Emery Jenson came to Wildwood ten years ago with her parents, hired to be the estate's steward and housekeeper. She has taken on more responsibility as her father's mind grows weak and now runs the ducal country seat. When the new duke shows up, she schemes to hide her father's deficiencies, believing the Duke of Winslow won't remain long.

I was upgraded to first class on a flight from London to New York. The food, champagne, and service were impeccable. The blue-eyed man sitting next to me, even better. He was suave and intelligent. We talked and laughed, and something clicked. Fate took over and the plane was grounded, and we had an unexpected stopover for the night. With no plans, we made our own.

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.

Thea Knight loves a spot of mischief. She especially loves her current mischief: masquerading as her sister, while finalizing her scheme to expose the dastardly knaves whose lies ruined her life. Then big, bad-tempered Lord Luxborough upends her game by maneuvering her into marriage. But it's her sister’s name on the license, so the marriage won’t be valid. Thea’s idea? Keep pretending to be her sister until she can run away.

I first met Tristan Miles at a meeting where he was trying to take over my late husband’s company. He was powerful, arrogant, and infuriatingly gorgeous, and I hated him with every cell in my body. In the shock of the century, he called me three days later and asked me on a date. I would rather die than date a man like him - though I do have to admit it was good for the ego. Turning him down was the highlight of my year.

Bow Street's best investigator, Sir Brook Derring, is hailed as a hero by the ton, but he cares little for the praise or the women. He fell in love once, with Lady Lillian-Anne Lennox, and shortly thereafter lost all romantic notions. As the eldest daughter of the duke of Lennox, Lila has everything but the freedom to follow her heart. All that is taken away when she's kidnapped by a London crime lord, but she knows that someone must be looking for her.

All Lady Victoria Kirby wants is to dig in the dirt, take notations, and record history, thank you very much. Bumbling through ballrooms and getting disdained by the ton for her less than ideal looks, on the other hand, is the last thing she wants. But her reckless father has a different idea for her future when he puts up the ultimate ante - her hand in marriage - and loses. Over her dead body.

Lady Ludmilla Windmere is mortified. The spinster extraordinaire has fallen in love with her best friend, and that cannot be. The problem? She hasn't met him. Not once. For they have only ever corresponded by letter. When she sets out to uncover his identity, her world shatters. For Addy turns out to be none other but London's worst rake. Adrian St. Addington is perturbed. The rakehell extraordinaire is developing a marked tendre for a spinster, and that cannot be. The problem? She might be mistaking him for someone he is not. Or, what is worse, know precisely who he is.

Miss Fiona Hartley’s huge dowry should have ensured that finding a husband would be quick. True, she’s a tad older than the average debutante and spends too much time sketching brutally honest character portraits. She desperately needs a husband, so she can access her dowry, lest the man blackmailing her reveals a secret that would ruin her family. So desperate in fact, that she’s willing to do the unthinkable - propose marriage to the most surly, irritable gentleman in town.

A dutiful army officer who shuns intimacy. A selfless beauty ready to start living for herself. A chance meeting in the street that leads to love. When Major Spencer Haddock’s father dies, he returns to England as the Earl of Middlefield. He seeks a typical ton marriage, where his wife will provide him with an heir and possibly other children and then they go their separate ways. He intends to find his countess quickly and not waste time at boring social affairs.