Chapter 13
All you need is love. That is, the love of a good, honorable gentleman.
Mrs. Matcher
A Lady’s Guide to a Gentleman’s Heart
On the morning of her wedding, when she’d been in her full bridal regalia and on her way to meet her bridegroom, her carriage had been stopped midway through the journey to the cathedral. That was when a servant of the Duke of Renaud delivered the note that had changed the rest of her life.
From that moment on, Emilia had learned to brace herself when something unexpected happened.
That was why, as she stood outside and caught sight of Barry striding down the steps of Lady Sutton’s terrace with a hunting rifle in hand and their mother following close behind, unease formed in her belly.
“Where is he?” Barry demanded, his impressive display of fury ruined as he reached the bottom step and skidded on ice.
The rifle tumbled from his fingers.
“Barry,” their mother cried. “Have a care with that.” Yes, their mother would be panicked at the possibility of any accident befalling the Gayle heir. “You are going to require that shot.”
Emilia’s stomach churned. Bloody hell, this was bad indeed. Of all damned times for her brother to become a protective sort. “I assure you both,” she said in even tones, “that I’m quite old enough to make decisions for myself.”
Her brother inspected the chambers of his weapon. “Oh, with all due respect reserved for someone of your advanced years, I couldn’t care less about what you want,” he informed her quite cheerily. “This is more about what the gentleman deserves.”
Squinting, Barry aimed the gun at the terrace.
Growling, Emilia gripped the weapon and forced it sideways until the barrel pointed safely at the ground. “I’ve had enough of your theatrics. I am here because I want to be here.”
Her mother released a shuddery gasp and pressed her fingertips to her lips. “You do not know what you are saying.”
How could they continue to judge him still? “I know very well what manner of man he is, Mother. And he deserves far more than this treatment.”
“Your father and his blasted gout,” Mother muttered to herself. “He leaves me to deal with all this.”
Emilia pursed her mouth. “I beg your pardon?”
“Your judgment has been forever flawed where gentlemen are concerned, Emilia Aberdeen,” her mother charged, giving a toss of her hair. The plait her maid had clearly not had time to tend flopped over her shoulder. “Well, since your father couldn’t bring himself to be here, I’ll make the decision.” The decision? Her mother turned to Barry. “You have my permission to shoot him.”
“You are impossible,” she cried out, throwing her palms up in the air. “He is all that is good and—” Her gaze collided with that of the tall figure overhead. “Oh,” she whispered. They hadn’t been speaking about Heath.
But for the wind whisking through the countryside, only silence met her utterance.
Early on, after his defection, all of her thoughts of the Duke of Renaud had come with rage and hurt. In time, her feelings had shifted, and she’d wondered who he’d become. She’d wondered, given the way she had been forever altered by the way their betrothal ended, if he too had changed.
Standing here before her now, he was a stranger… in so many ways.
More muscular and broader across the shoulders, he had a raw, bearlike quality to him different than the strapping rogue who’d caught her eye and then her heart. His hair, always unfashionably long, now hung even longer past his neck. Gone was the half grin he’d worn as effortlessly as his own skin. In its place was a somber, terse line of hard lips.
In the end, the likeliest of their quartet broke the impasse. The duchess stepped between her daughter and the man who’d broken her heart a lifetime ago. “Leave this instant, Renaud. My daughter has nothing to say to you—”
Emilia rested a hand on her mother’s arm. “Mama,” she murmured, but her mother continued over that interruption.
“—now or e—”
“Mother,” she repeated in firmer tones that at last penetrated her mother’s diatribe.
Renaud started down the steps.
Barry shifted so he stood shoulder to shoulder with Emilia.
At last, he reached the assembled Aberdeens.
In the earliest days of being jilted, Emilia had thought about what would happen when she again saw Connell. She’d alternated between scripting hateful invectives and pleading for him to love her as she’d loved him.
But now, all these years later, there was a peculiar… nothingness to this meeting. This man with a distant, impenetrable stare was, and always had been, a stranger. The time they’d shared had been thrilling and exciting, but also… empty. She’d not allowed him to see the hopes she’d carried, because at that point, she’d been a girl who hadn’t yet known what those hopes were.
Unlike Heath. Heath, who didn’t eye her as a peculiarity for speaking Latin, but rather, conversed with her in those foreign tongues. Heath, with whom she was capable of laughing. Heath, in whom she’d freely confided the work she’d done and received no recrimination.
“Emilia,” Connell finally said, removing his hat as he did.
Her brother raised his hunting rifle as if the man opposite him had just declared war.
“I’ll have a moment with His Grace.” Emilia issued the directive without taking her gaze from her former betrothed.
“Are you sure you’d not rather I shoot him?” Barry offered. “I’m a far better shot than when I was as a boy.”
Going up on tiptoe, Emilia kissed his cheek. “Go.”
