled by her family, considered no better than a prostitute.
What is Saint to do? He does what any honorable man would do - he marries her and takes her back to San Francisco. He likes to think of himself as her protector and her brother. Juliana has other ideas. Now their adventures begin.
In Jade Star you will see again the full cast of characters from the other San Francisco novels. I do hope you'll write and tell me which are your favorites.