Bad Heir Day Tales

He'd rather carry hod in hell… Finn Cathcart, an increasingly successful sculptor, is having a perfectly fine time on the Continent cavorting with alabaster nymphs and marble goddesses (so to speak), when he's informed that a ducal title awaits him back in England. The same family that disowned Finn's father now needs an heir to prevent all their wealth from falling into the Crown's greedy hands. …She'd rather he did too. Wilhelmina Cathcart is the widow of the previous ducal heir, and she has no patience with fledgling peers who come grumbling to their honors. Mina has a daughter to raise, meddling family to manage, and no time to explain Mayfair society to a stubborn, backward, contrary duke… even if he is charming and a good listener. Mina and Finn are on the point of admitting a powerful attraction when an enemy close at hand threatens to ruin their hope of a happily ever after. They will have to work together and put aside both well-earned pride and treasured prejudices, if their shared dream is to bloom into a shared future.

The Prodigal Peer. Lucien, Marquess of Lynnfield, disappeared from the family seat nearly a decade ago, and now he's back, ready to take his inheritance in hand. Questions swirl: Where was he? Why return now? What sort of man has he become? Lucien can't offer much in the way of explanations. All he knows is, the dearest companion of his youth, Lady Penelope Richard, is being courted by a handsome cad, and Lucien cannot allow her ladyship to waste her future on a scoundrel. Or the return of the rogue? Penelope hasn't seen Lucien for years, but she's been too angry with him for abandoning her to forget him. He broke her heart when he left the first time, and she is quite, entirely, completely over him–almost–until old passion stir backs to life, hotter and more dangerous than ever. If Lucien and Penelope are to share their hearts as well as searing kisses, they will have to fight their own worst fears and outwit an enemy who will do anything to keep them apart.

He's carrying a torch... Graham MacNeil wants nothing to do with the family earldom, much less with a drafty castle full of rumgumptious relatives, or with the nosy neighbors determined to inspect the prodigal laird. His sole reason for returning from exile is to discover the truth behind the crime that saw him consigned to seven years transportation. And she's carrying grudge! The sole reason, that is, other than Graham's abiding and undeclared regard for Miss Morna MacKenzie. Morna was devastated by the old scandal and by Graham's departure. She's not about to give any more of her heart to a man who kept secrets then and is still keeping secrets now. Graham and Morna will have to learn to trust each other and their hearts if they are to discover who was responsible for shattering their world years ago, and who will go to any lengths to keep them apart now.

The last thing Camden Huxley wants is to sort out his family's sprawling Yorkshire estate, along with its squabbling tenants, retainers, and neighbors. Cam nonetheless turns his back on his greatest passion–trade–and travels to Lorne Hall, telling himself all the while that he's merely making the duty visit required of any new titleholder. Matters at the Hall are in serious disarray, but what alarms Cam even more are the matchmaking ambitions aimed in his direction. Miss Alice Singleton, granddaughter of the antediluvian estate steward, is a voice of reason and common sense, and she's also sweet, kind, and possessed of a wicked sense of humor. To Cam's bafflement, Alice alone seems to have no interest in becoming his baroness. For her part, Alice is indeed smitten with the new baron, but she has learned to avoid entanglements of any kind, and she is determined to make no exceptions even if this time, she really has fallen in love. Cam and Alice will have to overcome old secrets and new betrayals, and learn to trust their hearts and each other if they are to have any chance of a shared and joyous future.