Her younger brother glared menacingly at the stoically immobile duke before allowing the duchess to tug him along. Emilia’s devoted kin reached the top of the stairs, and each sent one last scowl at the duke before disappearing.
Emilia stared at her former love. What did one say after all these years?
There was a certainty that, of anyone, this charming, affable rogue would be the first with a word, and it would always be the right one.
Only…
She peered at him.
He no longer had those words. Just as she’d been changed, so too had Connell been marked by the passage of time and life.
“This meeting is overdue, Emilia,” he finally said, tapping his hat against his leg, the only hint that he was uneasy in this meeting.
“Yes,” she said simply. “Yes, it is.” Years overdue.
“I should have called upon you.”
“There was a lot you should have done, Connell.” She paused. “And just as much you shouldn’t have done.”
The jilting.
Except… had he not jilted her, they’d even now be married, and Heath would have remained a stranger, and Emilia would have never discovered herself… and the man who filled her life in ways she’d not previously realized she was missing.
Connell roamed his gaze over her face before wandering over. “No. I shouldn’t have left you. I owed you the truth.”
The truth…
He stared at his hat for a moment, flexing the stiff brim. “Two years before we met, I was named guardian to a young woman. I was just twenty and far more interested in my own pleasures and pursuits than in caring for the orphaned daughter of my late father.”
In this telling, her former betrothed unveiled another part of himself that had been a secret. “You never mentioned her.”
“I wouldn’t have,” he said tersely. “My obligations were met financially, and the fact that a sixteen-year-old charge had been placed in my care didn’t at first concern a young man wholly besotted.”
Besotted.
Yes, she could see now that that was the correct word to capture what she—what they—had felt for each other. As a young woman who’d just made her Come Out, however, there had been only the excitement to be found in a whirlwind courtship with a gentleman more exciting than any other she’d known before him.
“And… this young woman,” she ventured. “She is the reason you broke off our betrothal.” A legal contract that, had her family pursued it, would have seen Connell answer to the law for violating the arrangement.
“She is the reason,” he said quietly. “The night prior to our wedding, I learned a dastard had taken advantage of her.” Emilia didn’t move. As Connell went on with his telling, there was a rote quality to his voice, as if he’d divorced himself from his connection to their long-ago relationship. “The young lady was painfully shy and trusting and… innocent. And during my time in London, I was wholly preoccupied with my own happiness.” He paused and glanced at Emilia.
He was speaking of Emilia.
“Because of that,” he resumed in the same grave tones, “I failed to properly look after the young woman. She found herself with child. And I found myself… with new responsibilities.”
He hadn’t trusted her. He had either believed her incapable of standing beside him through the heartbreak his sister had endured, or hadn’t cared enough to have Emilia stand beside him and his family.
“There are no excuses for my having simply left. I was young, and yet, that is not an excuse. At the time, I made what I felt was the only decision I could make.” His eyes glinted with sadness. “It is a decision I would make again. But I would have told you before I left. That is the difference, Emilia.”
Shivering, Emilia folded her arms and turned away, rubbing to bring warmth to the chilled limbs. He’d abandoned her to save another. Her heart wrenched for the young woman who’d known pain. What suffering the lady had known. And on the heels of that, there was something else…“You didn’t trust that I would stand beside you and your ward?”
His expression revealed nothing. “I made the decision I thought best at the time.”
In short, his was a non-answer that said everything and nothing all at the same time—he’d never seen her as his partner in life. What future could she truly have had with a man who’d been unable to confide in her? A man whose opinion of her had been so low that he’d not trusted she’d have been there for him? To Connell, she’d been a pretty ornament. Whereas Heath? Heath listened to her, and spoke with her and to her about her dreams and beliefs. “Why should you tell me this now?” Why, when he hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her then?
“I thought we might… begin again,” he said quietly, his voice coming just over her shoulder.
She weighed her response a moment. “Why?” she asked curiously, glancing back. Why, when nothing in his tone or words bespoke love or even fondness?
“Because I wronged you.”
Guilt.
“Because I loved you,” he added as an almost secondary afterthought.
Loved. As in formerly and no more. He didn’t love her. Not truly. Perhaps he had all those years ago. Or perhaps he hadn’t. Either way, there was only one certainty: He was not her future. He never had been.
“Oh, Connell,” she murmured, bringing herself to face him. “A lifetime has passed since I was that girl at Almack’s and you were the one squiring me about London. It was exciting. We were young loves, hopelessly infatuated, but now?” she added gently. “We’re both entirely different people.” He was a shadow of his former self… just as she’d been. Until this house party. Until Heath had reminded her what it was to smile and laugh and love again.
“You no longer love me,” he said flatly, giving the first indication that her change in feelings might matter to him.
She’d no wish to hurt him, and yet neither could she withhold the truth from him. “I fell in love with another.”
He tensed. “Who?”
