Miss Dramatic

Don’t be so dramatic!
Gavin DeWitt has given up a career on the stage to take his place among the respectable gentry of Crosspatch Corners. His older sister has married quite well, and now it’s Gavin’s job to ensure he and his younger siblings make an excellent impression on polite society too. He’s handsome, witty, charming–and quietly dying inside from lack of purpose–but nonetheless playing the role of country gentleman desperately well.

Will it be kisses… or curtains?
Enter Mrs. Rose Roberts, a widow from Gavin’s theatrical past. She broke his heart when last they parted, but oddly enough, he broke her heart too. Can they piece together what really happened and forge a future together, despite the forces of mischief and mayhem plotting more fiercely than ever to keep them apart?

A Gentleman in Challenging Circumstances

Lord Julian Caldicott, still recovering from his years at war, is tasked with investigating the circumstances of a small boy who could be either the salvation of the Waltham dukedom or a pawn in a scheme to sink the Caldicott family in endless scandal. The boy is alone in the world, though any one of several women might be his mother, and they all claim that Julian’s brother, the late Lord Harry Caldicott, was the child’s father.

To uncover the boy’s parentage, Julian must face demons from his own past, solve puzzles left behind by Lord Harry, and thwart enemies who wish the lad harm for reasons of their own. His investigation takes him from barracks, to brothels, and to Hyde Park by dark of night. The longer he searches, the more tangled—and dangerous—the mystery becomes, for Julian and for the innocent child who deserves to know the truth of his own birthright.

Miss Dashing

She’s learned to ask for nothing…

Miss Hecate Brompton is on the shelf and relieved to finally be there with her personal wealth in tact. She faces enough challenges keeping her rackety family from scandal and ruin without the added bother of marriage. When Phillip Vincent approaches her with a request to become his de facto finishing governess, she’s both appalled by and sympathetic to his plan. She was once the awkward outsider, and knows exactly how treacherous the waters of the Beau Monde can be for the unsuspecting.

To win her love, he will sacrifice everything.

Phillip is mere gentry at heart, and the glittering ballrooms of Mayfair leave him frankly bored. For the sake of his family he must nonetheless learn to do the pretty. Miss Hecate Brompton, is anything but glittering. She’s quiet, proper, plain, and–to Phillip–utterly fascinating. He sees what society does not: Behind Hecate’s demure facade lurks a fierce heart and a brilliant mind.

Hecate’s family has no quarrel with Phillip stealing her heart, but her fortune and her hand in marriage are quite another matter. Can the squire and spinster find a happily ever after when all of polite society intends to deny them exactly that?

The Sweetest Kisses Trilogy

NOTE: The Sweetest Kisses series was originally published in 2015, and went on hiatus in 2022. The republished versions are slightly updated (does anybody watch DVDs anymore?) and sporting spiffy new covers!

Books 1-3 of the Sweetest Kisses series

A Single Kiss

Book 1 in the Sweetest Kisses series

The last place she wants to be…

Attorney and single mom Hannah Stark agrees to spend six months helping out in her new employer’s family law department, though an upbringing in foster care has left her determined never to set foot in a domestic relations courtroom.

… and the first guy she’s ever really wanted to be with.

Single dad Trenton Knightley, the law firm’s family law expert, loves his job and isn’t looking for complications. Then Hannah and Trent are thrown together on one tough case after another, and as Hannah grows less and less pleased with her vocation, she’s increasingly impressed with Trent. Trent is taken with Hannah as well, and not simply for her courtroom skills.

Hannah is out of patience with the law, but does that mean there’s no room in her life for another lawyer?

 

The First Kiss

Book 2 in the Sweetest Kisses series

She’s doing just fine on her own…

Classical pianist Vera Waltham is recovering from a bad break up by taking a hiatus with her daughter in the Damson Valley countryside. She’s content with her music, and has no interest in complicating her life with further attempts at romance.

…and he swears he’s doing just fine too.

Attorney James Knightley is a numbers guy who reads contractual fine print for fun, and he wants nothing to do with damsels, in distress or otherwise. Nobody is more surprised than James when he falls for Vera, and the only deal on James’s mind when it comes to that talented lady is wedded bliss.

But why settle for merely fine?

Vera is gathering her resolve to resume performing, and handsome, lonely lawyers don’t have a place on her program. Then somebody starts threatening Vera, and her best shot a staying safe is to put her trust in James. Does she dare give him her heart as well?

 

Kiss Me Hello

Book 3 in the Sweetest Kisses series

Her Knightley in shining armor…

MacKenzie Knightley is the best criminal trial attorney in Damson County, but he has no defense against petite, peppery Sidonie Lindstrom, a foster mom who’s moved into the farmhouse where Mac and his brothers grew up.

… he most assuredly is not!

