Heroines in Romance Novels

HISTORICAL: Pirate Romance
TIME TRAVEL: Modern day to past
SETTING: Atlantic Ocean 1821
HEROINE: 27 year old Navy pilot from USA who travels back in time

Andrew Spencer sailed the seas seeking revenge, and there were very few merchants' treasures that he hadn't given a jolly rogering. But on this particular voyage, he found his task harder than usual. As a brown-eyed beauty was hoisted from the waves, he found his pirate's soul plundered from without and a fiery need conjured up from within.

The freak storm that caused her plane to go down in the Atlantic sent fighter pilot Carly Callahan's life spinning out of control as well. Pulled from the freezing ocean, she found herself in the hot embrace of an Adonis. But his eyes were cold and hard, and the man's burning lips swore she was someone else before he claimed her as his own. Carly knew she had one chance to go home, but there was so much to see and feel here -- and the best was yet to come.

HISTORICAL: Historical Mystery Romance
SETTING: England and Spain 1819
SERIES: Book One in the Charles and Melanie series
HEROINE: 26 year old married mother

On a cloud-shrouded night in November 1819, six-year-old Colin Fraser vanishes from the safe cocoon of his family's Berkeley Square home. For his father Charles, an idealistic MP, former intelligence agent, and grandson of a duke, and mother Mélanie, a beautiful war refugee and society's most charming hostess, it is a tragedy that will rip their extraordinary marriage asunder and force them to question everything they believe in. Colin's captors are demanding a bizarre ransom: an exquisite ring surrounded by the promise of power. The search for it will pull the Frasers into a maze of intrigue that winds through the lowest and highest levels of London secrets -- revealing layer upon layer of deception and betrayal, and a shocking truth that binds Charles and Mélanie inextricably together ... even as it threatens to destroy them both.

HISTORICAL: European Historical Romance
SETTING: England 1817
HEROINE: 25 year old widow and thief

In the glittering world of Regency England, Anne Wilder played a dangerous game. A widowed lady by day, by night she became a masked thief preying on society's elite. She roved high above London's black rooftops, compelled by phantoms from her past to take ever greater risks. Until her restless spirit led her into Colonel Jack Seward's trap. . . where seduction was her only way out.

She'd played him for a fool, taking advantage of his hungry response to escape from his clutches. But as Jack hunted for his thief, his heart fell captive to a self-possessed widow. Torn between illicit passion and tender love, Jack is duty-bound to capture the audacious criminal, even if it means ripping society apart to do so. Now he stalked her through the ton, never realizing the lovely widow who captured his heart was the same woman who roused his most violent passions. A love that defied king and country.

HISTORICAL: European Historical Romance
SETTING: England 1828
SERIES: Book Two in the The Wyldshay series
HEROINE: 20ish year old courtesan

Riding home after a rebuffed marriage proposal, Lord Ryderbourne notices a small boat dangerously adrift. Impulsively, he plunges his horse into the sea and saves the boat’s unconscious occupant – a beautiful, bruised, and nearly naked woman.

Hiding a terrible secret, Miracle Heather has no desire to be rescued, especially by a virile young aristocrat. Yet Ryder drags her to shore, wraps her in his cloak, and carries her to a nearby inn, where he insists on taking care of her. A skilled courtesan, she knows of only one way to repay his gallantry, and Ryder is helpless to resist her seduction. The ensuing night of passion shakes them both to the soul, but fearing the pursuers at her heels, she flees before he wakes.

Irresistibly drawn after her, Ryder soon follows, but Miracle cannot risk losing her heart. No honourable future is possible for a duke’s son and a lady of the night. With her life in danger, they agree to travel north together on England’s hidden byways as comrades, not lovers. Yet even as their journey leads them both into the unknown, desire threatens to defeat principle.

HISTORICAL: European Historical Romance
SETTING: England 1815
HEROINE: 22 year old gamester

They called it their "double act." And in Europe's most exclusive gaming halls, Judith Davenport and her brother Sebastian used the technique to dupe unwary noblemen out of their pocket money. First, Judith lured them to the card tables with her ravishing smile. Then, employing her fan in an elaborate code, she made sure that Sebastian's luck never ran out. It was a dangerous game played in preparation for one desperate purpose: to avenge their father's tragic death.

But the Davenports never bargained for the penetrating scrutiny of a certain strikingly handsome lord who had come to see for himself the woman who had all of Brussels at her feet, including his besotted nephew. Marcus Devlin the honorable marquis of Carrington, wasn't fooled for an instant by Judith's air of innocence -- or by her flirtatious way with a fan. Instead he was amused, infuriated, and intrigued enough to draw the bewitching schemer into a daring gamble of his own ... where the stakes were nothing less than the lady's heart.

HISTORICAL: European Historical Romance
SETTING: England 1822
HEROINE: 25-ish year old widow

Margaret Esterly is desperate - and desperation can lead to shocking behaviour! Beautiful and gently-bred, she was the essence of prim, proper English womanhood - until fate widowed her and thurst her into poverty overnight. Now she finds herself at a dazzling masked ball,determined to sell a volume of scandalous memoirs to the gala's noble host. But amid the heated fantasy of the evening, Margaret boldly, impetuously, shares a moment of passion with a darkly handsome gentleman . . . and then flees into the night.