Emilia hesitated. This was Heath’s best friend. She’d no wish to be the divide between them, and yet there had been too many mistruths between all of them. “It is Heath.”
Connell gave no outward indication he’d heard her. And then, he spoke. “Heath?”
She nodded once.
“I…see.”
What did he see? His gaze was dark and hard and empty.
“I love him,” she said softly.
Her former betrothed rocked on his heels. “He makes you happy?”
“He does.” Heath had brought her more joy than she’d ever believed herself capable of.
“I see,” he repeated, in those deadened tones that hammered home the indefatigable truth: He was a stranger. Connell knocked his hat against his leg and then placed it atop his head. He remained silent for a long while. Lingering as if he wished to say more. And young girl that she’d once been, Emilia would have traded her soul to hear words of love from his lips. The woman she’d become had found happiness and love…with another. Connell abruptly stopped that distracted tap. “I wish you every happiness, Emilia.” Sketching a bow, he left.
Emilia remained where she was long after he’d gone.
It was done.
And there was something freeing in his having at last come. Retying the strings of her bonnet, Emilia made the long climb to the terrace—and froze at the top of the steps.
Heath stood there, sans jacket, just as she’d left him in the conservatory.
“Renaud came,” he said.
“He did,” she said needlessly, hating that he wore a stone mask that she could not read. Her family and his family would have all sent Renaud to the devil if they’d had their way. “You sent him to me.” It was a prediction she knew to be fact before he even gave the slight nod of confirmation. “Why?” she asked, drifting over to him.
“Because I knew,” he said quietly. “I knew that his reasons and decisions long ago, though… faulty, were also honorable.”
Honorable. Heath was the singularly most honorable person she’d ever known, and as such, he’d kept Connell’s confidence and had also been willing to turn her over to another. The thought sent agony sluicing through her. “And so you’d just… l-let me g-go,” she stammered, the tremble to her voice a product of cold and hurt.
Heath walked toward her and stopped once only a handbreadth separated them. “Before I sent Renaud to you, I told him that I love you, but I also knew how you both felt toward one another.” His chest heaved with the force of his emotion. “I vowed to him that I’d not be the man who stood between you and your happiness, Emilia.” His face spasmed. “Because even as it would cost me my heart losing you, I’d not have you on a lie. I’d not even have you if it ensured my happiness, because the only joy I can know is if you are happ—”
Emilia kissed him into silence. “I love y-you,” she whispered, her voice breaking. She captured his beloved face between her gloved hands. “You infuriatingly loyal, honorable, clever, witty man. I love you.”
Joy and disbelief together glinted in his eyes. “But—”
Emilia kissed him again, willing him to feel all the love she carried and would only ever carry for him. “I love you, and you shan’t talk me out of it.”
Heath wrapped his arms around her and held tight. “And swift,” he breathed between kisses. “Do not forget I’m swift of foot.”
She laughed, mirth shaking her frame. “You insufferable cork-brain.”
All amusement faded.
Heath sank to a knee.
Emilia gasped.
“Now, him I approve of.”
As one, Emilia and Heath looked to the doors where Barry and her parents stood alongside Heath’s parents.
“Hush this instance, Barry Aberdeen,” their mother clipped out, catching him by the ear and dragging him from view.
The group immediately dissolved.
Emilia’s lips twitched. “You were saying, my lord?”
“Marry me, Emilia Aberdeen. And if you do, I pledge—”
She hurled herself into his arms, knocking him flat. With a grunt, he went down hard on the stone terrace. “I don’t need you to make any promises or offerings,” she breathed against his mouth, “but one.”
“Anything,” he said automatically, holding her close.
Emilia caressed her fingertips over his lips. “Amor aeternus.”
His throat moved. “Love forever,” he whispered.
As he took her into his arms, Emilia tasted that promise in his kiss.
The End
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A rogue
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A widow
Eight years earlier, faced with no other choice, Mrs. Eleanor Collins, fled London and the only man she ever loved, Marcus, Viscount Wessex. She has now returned to serve as a companion for her elderly aunt with a daughter in tow. Even though they’re next door neighbors, there is little reason for her to move in the same circles as Marcus, just in case, she vows to avoid him, for he reminds her of all she lost when she left.
Reunited
As their paths continue to cross, Marcus finds his desire for Eleanor just as strong, but he learned long ago she’s not to be trusted. He will offer her a place in his bed, but not anything more. Only, Eleanor has no interest in this new, roguish man. The more time they spend together, the protective wall they’ve constructed to keep the other out, begin to break. With all the betrayals and secrets between them, Marcus has to open his heart again. And Eleanor must decide if it’s ever safe to trust a rogue.
Book 7 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
She’s longing to be loved:
Lady Cara Falcot has only served one purpose to her loathsome father—to increase his power through a marriage to the future Duke of Billingsley. As such, she’s built protective walls about her heart, and presents an icy facade to the world around her. Journeying home from her finishing school for the Christmas holidays, Cara’s carriage is stranded during a winter storm. She’s forced to tarry at a ramshackle inn, where she immediately antagonizes another patron—William.
