Showing results by narrator "Ruth Urquhart" in All Categories

Chelsea Wickersham seeks a new start. The conservative English governess agrees to tutor the long-lost heir of the mysterious Cane estate. But when she arrives expecting to find a boy to teach, she is instead introduced to a strange and terrifying sight: Sullivan Cane, a feral, uncivilized man. But Cane is craftier than any beast. Taken from his island hideaway, forced to return to his family estate in Scotland, he strives to outwit his calculating brethren.

In revenge for the curse that has forever banished him to the shadows, the creature called the Beast of MacDonnell demands the firstborn female child of each generation. Isobella's sister is soon to suffer this fate - unless Isobella can save her. Unafraid, she intends to confront the monster when she finds a strange man instead: a warrior with the face of an angel and mesmerizing silver eyes who tempts her like no other.

As Kate Hamilton plans her upcoming wedding to Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, she is also assisting her colleague Ivor Tweedy with a project at the Netherfield Sanatorium, which is being converted into luxury townhouses. Kate and Ivor must appraise a fifteenth-century painting and verify that its provenance is the Dutch master Jan Van Eyck. But when retired criminal inspector Will Parker is found dead, Kate learns that the halls of the sanatorium housed much more than priceless art.

Spring is a magical time in England - bluebells massing along the woodland paths, primrose and wild thyme dotting the meadows. Antiques dealer Kate Hamilton is spending the month of May in the Suffolk village of Long Barston, enjoying precious time with Detective Inspector Tom Mallory. While attending the May Fair, the annual pageant based on a well-known Anglo-Saxon folktale, a body turns up in the middle of the festivities.

There was a familiar feel in the air. She knew it well, knew exactly by whom that sensation had been provoked. But could it be? Could it really be him? He was the one man who set her soul on fire. He was also the husband who had abandoned her ten years earlier. Her name was Rob MacArthur. At the age of eight, she had married the 15-year-old marquess. Their time together was bliss, a fantasy world where true love and pure hearts were all they knew.

Taylor Kincaid is the host of a popular television series that debunks myths and legends. So when she travels to Scotland after receiving notice of an inheritance, she hopes to unravel the mystery behind a local legend surrounding the disappearance of locals through the "Ladysgate", an archway of stones just off the Scottish coast. Despite the warnings of rugged sea captain Duncan Fraser, Taylor sails toward the arch.

Autumn has come and gone on Scotland’s Isle of Glenroth, and the islanders gather for the Tartan Ball, the annual end-of-tourist-season gala. Spirits are high. A recently published novel about island history has brought hordes of tourists to the small Hebridean resort community. On the guest list is American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton. Kate returns reluctantly to the island where her husband died, determined to repair her relationship with his sister, proprietor of the island’s luxe country-house hotel, famous for its connection with Bonnie Prince Charlie.

September, 1943. Tuscany, Italy. In the hilltop town of Barga, everyone holds their breath. Even the bells fall silent. Everything Vittoria Guidi knows and loves is at risk. German troops occupy the mountains around her home, as America's Buffalo Soldiers prepare to invade. As Vittoria's country is torn in two, so is her conscience. Should she side with her Scots-Italian father or her Fascist mother? Should she do what she is told - or what she believes in?

It's Christmastime in Edinburgh, but Lady Samantha Penwith's secret mission takes no holiday: the Highlands-born lass vows to find the assailants who murdered her beloved husband, founder of a charitable school for orphaned boys. On her latest undercover excursion, she closes in on a pair of armed attackers and interrupts another assault. Braden Kendrick may be the sensible brother, yet the dedicated doctor routinely ignores the dangers of his late-night calls to the city's slums. But when a fleet-footed rescuer saves his life, he's determined to uncover the stranger's identity.

Gyan is a Caledonian chieftainess by birth, a warrior and leader of warriors by training, and she is betrothed to Urien as a result of Arthur the Pendragon’s conquest of her people. For the sake of peace, Gyan is willing to sacrifice everything…perhaps even her very life, if her foreboding about Urien proves true.