Who was this exquisite creature who swept into Michael Hawthorne's arms and then vanished? The startled, yet pleasingly stimulated Earl of Montraine is not about to forget the intoxicating woman of mystery so easily - especially since Michael's heart soon tells him that he has at last found his perfect bride. But once he locates her again, will he be able to convince the reticent lady that their moment of ecstasy was no mere accident . . . and that just one kiss can lead to paradise?

HISTORICAL: European Historical Romance
SETTING: England 1834
SERIES: Book Four in the Seduction series
HEROINE: 22 year old illegitimate woman

The illegitimate daughter of a prince and a notorious courtesan, Lucia has been confined to schools and convents for most of her life. But that hasn't stopped her from causing one scandal after another. Exasperated, her royal father decides that his exquisite hellion of a daughter must be married immediately. And Sir Ian Moore, Britain's most proper diplomat, is the perfect man to choose her a groom.

Diplomacy, not matchmaker, is Ian's forte, but he vows to get Lucia married off as soon as possible so that he may return to his real duties. Yet, despite an abundance of very eager, worthwhile candidates, none is a match for Lucia's spirit and fire. And the more time Ian spends with the infuriating beauty, the more reluctant he is to marry her off. Could it be that he has already found Lucia the perfect husband...and it is Ian himself?

HISTORICAL: European Historical Romance
SETTING: England 1813
SERIES: Book One in the Liar's Club series
HEROINE: 25 year old woman

Agatha Cunnington, a headstrong beauty from the country, has come to London in search of her missing brother James. The only clue she has is a cryptic letter signed The Griffin. Agatha decides to disguise herself as a respectable married woman so that she can go about the city unnoticed. But for her charade to work she needs a suitable "husband," preferably someone tall, elegant, and rakish-someone like Simon Montague Rain.

Simon Montague Rain, also known as The Magician, is a member of The Liar's Club, a renegade group of rogues and thieves in the service of the Crown. When someone begins murdering members of the undercover cabal one by one, Simon is given the mission to bring in The Griffin, one of his comrades who is suspected of betraying his brothers. Simon goes undercover and infiltrates the home of "Mrs." Agatha Applequist who he believes is the Griffin's mistress. Before Simon knows what's happened, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to Agatha's soft, feminine charms-and he is tempted beyond reason to break the first rule of The Liar's Club: never fall in love.

HISTORICAL: European Historical Romance
SETTING: England 1823
HEROINE: 30 year old married mother

Sophie, the Duchess of Calton, has finally moved on. After seven years mourning the loss of her husband, Garrett, at Waterloo, she has married his cousin and heir, Tristan. Sophie gives herself to him body and soul. . . until the day Garrett returns from the Continent, demanding his title, his lands-and his wife. Now Sophie must choose between her first love and her new love, knowing that no matter what, her choice will destroy one of the men she adores. Will it be Garrett, her childhood sweetheart, whose loss nearly destroyed her once already? Or will it be Tristan, beloved friend turned lover, who supported her through the last, dark years and introduced her to a passion she had never known? As her two husbands battle for her heart, Sophie finds herself immersed in a dangerous game-where the stakes are not only love . . . but life and death.

HISTORICAL: European Historical Romance
SETTING: Venice & England 1820
SERIES: Book Two in the Fallen Women series
HEROINE: 27 year old divorced courtesan

James Cordier is all blue blood and entirely dangerous. He's a master of disguise, a brilliant thief, a first-class lover - all for King and Country - and, by gad, he's so weary of it. His last mission is to "acquire" a packet of incriminating letters from one notorious woman. Then he can return to London and meet sweet-natured heiresses - not adventuresses and fallen women.

Francesca Bonnard has weathered heartbreak, scorn, and scandal. She's independent, happy, and definitely fallen; and she's learned that "gentlemen" are more trouble than they're worth. She can also see that her wildly attractive new neighbor is bad news. But as bad as James is, there are others far worse also searching for Francesca's letters. And suddenly nothing is simple - especially the nearly incendiary chemistry between the two most jaded, sinful souls in Europe. And just as suddenly, risking everything may be worth the prize.

HISTORICAL: Regency Romance
SETTING: England 1813
HEROINE: 37 year old French aristocrat widow a son,

Broken-hearted years ago by Adam Ashworth, Fabienne Argonac Craigmont finds solace in the works of a popular British gothic novelist. But when Fabienne begins an intimate correspondence with her idol, she has no idea that the pseudonymous author is her long lost love.

HISTORICAL: European Historical Romance
SETTING: Spain & England 1812
HEROINE: 19 year old bandit

She was a bandit known as La Violette, and she had fallen into the hands of the French. Now it was Julian St. Simon's assignment to rescue her -- then force her to reveal the strategic military secrets only she knew. But Tamsyn was no timid flower. Beneath her deceptively fragile beauty was a spirited young woman who would give Julian what he wanted -- for a price. Soon the handsome officer is trapped into taking Tamsyn back with him to England and turning her into a proper lady. It's a mission more dangerous than he knows ... as Tamsyn, exchanging rifle and bandolier for the sensuous glide of silk, plots a vengeance that could threaten both of their lives and his well-guarded heart.