He’s avoiding his duty in favor of one last adventure:
William Hargrove, the Marquess of Grafton has wanted only one thing in life—to avoid the future match his parents would have him make to a cold, duke’s daughter. He’s returning home from a blissful eight years of traveling the world to see to his responsibilities. But when a winter storm interrupts his trip and lands him at a falling-down inn, he’s forced to share company with a commanding Lady Cara who initially reminds him exactly of the woman he so desperately wants to avoid.
A Christmas snowstorm ushers in the spirit of the season:
At the holiday time, these two people who despise each other due to first perceptions are offered renewed beginnings and fresh starts. As this gruff stranger breaks down the walls she’s built about herself, Cara has to determine whether she can truly open her heart to trusting that any man is capable of good and that she herself is capable of love. And William has to set aside all previous thoughts he’s carried of the polished ladies like Cara, to be the man to show her that love.
Book 6 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
Ruthless, wicked, and dark, the Marquess of Rutland rouses terror in the breast of ladies and nobleman alike. All Edmund wants in life is power. After he was publically humiliated by his one love Lady Margaret, he vowed vengeance, using Margaret’s niece, as his pawn. Except, he’s thwarted by another, more enticing target—Miss Phoebe Barrett.
Miss Phoebe Barrett knows precisely the shame she’s been born to. Because her father is a shocking letch she’s learned to form her own opinions on a person’s worth. After a chance meeting with the Marquess of Rutland, she is captivated by the mysterious man. He, too, is a victim of society’s scorn, but the more encounters she has with Edmund, the more she knows there is powerful depth and emotion to the jaded marquess.
The lady wreaks havoc on Edmund’s plans for revenge and he finds he wants Phoebe, at all costs. As she’s drawn into the darkness of his world, Phoebe risks being destroyed by Edmund’s ruthlessness. And Phoebe who desires love at all costs, has to determine if she can ever truly trust the heart of a scoundrel.
Book 5 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
All she wants is security:
The last place finishing school instructor Mrs. Jane Munroe belongs, is in polite Society. Vowing to never wed, she’s been scuttled around from post to post. Now she finds herself in the Marquess of Waverly’s household. She’s never met a nobleman she liked, and when she meets the pompous, arrogant marquess, she remembers why. But soon, she discovers Gabriel is unlike any gentleman she’s ever known.
All he wants is a companion for his sister:
What Gabriel finds himself with instead, is a fiery spirited, bespectacled woman who entices him at every corner and challenges his age-old vow to never trust his heart to a woman. But…there is something suspicious about his sister’s companion. And he is determined to find out just what it is.
All they need is each other:
As Gabriel and Jane confront the truth of their feelings, the lies and secrets between them begin to unravel. And Jane is left to decide whether or not it is ever truly safe to love a lord.
Book 4 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
For ten years, Lady Daisy Meadows has been in love with Auric, the Duke of Crawford. Ever since his gallant rescue years earlier, Daisy knew she was destined to be his Duchess. Unfortunately, Auric sees her as his best friend’s sister and nothing more. But perhaps, if she can manage to find the fabled heart of a duke pendant, she will win over the heart of her duke.
Auric, the Duke of Crawford enjoys Daisy’s company. The last thing he is interested in however, is pursuing a romance with a woman he’s known since she was in leading strings. This season, Daisy is turning up in the oddest places and he cannot help but notice that she is no longer a girl. But Auric wouldn’t do something as foolhardy as to fall in love with Daisy. He couldn’t. Not with the guilt he carries over his past sins… Not when he has no right to her heart…But perhaps, just perhaps, she can forgive the past and trust that he’d forever cherish her heart—but will she let him?
Book 3 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
Lady Imogen Moore hasn’t had an easy time of it since she made her Come Out. With her betrothed, a powerful duke breaking it off to wed her sister, she’s become the tons favorite piece of gossip. Never again wanting to experience the pain of a broken heart, she’s resolved to make a match with a polite, respectable gentleman. The last thing she wants is another reckless rogue.
Lord Alex Edgerton has a problem. His brother, tired of Alex’s carousing has charged him with chaperoning their remaining, unwed sister about ton events. Shopping? No, thank you. Attending the theatre? He’d rather be at Forbidden Pleasures with a scantily clad beauty upon his lap. The task of chaperone becomes even more of a bother when his sister drags along her dearest friend, Lady Imogen to social functions. The last thing he wants in his life is a young, innocent English miss.
Except, as Alex and Imogen are thrown together, passions flare and Alex comes to find he not only wants Imogen in his bed, but also in his heart. Yet now he must convince Imogen to risk all, on the heart of a rogue.
