Always to Remember by Lorraine Heath (1996)
HISTORICAL: Post Civil War Romance
SETTING: US 1866
HEROINE: 23 year old widow
Refusing to pick up a gun for the Confederacy, Clayton Holland was branded a deserter and imprisoned during the war. When he returned home to Cedar Grove, he was given a coward's welcome, spurned by everyone in town. To Meg Warner, Clay's presence was a constant offense: a betrayal of the cause for which her husband and brothers died.
As a punishment, she commissioned Clay, a talented sculptor, to create a memorial for Cedar Grove's fallen heroes, hoping that every name he carved into stone would carve remorse into his heart. But, as Meg spent months watching Clay work, she began to see strength instead of cowardice. And she discovered that a hero could be found in the most unlikely of men. That passion could be sculpted from a heart hardened by bitterness. And that sometimes love―like courage―whispers instead of shouts.
Virtue by Jane Feather (1999)
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.
The Prince of Midnigh by Laura Kinsale (1990)
HISTORICAL: European Historical Romance
SETTING: France & England 1772
HEROINE: In her early twenties,
Proud Leigh Strachan hires highwayman and ex-hero S.T. Maitland to avenge the murder of her family, never expecting to fall in love with him.
They called him the Prince of Midnight - a legendary highwayman, once dashing and dangerous...now a tarnished, forgotten hero, exiled and alone. She sought his fabled skills in the ruins of a French castle - a proud and desperate English beauty, drawn to the myth...but bewildered by the man. Across perilous mountains and tempestuous seas, together they pursued their separate dreams - of vengeance, of passion, a glory reborn...kindling the all-consuming fires of a bold and unexpected love that would set the midnight skies magnificently ablaze.
Violet by Jane Feather (1995)
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.