In a violent age when enemies besiege Brydein and alliances shift as swiftly as the wind, stand two remarkable leaders: The Caledonian warrior-queen Gyanhumara and her consort, Arthur the Pendragon. Their fiery love is tempered only by their conviction to forge unity between their disparate peoples. Arthur and Gyan must create an impenetrable front to protect Brydein and Caledonia from land-lusting Saxons and the marauding Angli raiders who may be massing forces in the east, near Arthur’s sister and those he has sworn to protect.

Outcast, clanless, and but a junior officer in Arthur the Pendragon’s army, Angusel struggles to rebuild the life stolen from him through betrayal by the person he had held most dear. His legion allegiance thrusts him onto the campaign trail as one of Arthur’s forward scouts, stalking Angli troops and being among the first to clash with these vicious enemies at every turn. But the odds loom high against him and his sword-brothers, and they will need a miracle just to survive.

It's Christmastime and antiques dealer Kate Hamilton is off to visit her daughter, Christine, in the quaint English village of Long Barston. Christine and her boyfriend, Tristan, work at stately-but-crumbling Finchley Hall. Touring the Elizabethan house and grounds, Kate is intrigued by the docent's tales of the Finchley Hoard, and the strange deaths surrounding the renowned treasure trove.

Suspecting her of murdering her husband, Callum, on their wedding night, Maev McCloskey's clan has banished her to a remote tower. There, she dreams of her dead love - and the passion they never knew in life. But soon she wonders if the seductive, mysterious Callum of her sleeping mind is real - and, if he is, whether joining him in his world would be an act of courage...or of madness.

Seeking the truth of his tortured heritage at court, Jankyn McNachton finds something he never expected - true desire. Efrica Callan is beautiful, innocent, and possessed of a courageous heart. She spurns the men who court her dowry, but all Jankyn can offer this lovely creature of light is life in the darkness - and in his arms.

For centuries Frang has kept a secret-he's immortal. 'Tis a curse instead of a blessing, though. His immortality was bestowed upon him to teach him a lesson, and instead of remaining youthful, the curse turned him into the image of an old man. He's waited for the day he could return to a mortal man, but when that day arrives and he must leave his beloved Druid's Glen, he suddenly finds he might not want to be mortal after all. Kenna holds a great secret, one that if discovered could have her burned at the stake. She's not just a healer, she's a Druid.

When Jarek steps into the alley to toss out the trash, he finds Erron and can't look away. Even when her father roughly jostles her out of sight, claiming she'd made a wrong turn. He should leave well enough alone, but those desperate eyes haunt him. And he's never been one to turn his back on someone in trouble, especially the most beautiful lass he's ever seen. He just never imagined it'd be his life in jeopardy, and his heart that needs saving.

It was New Year’s Eve the night that dead blackbirds descended, hours before 14-year-old Alex McCarthy's sister Olivia went missing from a party. Committed to finding out what happened to her sister within the previously safe walls of their subarctic Orkney village, Alex knows that dishevelled, sometimes intoxicated Detective Inspector Birkens is her best shot.

Raised in the security of the king's castle, Lady Elissa Durroc remembers nothing of the death of her family or how she survived it. As an elemental mage with control over all four elements, her powers are rare. And coveted by dark magic. None darker than the mage who killed her parents.

Edward Archer walks right into the den of lioness Charity Stonewright when he sails across the pond to South Carolina to resolve a property dispute for his cousin, the Duchess of Peckham. Astute but bookish, the Englishman isn't prepared for Charity, a strong-willed woman determined to prove the Charleston mansion is hers. And unbeknownst to Edward, Charity has a secret purpose. She is searching for the lost Stonewright fortune, hidden over 60 years ago, somewhere within the walls of the old, decaying mansion.