Book 2 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
Polite Society doesn’t take Lady Anne Adamson seriously. However, Anne isn’t just another pretty young miss. When she discovers her father betrayed her mother’s love and her family descended into poverty, Anne comes up with a plan to marry a respectable, powerful, and honorable gentleman—a man nothing like her philandering father.
Armed with the heart of a duke pendant, fabled to land the wearer a duke’s heart, she decides to enlist the aid of the notorious Harry, 6th Earl of Stanhope. A scoundrel with a scandalous past, he is the last gentleman she’d ever wed…however, his reputation marks him the perfect man to school her in the art of seduction so she might ensnare the illustrious Duke of Crawford.
Harry, the Earl of Stanhope is a jaded, cynical rogue who lives for his own pleasures. Having been thrown over by the only woman he ever loved so she could wed a duke, he’s not at all surprised when Lady Anne approaches him with her scheme to capture another duke’s affection. He’s come to appreciate that all women are in fact greedy, title-grasping, self-indulgent creatures. And with Anne’s history of grating on his every last nerve, she is the last woman he’d ever agree to school in the art of seduction. Only his friendship with the lady’s sister compels him to help.
What begins as a pretend courtship, born of lessons on seduction, becomes something more leaving Anne to decide if she can give her heart to a reckless rogue, and Harry must decide if he’s willing to again trust in a lady’s love.
First Full-Length Book in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
After the tragic death of his wife, Jasper, the 8th Duke of Bainbridge buried himself away in the dark cold walls of his home, Castle Blackwood. When he’s coaxed out of his self-imposed exile to attend the amusements of the Frost Fair, his life is irrevocably changed by his fateful meeting with Lady Katherine Adamson.
With her tight brown ringlets and silly white-ruffled gowns, Lady Katherine Adamson has found her dance card empty for two Seasons. After her father’s passing, Katherine learned the unreliability of men, and is determined to depend on no one, except herself. Until she meets Jasper…
In a desperate bid to avoid a match arranged by her family, Katherine makes the Duke of Bainbridge a shocking proposition—one that he accepts.
Only, as Katherine begins to love Jasper, she finds the arrangement agreed upon is not enough. And Jasper is left to decide if protecting his heart is more important than fighting for Katherine’s love.
A Prequel Novella to “The Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
In Need of a Duke: (Author’s Note: This is a prequel novella to “The Heart of a Duke” series by Christi Caldwell. It was originally available in “The Heart of a Duke” Collection and is now being published as an individual novella.
~*~
It features a new prologue and epilogue.
Years earlier, a gypsy woman passed to Lady Aldora Adamson and her friends a heart pendant that promised them each the heart of a duke.
Now, a young lady, with her family facing ruin and scandal, Lady Aldora doesn’t have time for mythical stories about cheap baubles. She needs to save her sisters and brother by marrying a titled gentleman with wealth and power to his name. She sets her bespectacled sights upon the Marquess of St. James.
Turned out by his father after a tragic scandal, Lord Michael Knightly has grown into a powerful, but self-made man. With the whispers and stares that still follow him, he would rather be anywhere but London…
Until he meets Lady Aldora, a young woman who mistakes him for his brother, the Marquess of St. James. The connection between Aldora and Michael is immediate and as they come to know one another, Aldora’s feelings for Michael war with her sisterly responsibilities. With her family’s dire situation, a man of Michael’s scandalous past will never do.
Ultimately, Aldora must choose between her responsibilities as a sister and her love for Michael.
Book 6 in the Scandalous Seasons Series
Responsible, practical Miss Hermione Rogers, has been crafting stories as the notorious Mr. Michael Michaelmas and selling them for a meager wage to support her siblings. The only real way to ensure her family’s ruinous debts are paid, however, is to marry. Tall, thin, and plain, she has no expectation of success. In London for her first Season she seizes the chance to write the tale of a brooding duke. In her research, she finds Sebastian Fitzhugh, the 5th Duke of Mallen, who unfortunately is perfectly affable, charming, and so nicely… configured… he takes her breath away. He lacks all the character traits she needs for her story, but alas, any duke will have to do.
Sebastian Fitzhugh, the 5th Duke of Mallen has been deceived so many times during the high-stakes game of courtship, he’s lost faith in Society women. Yet, after a chance encounter with Hermione, he finds himself intrigued. Not a woman he’d normally consider beautiful, the young lady’s practical bent, her forthright nature and her tendency to turn up in the oddest places has his interests… roused. He’d like to trust her, he’d like to do a whole lot more with her too, but should he?
Book 5 in the Scandalous Seasons Series
Lady Patrina Tidemore gave up on the ridiculous notion of true love after having her heart shattered and her trust destroyed by a black-hearted cad. Used as a pawn in a game of revenge against her brother, Patrina returns to London from a failed elopement with a tattered reputation and little hope for a respectable match. The only peace she finds is in her solitude on the cold winter days at Hyde Park. And even that is yanked from her by two little hellions who just happen to have a devastatingly handsome, but coldly aloof father, the Marquess of Beaufort. Something about the lord stirs the dreams she’d once carried for an honorable gentleman’s love.
