Coerced by her brother to spend an English Christmas at the country estate of the handsome but cold earl who all but jilted her a year earlier, Edme Beecham is determined to do no more than assist her brother in his business negotiations with the earl, and by all means, to protect her heart. The Earl of Cottingwith has been balancing the needs of his new title and estate, his budding shipbuilding business, and an unexpected ward. A year earlier, nipping the bud in a possible family scandal, he'd rushed away from the Scottish lass who'd stolen his heart. The cold, aloof girl who appears at his home for Christmas could not be his Scottish hoyden, could she?

After years of tolerating her late husband's rowdy friends, Honoria, Lady Twisden, has escaped to York where she can paint, investigate antiquities, and enjoy her freedom. Then her stepson appears with a long-lost cousin in tow, the perfect image of an ancestor whose fierce portrait made her shiver with mad imaginings. Promised York's marriage mart and the hospitality of his cousin's doddering stepmother, Major August Kellborn is shocked to find that his fetching hostess is the one woman who stirs his heart. To win her heart and hand, however, he must convince her he's not just a perfect image of his ancestor, but her perfect match. Previously published in Desperate Daughters, a Bluestocking Belles with Friends Collection.

Since a perilous fall, Lucie Macbeth has been seeing more than a settled future as the heiress to a Scottish barony. The visions plaguing her include a man—one far above her class and breeding, and English to boot. He's engaged to a duke's granddaughter as well, and thus wholly inappropriate. Though she can't marry him, and she won't become any man's leman, when the Sight warns her of danger to him her conscience, and her heart tell her she can't walk away. Since his return from Waterloo, Major Lord Rudgwick has been rusticating in the country teaching himself how to live as a man with only one hand and pondering how to end the engagement he contracted before his world turned upside down. But then a letter arrives from an old army comrade, requesting Rudgwick's aid for his daughter, Lucie Macbeth, the woman he met one year earlier, the woman whose claims on his heart he can't deny.

A wealthy nabob's daughter has designs on a handsome young doctor, but not the romantic sort, despite the one kiss he stole from her ages ago. The poor crofters she's been tending behind her father's back need more than a rich miss's potions, they need a real doctor. And fortunately, she has the leverage to provide one. Ripped from his prestigious London practice to deliver a Highland duke's heir, a young doctor finds there are more snares awaiting than a risky birth, including a surprise—and worthless—bequest. There's also his best friend's cousin, who's blossomed from mousey to heart-stirringly beautiful, with enough wiles to convince an ambitious man that his heart belongs in the Highlands.

A penniless widowed countess with trade in her blood descends upon the country manor of her sons' negligent guardian, intent on confronting him about her boys' futures. Instead, she finds his younger brother, a business-minded aristocrat with a penchant for widows and a distaste for emotional entanglements. A man who once witnessed her greatest humiliation. A man offering enticing distractions that threaten to derail all her plans. Called home at Christmas to bring his older brother to heel and sort out the family finances, a baron's younger brother wishes nothing more than to finish the task and return to his railway project. But when he finds his mother entertaining a fetching widow he met many years earlier as the unfortunate bride of a ne'er-do-well earl, temptation steers him along a different track, one that may derail all his plans. Can he convince the reluctant countess to set a course for her future that includes him?

When dashing Fitzhenry Lovelace escorted sensible Mary Elizabeth Parker to a once in a lifetime meeting with her estranged grandfather, an unexpected romance bloomed that had nothing to do with her grandfather's immense wealth. Throwing caution to the wind, sensible Miss Parker said a wholehearted yes to Fitz. But before they could finalize their nuptials, a family emergency called Fitz away. Then he stopped answering her letters. Months pass and the Yuletide arrives, and Miss Parker faces the fact that her impetuosity has led to a Dilemma. Then word arrives that her ruthless mother and stepfather, suspecting a possible inheritance, are descending upon her with a horrid replacement for Fitz in tow. Miss Parker bolts, but her meddling cousin plans an unexpected stop on the journey. Having made a hash of his finances and neglected the lady he still loves, Fitz, now Lord Loughton, realizes he must make amends with the woman he still loves. But before he can act, Miss...