Darcy Burke
Widower James Ludlow, Earl of Rotherham, attends a house party in search of a mother for his two daughters, and his primary requirement is that he doesn't fall in love. Having already given that emotion to his former wife without reciprocation, he prefers an unsentimental, mutually beneficial arrangement. However, he meets a charming widow with seemingly wonderful maternal instincts, and he can't ignore the sparks between them. Perhaps a little
...On the way to meet his future wife, the Duke of Lawford's coach loses a wheel. Repair is impossible because he's landed in Marrywell on the first day of their annual May Day Matchmaking Festival and everyone is on holiday. Furthermore, there are no rooms to let, so Law must accept the hospitality of a country squire or, more accurately, from his beautiful, clever daughter who obviously runs the household.
After a disastrous foray at the
...It was loathe at first sight when Cecilia Bromwell met John Rowley, the Earl of Cosford five years ago at a party where his ill-conceived prank and irascible temper ruined not one but two of her new gowns. Now, at a Yuletide house party, Cecilia learns their parents seek to match them in wedded bliss. However, she has no interest in even speaking with the "Menace," especially after he spills wine down her bodice, ruining yet another gown.
John
...Spinster Miss Eleanor Lockhart is suddenly homeless and employment is her only option. Ruined after succumbing to a scoundrel's excessive charm nearly a decade ago, she's lucky to obtain a position as a paid companion and committed to behaving with the utmost propriety. She definitely shouldn't be in the arms of a man capable of utterly destroying what little remains of her reputation...
Titus St. John, Duke of Kendal, is known as the Forbidden
...Two years ago, independent widow Juliana Sheldon spent a blissful night with the Viscount Audlington at an inn during a snowstorm, and the next morning, he left without a word. Juliana doesn't realize how much his abandonment upset her until she encounters him at a matchmaking house party. He'd like to rekindle their affair, but Juliana prefers to torment him instead. Until she finally surrenders to temptation—only to be dismayed when he
...Society's most exclusive invitation...
Welcome to the Phoenix Club, where London's most audacious, disreputable, and intriguing ladies and gentlemen find scandal, redemption, and second chances.
Ada Treadway has been in love before, and it brought nothing but heartache. Still, she retains her cheerful optimism and is fiercely protective of the independence and respect she's earned as bookkeeper of
...Society's most exclusive invitation...
Welcome to the Phoenix Club, where London's most audacious, disreputable, and intriguing ladies and gentlemen find scandal, redemption, and second chances.
Former courtesan and pretend widow Evangeline Renshaw is happy with her reinvented life as a patroness of the Phoenix Club. She doesn't need or want a husband or a lover...until she meets the devastatingly
...Society's most exclusive invitation...
Welcome to the Phoenix Club, where London's most audacious, disreputable, and intriguing ladies and gentlemen find scandal, redemption, and second chances.
After Miss Kathleen Shaughnessy is seen kissing a gentleman in a Gloucestershire garden, she's sent to London to avoid scandal. She doesn't, however, plan to abandon her research of mating rituals, and she
...The course of true love never runs smooth. Sometimes a little matchmaking is required.
As a refinement tutor, Mrs. Juno Langton helps young ladies develop the skills and confidence to secure an advantageous marriage. Her cheerful disposition never wavers no matter how challenging her assignment. When a house party provides an opportunity to match her difficult charge with a duke, Juno will go to any lengths to satisfy her
...10) The Duke of Ruin
With her betrothal to a duke in tatters and scandal imminent, Diana Kingman has two choices: live in certain ignominy or flee into obscurity. Diana wants solitude. She never wished to wed in the first place. However, her father will stop at nothing to betroth her to one of the finest titles in the realm...no matter how loathsome the bearer. Escape is Diana's only option, and she'll pay any price to achieve freedom.
Universally blamed for
...From USA Today Bestselling author Darcy Burke, your next Regency obsession: The Pretenders! Set in Burke's popular world of The Untouchables, indulge in the saga of a trio of siblings who excel at being something they're not. Can a dauntless Bow Street Runner, a devastated viscount, and a disillusioned Society miss unravel their secrets?
Book One: A Secret Surrender
A survivor of the mean streets of London's East
...Ten years ago Ivy Breckenridge's life was ruined. She had to reinvent herself, and now, after painstakingly making her own way in the world, she's nearly forgotten the dreams of home and family she'd once nurtured. Until one man peers into her soul and awakens every one of her hidden desires. But no matter how good he makes her feel, she can't trust him—alone by choice is better than alone by necessity.
With a notorious reputation
...Miss Lucinda Parnell is out of money. A dismal failure at the Marriage Mart, she'd just as soon leave Society far behind. Desperate to earn funds to retire with her grandmother to the country, Lucy disguises herself as a man to gamble in London's hells. But the Earl of Dartford, an Untouchable she never imagined speaking to let alone spending time with, is onto her in a trice. When he insists on acting as her protector, Lucy fears her chance to
...Difficult and defiant as a child, Bran Crowther, Earl of Knighton left England as a young man to pursue independence and adventure. He never expected to inherit the title and when duty calls him home, he still finds Society's codes constricting and others' expectations oppressive. Nevertheless, he needs a wife to be a mother to his young daughter, preferably a woman of intelligence and warmth who is, above all, immune to his idiosyncrasies—and
...After five years on the Marriage Mart, Miss Aquilla Knox is ready for spinsterhood until a benefactress steps in to help her secure a husband. Only Aquilla doesn't actually want to marry—her failure is entirely on purpose. When the earl she's nicknamed the Duke of Deception sets his sights on her, she refuses to be drawn in by her attraction to him. If there's one thing she knows it's that a gentleman is never what he seems.
Edward
...Frances Snowden can hardly believe her good fortune when she's whisked away from her boring life by her sister who is now a duchess. Instead of becoming the third wife of her parents' stuffy neighbor, she can be anything she wants: a doting aunt to her newborn niece, a debutante in London, or even an independent spinster. But when she meets and kisses a mysterious man on a walk in the countryside, she knows exactly what she desires—him.
...After killing his opponent in a duel, Lionel Maitland, Marquess of Axbridge, is known as the Duke of Danger. Tortured by guilt, he shields himself with a devil-may-care attitude. However, when he kills another man in another duel, he's beyond redemption, even though it wasn't his fault. He refuses to smear a dead man's name, especially when he's left behind a blameless widow who doesn't deserve an even bigger scandal.
Widowed and destitute,
...18) The Duke of Ice
Everyone Nicholas Bateman ever loved has died. Except Violet Caulfield, which must mean he never loved her. Nine years after she threw him over to marry a viscount, Nick is a widowed duke who prefers isolation. When a friend convinces him to leave his lair of self-imposed solitude, he considers taking another wife, provided she agrees to his terms: no emotional attachment of any kind.
Now widowed, Lady Violet Pendleton hopes for a second
...Jack Barrett is an ambitious member of parliament with no time or desire for a wife. When he catches the Duke of Eastleigh's sister sneaking inside one of London's private gentlemen's clubs, he's shocked—and dangerously charmed—and assumes the role of protector, only to discover she has the means to destroy him.
Social pariah Lady Viola Fairfax masquerades as a man to pen a column in a popular women's magazine. When she stumbles
...After witnessing how love embittered his uncle and broke his father, Felix Havers, Earl of Ware vows never to love. He conceals his emotions behind a wall of wit and charm, and is celebrated as the master of entertainments—parties, picnics, races. When his best friend's wallflower sister needs to find a husband, he promises to make her the toast of London... without losing his heart.
Miss Sarah Colton has given up on the pursuit of
...