Weston Aldridge, the 4th Marquess of Beaufort was deceived and betrayed by his late wife. In her faithlessness, he’s come to view women as self-serving, indulgent creatures. Except, after a series of chance encounters with Patrina, he comes to appreciate how uniquely different she is than all women he’s ever known.
At the Christmastide season, a time of hope and new beginnings, Patrina and Weston, unexpectedly learn true love in one another. However, as Patrina’s scandalous past threatens their future and the happiness of his children, they are both left to determine if love is enough.
Book 4 in the Scandalous Seasons Series
Miss Juliet Marshville is spitting mad. With one guardian missing, and the other singularly uninterested in her fate, she is at the mercy of her wastrel brother who loses her beloved childhood home to a man known as Sin. Determined to reclaim control of Rosecliff Cottage and her own fate, Juliet arranges a meeting with the notorious rogue and demands the return of her property.
Jonathan Tidemore, 5th Earl of Sinclair, known to the ton as Sin, is exceptionally lucky in life and at the gaming tables. He has just one problem. Well…four, really. His incorrigible sisters have driven off yet another governess. This time, however, his mother demands he find an appropriate replacement.
When Miss Juliet Marshville boldly demands the return of her precious cottage, he takes advantage of his sudden good fortune and puts an offer to her; turn his sisters into proper English ladies, and he’ll return Rosecliff Cottage to Juliet’s possession.
Jonathan comes to appreciate Juliet’s spirit, courage, and clever wit, and decides to claim the fiery beauty as his mistress. Juliet, however, will be mistress for no man. Nor could she ever love a man who callously stole her home in a game of cards. As Jonathan begins to see Juliet as more than a spirited beauty to warm his bed, he realizes she could be a lady he could love the rest of his life, if only he can convince the proud Juliet that he’s worthy of her hand and heart.
Book 3 in the Scandalous Seasons Series
Geoffrey Winters, Viscount Redbrooke was not always the hard, unrelenting lord driven by propriety. After a tragic mistake, he resolved to honor his responsibility to the Redbrooke line and live a life, free of scandal. Knowing his duty is to wed a proper, respectable English miss, he selects Lady Beatrice Dennington, daughter of the Duke of Somerset, the perfect woman for him. Until he meets Miss Abigail Stone…
To distance herself from a personal scandal, Abigail Stone flees America to visit her uncle, the Duke of Somerset. Determined to never trust a man again, she is helplessly intrigued by the hard, too-proper Geoffrey. With his strict appreciation for decorum and order, he is nothing like the man’ she’s always dreamed of.
Abigail is everything Geoffrey does not need. She upends his carefully ordered world at every encounter. As they begin to care for one another, Abigail carefully guards the secret that resulted in her journey to England.
Only, if Geoffrey learns the truth about Abigail, he must decide which he holds most dear: his place in Society or Abigail’s place in his heart.
Book 2 in the Scandalous Seasons Series
Christopher Ansley, Earl of Waxham, has constructed a perfect image for the ton–the ladies love him and his company is desired by all. Only two people know the truth about Waxham’s secret. Unfortunately, one of them is Miss Sophie Winters.
Sophie Winters has known Christopher since she was in leading strings. As children, they delighted in tormenting each other. Now at two and twenty, she still has a tendency to find herself in scrapes, and her marital prospects are slim.
When his father threatens to expose his shame to the ton, unless he weds Sophie for her dowry, Christopher concocts a plan to remain a bachelor. What he didn’t plan on was falling in love with the lively, impetuous Sophie. As secrets are exposed, will Christopher’s love be enough when she discovers his role in his father’s scheme?
Book 1 in the Scandalous Seasons Series
Hopeless romantic Lady Emmaline Fitzhugh is tired of sitting with the wallflowers, waiting for her betrothed to come to his senses and marry her. When Emmaline reads one too many reports of his scandalous liaisons in the gossip rags, she takes matters into her own hands.
War-torn veteran Lord Drake devotes himself to forgetting his days on the Peninsula through an endless round of meaningless associations. He no longer wants to feel anything, but Lady Emmaline is making it hard to maintain a state of numbness. With her zest for life, she awakens his passion and desire for love.
The one woman Drake has spent the better part of his life avoiding is now the only woman he needs, but he is no longer a man worthy of his Emmaline. It is up to her to show him the healing power of love.
A Danby Novella
Five years ago when her love, Marcus Wheatley, failed to return from fighting Napoleon’s forces, Lady Olivia Foster buried her heart. Unable to betray Marcus’s memory, Olivia has gone out of her way to run off prospective suitors. At three and twenty she considers herself firmly on the shelf. Her father, however, disagrees and accepts an offer for Olivia’s hand in marriage. Yet it’s Christmas, when anything can happen…
Olivia receives a well-timed summons from her grandfather, the Duke of Danby, and eagerly embraces the reprieve from her betrothal.
