Bestselling author Lori Wick's novels have warmed the hearts of millions of fans! Now for the first time ever, Lori's short stories are released to her ebook readers in this new Lori Wick Short Stories collection, with a personal note from Lori after each story. Volume 4, "The Rancher's Lady," showcases Lori's western romance flair. Shasta McGregor leaves Australia for a temporary wrangler position in California, giving her heart time to heal after being jilted by her fiance. Kyle Harrington, the ranch's crusty owner, at first mistakes Shasta's natural, graceful beauty for lack of skill. Although in time they soften toward one another, it takes a tragedy for them to wonder--could God have brought together this rancher and this lady? BONUS! The Prologue and Chapter One from Every Little Thing About You, the first book in Lori Wick's Yellow Rose Trilogy, is included.

New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop returns to the “bewitching” world of the Black Jewels with a tale that will “leave readers’ hearts pounding” (Publishers Weekly).   The invitation was signed Jaenelle Angelline, she who had been both Witch and Queen...   Surreal SaDiablo, the former courtesan and assassin, is the first to arrive—only to find herself trapped in a nightmare created by the tangled webs of Black Widow witches. And if she uses Craft to defend herself, she risks being sealed in the house forever.    Now, Jaenelle and her family must rescue Surreal and the others inside without becoming trapped themselves—and uncover the monsters capable of designing such an evil place...Includes the Black Jewels short story “By The Time The Witchblood Blooms”

New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh and top-selling authors Nalini Singh, Erin McCarthy, and Linda Winstead Jones have a special gift for readers this year: heartwarming holiday stories featuring passionate romance, paranormal adventure, and a distinctly alluring feline touch. With four new stories?including one featuring Lora Leigh's genetically altered Feline Breeds?this is a collection packed with more surprises than Christmas morning, and more chills than the snowiest winter night. . .

Relieved from deadly toil in the mines, a slave is brought to his master's household to work and there encounters a new form of torture in a seductive young woman who he is forbidden to have. Original.

A Kasey Michaels Classic Alphabet Regency. Tansy Tamerlane, left penniless by her late father, is working as a governess when she's caught up in playing chaperone to a distant cousin, the sister of a duke. Ashley Benedict, Duke of Avonall, is a man beleaguered. His grandmother is a terror; his aunt is odd. Now, Ashley has a new problem … how to keep himself from falling for Tansy Tamerlane.A Kasey Michaels Classic Alphabet Regency.You’ve heard about them, “those perfect little books” USA TODAY and NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Kasey Michaels penned in the 1980s, known to her many fans as her “Alphabet Regencies.” These are classic Regencies, not Regency historicals, and they center on the foibles of the day, the eccentrics that populated the drawing rooms (and there were many of these silly people, especially when Kasey is the one telling their stories). The love scenes fade to black with the reader encouraged to use her or his imagination to fill in the blanks — oh, come on, you know how to do that, right! Classic, traditional Regencies are sophisticated, lighthearted character studies if you will, and a fine introduction to the Regency Era.They’re also a lot of fun.Being Kasey, she didn’t start with the letter A, and then move on to B, C, etc. No, she started with B…and then jumped to T and The Tenacious Miss Tamerlane for her second book. Why? Because nobody told her she couldn’t, that’s why. That’s the beauty of being a writer — when it hits you, it hits you, and you run with it.Tansy Tamerlane hit Kasey like a ton of bricks one day, refusing to be anyone but who she was, refusing any name that ended with A, or even C. That’s the thing about Tansy. She’s tenacious (which is just a short hop to “stubborn,” but nobody ever got anywhere by being a shy, shrinking violet, now did they?).Tansy, left penniless by her late father, has been putting herself out as a governess to other people’s brats for two years when she is somehow caught up in playing chaperone to a distant cousin, the sister of a duke, no less. Ashley Benedict, Duke of Avonall, is a man beleaguered. His grandmother is a terror, his sister a lovely but none-too-bright chit, his valet a superstitious twit, and his aunt Lucinda is … well, different. Singular. Okay, so she’s downright odd.Lucinda Benedict, you see, speaks only in quotes. Other people’s words. Really. And if you think an author can’t have a lot of fun with a character like that, well, you haven’t yet met Aunt Lucinda! In fact, Kasey was so taken with her that Aunt Lucinda went on to appear in THE PLAYFUL LADY PENELOPE, and (as a ghost, no less!) in THE HAUNTED MISS HAMPSHIRE.You’ll notice that Kasey never did buckle down and do the alphabet in order. Too boring by half, as Tansy would have said.Thanks to the wonders of technology, Aunt Lucinda is back, along with Tansy and Ashley, and all the other eccentric characters that make up Kasey’s “rainy day book,” the one she penned during a very trying time in her personal life (see accompanying bio), and a book that has brought a smile and a laugh or twelve to thousands of readers over the years. Indeed, one reviewer wrote Kasey to complain that she had to get off the New York city bus she was riding to work because she was reading Tansy’s story and began to laugh so hard that “people were looking at me funny.”Be sure to search out THE PLAYFUL LADY PENELOPE and THE HAUNTED MISS HAMPSHIRE, and more of Kasey’s Alphabet Regencies, soon available in e-book form. After all, everyone needs a good laugh now and then, right?