Sid is grieving the loss of her brother, worried she’s about to lose her foster care license, and in no mood for romantic nonsense when Mac drives up the lane. And yet, he’s good with her horses, good with her foster son, and just the sort of solid, trustworthy, guy she might fall for—until she learns that he’s not at all what he appears to be.

A Gentleman of Dubious Reputation

A matter of matrimony…

Lord Julian Caldicott is summoned to the family seat by his ducal brother, whose bachelorhood is imperiled by the very determined Lady Clarissa Valmond. As the only titled Eligible the hostesses avoid including on their guest lists, Julian has little sympathy for the duke’s situation. He nonetheless agrees to lend a hand, because Clarissa is the last person who should be wearing the Caldicott family tiara.

…and mayhem!

The situation takes a nasty turn when Clarissa’s brother, a talented artist, goes missing shortly before his debut London exhibition. Julian must unravel conflicting motives, dishonest witnesses, confusing evidence, old lies, and the real threats facing the duke if he’s to find the errant viscount before a fate worse than ruin befalls both surviving Caldicott brothers.

A Gentleman Fallen on Hard Times

Lord Julian Caldicott has come home from the war in ragged health and with a reputation in tatters. All he wants is to recuperate in private without bringing any further scandal on the family’s good name. His godmother inveigles him into serving as her escort to a rural house party, whereupon circumstances conspire to prevent Julian from resuming his reclusive existence.

Julian becomes the subject of rumors, lies, and whispers, and soon he’s faced with a choice: Wage one more battle for honor’s sake, or be branded a traitor to all that he holds dear. He will enlist unlikely allies, face old demons, and vex every other guest on the premises, but he will not stop until he’s brought a criminal to justice–or dies trying.

A Gentleman Worthy of Kisses

A Gentleman Worthy of Kisses–A Republished Regency Novella Duet

A Kiss by the Sea

He’s not really a blacksmith, and she’s not really an heiress…

Thaddeus Pennrith finds a way to recover from multiple griefs when he accepts the blacksmith’s post at Fenwick on Sea. Village life gives him a sense of belonging that Polite Society never could, though he must resume his aristocratic duties soon. Along comes Lady Sarah Weatherby, refugee from an engagement gone badly awry, and Thaddeus is faced with both a compelling reason to reveal his titled antecedents, and a longing to keep them forever hidden….

NOTE: This story originally appeared in the Bluestocking Belles’ anthology, Storm and Shelter, where you will find more tales of romance by the seaside!

When His Grace Falls

The very proper Duke of Emory, lampooned in the popular satire How to Ruin A Duke, suspects that the author of his misfortune is Lady Edith Charbonneau. He sets out to ruin her before she can write a sequel, except… what if he’s wrong, and she’s not his enemy after all? Edith, formerly companion to His Grace’s difficult mother, has plenty of reasons for her dim view of the duke’s household, but the man himself has never been one of them. Will they learn to trust another, or embark on a war of words, wit, and wanton kisses?

This  novella originally appeared in the novella duet, How to Ruin a Duke, published in 2019 and no longer available as a duet (alas!).

 

Miss Determined

Trevor, Marquess of Tavistock, has finally decided to stop larking around on the Continent, come home, and take a bride. His solicitors applaud his decision to settle down, provided he chooses a wealthy young lady to be his marchioness. Those years Trevor spent seeing the world were bad years for the lordly coffers.

Trevor is reluctant to consign himself to a mercenary marriage, and instead considers selling off some of his smaller properties. While inspecting one such estate, he meets Miss Amaryllis DeWitt. Her family is desperately trying to find a title for her to marry, and she does have the most lovely fortune, but she thinks Trevor is an aspiring beer merchant, and he thinks the truth might get him drop-kicked back to France. Then there’s the tenant Trevor finds on another estate, whose existence the solicitors have been trying to hide…Will it be truth or true love for Trevor and Amaryllis?

Love Disguised (A Previously Published Regency Short Story)

When looking for true love, sometimes it helps to wear a disguise!

Rupert, Earl of Esterly, kits himself out as a footman, hoping to avoid the matchmakers’ notice at a masquerade. His lordship catches the eye, not of the proper lady he’s supposed to start courting, but of Mary, a chamber maid who has no use for titled men. He’s not what she thinks he is, but then, she’s not what she appears to be either!

(This story was originally published in the anthology, A Midsummer Night’s Romance.)

Miss Devoted

Psyche Fremont has known two constants in life: Her passion for her art, and society’s determination to ignore her talent. She isn’t looking for anything other than a handsome model when she crosses paths with Michael Delancey, and he’s only interested in making a few discreet coins lounging about in the altogether. Both Michael and Psyche are guarding secrets, but when love blooms, can they continue to guard their hearts?