Only, when Olivia arrives at Danby Castle she realizes the Christmas season represents hope, second chances, and even miracles.
A Danby Novella
Author’s Note: This is a novella that was originally available in A Summons From The Castle (The Regency Christmas Summons Collection). It is being published as an individual novella.
For Lady Alexandra, being the source of a cold, calculated wager is bad enough…but when it is waged by Nathaniel Michael Winters, 5th Earl of Pembroke, the man she’s in love with, it results in a broken heart, the scandal of the season, and a summons from her grandfather – the Duke of Danby.
To escape Society’s gossip, she hurries to her meeting with the duke, determined to put memories of the earl far behind. Except the duke has other plans for Alexandra…plans which include the 5th Earl of Pembroke!
Book 4 in the “Lords of Honor” Series
Richard Jonas has loved but one woman—a woman who belongs to his brother. Refusing to suffer any longer, he evades his family in order to barricade his heart from unrequited love. While attending a friend’s summer party, Richard’s approach to love is changed after sharing a passionate and life-altering kiss with a vibrant and mysterious woman. Believing he was incapable of loving again, Richard finds himself tempted by a young lady determined to marry his best friend.
Gemma Reed has not been treated kindly by the ton. Often disregarded for her appearance and interests unlike those of a proper lady, Gemma heads to house party to win the heart of Lord Westfield, the man she’s loved for years. But her plan is set off course by the tempting and intriguing, Richard Jonas.
A chance meeting creates a new path for Richard and Gemma to forage—but can two people, scorned and shunned by those they’ve loved from afar, let down their guards to find true happiness?
Book 3 in the “Lords of Honor” Series
Destitute and determined to finally be free of any man’s shackles, Lily Benedict sets out to salvage her honor. With no choice but to commit a crime that will save her from her past, she enters the home of the recluse, Derek Winters, the new Duke of Blackthorne. But entering the “Beast of Blackthorne’s” lair proves more threatening than she ever imagined.
With half a face and a mangled leg, Derek—once rugged and charming—only exists within the confines of his home. Shunned by society, Derek is leery of the hauntingly beautiful Lily Benedict. As time passes, she slips past his defenses, reminding him how to live again. But when Lily’s sordid past comes back, threatening her life, it’s up to Derek to find the strength to become the hero he once was. Can they overcome the darkness of their sins to find a life of love and redemption?
Book 2 in the “Lords of Honor” Series
In need of a wife…
Christian Villiers, the Marquess of St. Cyr, despises the role he’s been cast into as fortune hunter but requires the funds to keep his marquisate solvent. Yet, the sins of his past cloud his future, preventing him from seeing beyond his fateful actions at the Battle of Toulouse. For he knows inevitably it will catch up with him, and everyone will remember his actions on the battlefield that cost so many so much—particularly his best friend.
In want of a husband…
Lady Prudence Tidemore’s life is plagued by familial scandals, which makes her own marital prospects rather grim. Surely there is one gentleman of the ton who can look past her family and see just her and all she has to offer?
When Prudence runs into Christian on a London street, the charming, roguish gentleman immediately captures her attention. But then a chance meeting becomes a waltz, and now…
A Perfect Match…
All she must do is convince Christian to forget the cold requirements he has for his future marchioness. But the demons in his past prevent him from turning himself over to love. One thing is certain—Prudence wants the marquess and is determined to have him in her life, now and forever. It’s just a matter of convincing Christian he wants the same.
Book 1 in the “Lords of Honor” Series
You met Lieutenant Lucien Jones in “Forever Betrothed, Never the Bride” when he was a broken soldier returned from fighting Boney’s forces. This is his story of triumph and happily-ever-after!
Lieutenant Lucien Jones, son of a viscount, returned from war, to find his wife and child dead. Blaming his father for the commission that sent him off to fight Boney’s forces, he was content to languish at London Hospital… until offered employment on the Marquess of Drake’s staff. Through his position, Lucien found purpose in life and is content to keep his past buried.
Lady Eloise Yardley has loved Lucien since they were children. Having long ago given up on the dream of him, she married another. Years later, she is a young, lonely widow who does not fit in with the ton. When Lucien’s family enlists her aid to reunite father and son, she leaps at the opportunity to not only aid her former friend, but to also escape London.
Lucien doesn’t know what scheme Eloise has concocted, but knowing her as he does, when she pays a visit to his employer, he knows she’s up to something. The last thing he wants is the temptation that this new, older, mature Eloise presents; a tantalizing reminder of happier times and peace.
Yet Eloise is determined to win Lucien’s love once and for all…if only Lucien can set aside the pain of his past and risk all on a lady’s heart.