All Jill wants is a calm wellness evening in the secure environment of her bath to recuperate from an exhausting week at work. However, fate intervenes in the form of an attractive neighbor . . . This hilarious & romantic short story will make you laugh out loud. It also includes a preview for another contemporary romance, set in Italy.Each year the two high mages of Wynter and Pyria come to the Neutral Lands to sign a treaty that has kept a fragile peace between the lands of ice and fire. However, climate change is destroying these two delicate societies and it's up to Asha and Shard not only to find a solution to the danger facing their people, but to come to terms with the fire and ice in their own hearts. Will these elements of love save their countries or drive a bigger wedge between them?

"Two mothers asked me who you were at the PeeWee soccer match yesterday, Frank. I just said, 'Oh him? He's a Catholic priest and a physics professor, cosmic rays—that kind of stuff, and is helping a woman detective catch whoever is trying to kill us. He's also my fiancé.' They gave me a strange look. I don't think they'll be inviting Olivia and Joey over for any more play dates."Frank Donnelly is a physics professor at a Philadelphia university and a Catholic priest; a rare combination but not unique. What may be more unusual is that Frank is also married, one of less than a hundred such priests in the United States. When his wife is killed in a tragic accident Frank is left to raise his young daughter alone. Eventually he falls in love with Vicki Meyers, a young widow mystery. As their love grows, and they struggle with the difficulties of raising children as single parents, Frank and Vicki form a "virtual" family and join with other young families in an endless round of soccer matches, birthday parties, and car pooling while Frank uses with a small boy and a teacher in the parish school where Frank is the weekend assistant. The Vatican is not amused at Frank's petition to marry — and that is not his only problem. He has been receiving threatening emails suggesting that he is not a "true" priest and a woman detective investigating the threats discovers similar ones on the computer of a murdered elderly priest. Could Frank and those he loves be in danger? He and the detective team up to find the murderer and presumed author of the emails. In Frank's physics lab a routine student experiment to observe cosmic rays produces an unusual number of tracks but only when Frank is near the apparatus, and only when he is carrying a Holy Communion wafer. As a scientist Frank is reluctant to consider a supernatural explanation and he and an astrophysicist friend conduct experiments to find a physical explanation of the the cosmic ray phenomenon as "ecclesiastical blackmail" to push the Vatican toward an unprecedented concession.

With her shining gift for "exquisite and enchanting" (BookPage) storytelling, Jude Deveraux sweeps readers away in a breathtaking follow-up to her beloved New York Times bestseller, The Summerhouse — where a marvelous new adventure awaits. Magic most definitely resides in the Maine summerhouse where the mysterious Madame Zoya has granted the innermost wishes of its visitors. Now, three women have come to this special place with one thing in common: a painful past they would each like to rewrite. Amy, who hides a heartbreaking loss behind her seemingly perfect marriage and family...Faith, a widow in her thirties whose deepest grief is for a man from years ago...and Zoë, an artist shunned by her hometown for reasons she doesn't know, after a traumatic night erased her memory. With their mystical powers, Madame Zoya and her sister Primrose are about to transport the trio to eighteenth-century England to alter Amy's ancestry. But although surprises await each of them, will stepping back in time bring the women the happy endings they seek?

Aurora Huntley, free-spirited sister to the earl of Pembourne, lives under the dark shadow of the black diamond. The victim of threats from privateers who believe her brother possesses the precious stone, Aurora is a virtual prisoner in her own home. She now faces a fate worse than death: an arranged marriage to an uninspiring suitor. Craving adventure and freedom, Aurora has no choice but to do something shocking, something scandalous....For two hundred pounds, a handsome stranger agrees to help Aurora stage her own ruin. But her kiss stuns him, and her name shocks him. She is a Huntley, and he is Julian Bencroft, the new duke of Morland. For generations their families have been bitter enemies because of the black diamond. Now, joining forces to claim the treasure, Julian and Aurora discover a love that is far more precious than any jewel. But first, they must conquer the evil that surrounds them -- or surrender their newfound joy to the diamond's age-old legacy of betrayal.

A life can change in an instant... No one knows this better than Miss Cleopatra Hadley, who went from poverty to plenty when she discovered one of England's richest men was her true father who wanted her to share his wealth...if she married into the upper echelons of Society. A high price to pay for someone whose mother taught her just how dangerous a marriage could be. An imposing yet impoverished Scots nobleman, Lord Logan McKinney knows he must wed some vapid title-hunter with a substantial dowry in order to restore his once-thriving estate. Having the vibrant Cleo nearby, however, makes his task even more unpalatable—for she tempts him like no other woman...just as he's precisely the sort of man she most fears: exciting, unpredictable, fiercely passionate. But when attraction proves too powerful, they succumb to a kiss that quickly leads to lessons too scandalous for even the darkest nights.

A magnificent romantic/historical/adventure novel set in India at the time of mutiny. The Far Pavilions is a story of 19th Century India, when the thin patina of English rule held down dangerously turbulent undercurrents. It is a story about and English man - Ashton Pelham-Martyn - brought up as a Hindu and his passionate, but dangerous love for an Indian princess. It's a story of divided loyalties, of tender camaraderie, of greedy imperialism and of the clash between east and west. To the burning plains and snow-capped mountains of this great, humming continent, M.M. Kaye brings her quite exceptional gift of immediacy and meticulous historical accuracy, plus her insight into the human heart.

The New York Times-bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook offers a timely novel featuring his most fascinating character yet, a Vietnam vet embarking on a quixotic crusade to track down his nemesis from the war. After sixty-eight-year-old David Granger crashes his BMW, medical tests reveal a brain tumor that he readily attributes to his wartime Agent Orange exposure. He wakes up from surgery repeating a name no one in his civilian life has ever heard—that of a Native American soldier whom he was once ordered to discipline. David decides to return something precious he long ago stole from the man he now calls Clayton Fire Bear. It might be the only way to find closure in a world increasingly at odds with the one he served to protect. It might also help him finally recover from his wife’s untimely demise. As David confronts his past to salvage his present, a poignant portrait emerges: that of an opinionated and goodhearted American patriot fighting like hell to stay true to his red, white, and blue heart, even as the country he loves rapidly changes in ways he doesn’t always like or understand. Hanging in the balance are Granger’s distant art-dealing son, Hank; his adoring seven-year-old granddaughter, Ella; and his best friend, Sue, a Vietnamese-American who respects David’s fearless sincerity. Through the controversial, wrenching, and wildly honest David Granger, Matthew Quick offers a no-nonsense but ultimately hopeful view of America’s polarized psyche. By turns irascible and hilarious, insightful and inconvenient, David is a complex, wounded, honorable, and loving man. The Reason You’re Alive examines how the secrets and debts we carry from our past define us; it also challenges us to look beyond our own prejudices and search for the good in us all.

Demure lady's companion Emma Chegwidden avoids defying society's rules. Until the night she runs right into the arms of the seductive Reaper--a man who rides the night-shadowed countryside and conceals his identity behind a mask. His goal is justice... or is it vengeance? Only one thing is certain: Nothing will stop him from his dark purpose. Michael Durant, long-lost heir to the duke of Nevitt, has a score to settle. Cynical, dangerous and ruthless, Michael is the last man on earth that sensible Emma should defy. But some challenges are too tempting to resist ... and some passions too fierce to ignore. Soon Michael discovers in Emma the woman he has always longed for: a woman whose beauty and courage reach through to his tortured soul. And he will defy anything, even fate itself, to claim her...

Melanie Landon and her half-sister share a unique bond. For her entire life, Melanie has hidden the fact that Ann is a shape-shifter. The never-ending deception is a heavy weight to bear, but Melanie is determined to keep Ann’s secret and protect her from a world that simply wouldn’t understand. For months, Melanie hasn’t seen or heard from Ann, in either of her forms. When a man shows up saying he’s there about her sister, Melanie fears the worst. But Brody Westerbrook doesn’t have information about Ann—he’s in search of it. A freelance writer, Brody intends to include Ann in a book he’s writing about the existence of shape-shifters. While Melanie is immediately drawn to the stranger on her doorstep, she denies his claims, knowing that trusting him isn’t an option. But when Ann finally appears looking thin and sick, Melanie realizes exposure is the least of their worries. Protecting her sister has always been such an enormous part of Melanie’s life, but as Ann’s health rapidly deteriorates, Melanie must come to grips with the fact that saving her may mean letting go…