Book 3 in the “The Theodosia Sword” Series
Miss Carol Cresswall bore witness to her parents’ loveless union and is determined to avoid that same miserable fate. Her mother has altogether different plans—plans that include a match between Carol and Lord Gregory Renshaw. Despite his wealth and power, Carol has no interest in marrying a pompous man who goes out of his way to ignore her. Now, with their families coming together for the Christmastide season it’s her mother’s last-ditch effort to get them together. And Carol plans to avoid Gregory at all costs.
Lord Gregory Renshaw has no intentions of falling prey to his mother’s schemes to marry him off to a proper debutante she’s picked out. Over the years, he has carefully sidestepped all endeavors to be matched with any of the grasping ladies.
But a sudden Christmastide Scandal has the potential show Carol and Gregory that they’ve spent years running from the one thing they’ve always needed.
Book 2 in the “The Theodosia Sword” Series
A wounded soldier:
When Captain Lucas Rayne returned from fighting Boney’s forces, he was a shell of a man. A recluse who doesn’t leave his family’s estate, he’s content to shut himself away. Until he meets Eve…
A woman alone in the world:
Eve Ormond spent most of her life following the drum alongside her late father. When his shameful actions bring death and pain to English soldiers, Eve is forced back to England, an outcast. With no family or marital prospects she needs employment and finds it in Captain Lucas Rayne’s home. A man whose life was ruined by her father, Eve has no place inside his household. With few options available, however, Eve takes the post. What she never anticipates is how with their every meeting, this honorable, hurting soldier slips inside her heart.
The Secrets Between Them:
The more time Lucas spends with Eve, he remembers what it is to be alive and he lets the walls protecting his heart down. When the secrets between them come to light will their love be enough? Or are they two destined for heartbreak?
Book 1 in the “The Theodosia Sword” Series
A curse. A sword. And the thief who stole her heart.
The Rayne family is trapped in a rut of bad luck. And now, it’s up to Lady Theodosia Rayne to steal back the Theodosia sword, a gladius that was pilfered by the rival, loathed Renshaw family. Hopefully, recovering the stolen sword will break the cycle and reverse her family’s fate.
Damian Renshaw, the Duke of Devlin, is feared by all—all, that is, except Lady Theodosia, the brazen spitfire who enters his home and wrestles an ancient relic from his wall. Intrigued by the vivacious woman, Devlin has no intentions of relinquishing the sword to her.
As Theodosia and Damian battle for ownership, passion ignites. Now, they are torn between their age-old feud and the fire that burns between them. Can two forbidden lovers find a way to make amends before their families’ war tears them apart?
Book 2 in the “Brethren of the Lords” Series
Death was preferable…
Since his wife was killed in an accident that stole his happiness and left him injured, William Helling, the Duke of Aubrey, is a broken man. Neither strong drink and loose women nor the power he wields as leader of the Brethren of Lords can free him from the nightmares that haunt him. He prefers to be left alone, and has no desire to heal the wound his life has become. Then one day Miss Elsie Allenby, rumored to be a skilled healer, enters his household. He should send her away and yet he’s enthralled by the mysterious stranger.
Healing was her life…
But not a day passes when Elsie Allenby doesn’t miss her father nor remind herself where the blame for his death lies: The Brethren of Lords. Since that betrayal, she’s made a life for herself on the fringe of society, caring for wounded animals. Her peaceful life is turned upside down when her help is requested by the Brethren, and she finds herself in the presence last person she ever thought she would aide: William Helling, the leader of the Brethren.
With every exchange, passion grows between Elsie and William. Soon the protective walls they’ve built, begin to crumble. But when danger threatens them both, they’ll need to overcome the treachery around them. Will the past steal their passion or will love find a way?
Book 1 in the “Brethren of the Lords” Series
***This dark, sweeping Regency novel was previously only offered as part of the limited edition box sets: “From the Ballroom and Beyond”, “Romancing the Rogue”, and “Dark Deceptions”. Now, available for the first time on its own, exclusively through Amazon is “My Lady of Deception”.
Everybody has a secret. Some are more dangerous than others.
For Georgina Wilcox, only child of the notorious traitor known as “The Fox”, there are too many secrets to count. However, after her interference results in great tragedy, she resolves to never help another… until she meets Adam Markham.
Lord Adam Markham is captured by The Fox. Imprisoned, Adam loses everything he holds dear. As his days in captivity grow, he finds himself fascinated by the young maid, Georgina, who cares for him.
When the carefully crafted lies she’s built between them begin to crumble, Georgina realizes she will do anything to prove her love and loyalty to Adam—even it means at the expense of her own life.
Non-Fiction Works by Christi Caldwell
The following journey was never intended for publication. It was written from a mother, to her unborn child. The words detailed her struggle through infertility and the joy of finally being pregnant. A stunning revelation at her son’s birth opened a world of both fear and discovery. This is the story of one mother’s love and hope and…her quest for uninterrupted joy.