Showing results by author "Anna Markland" in All Categories

Conquering Passion introduces us to Rambaud, Antoine, and Hugh de Montbryce, brothers from a noble Norman family with a long and illustrious military history. The eldest brother, Ram de Montbryce, is an ambitious warrior, greedy for glory and power in the service of his friend, William the Conqueror. His heroism at the Battle of Hastings helps secure the Norman victory and earns him an earldom in newly conquered England.

Captain Morgan Pendray is a career soldier, a Welshman serving in Cromwell's English army sent to invade Scotland. As if life isn't complicated enough by these conflicting loyalties, he is drawn to Hannah Kincaid, a Royalist spy he suspects has spirited away the Scottish Crown Jewels from under Cromwell's nose. Is it true love or a cat-and-mouse game that will end with each betraying the other?

The third son returns to Montbryce after an absence of eight years. He's been in England, masquerading as a de Quincey and trying to infiltrate King John's inner circle. Sent by John as an emissary to a council of war in Flanders, he is unmasked as a spy. As if that isn't bad enough, he finds himself trapped into marriage and forced to flee with his unwanted bride.

Patsy Crompton, the Earl of Farnworth's beloved stepdaughter, is now a young lady headed for her first London season. It will be a different life from the one she's used to in the north of England. She's looking forward to the experiences that are a rite of passage for debutantes. But she's in no hurry to find a husband—until she waltzes with Nicolai Morgan-Lloyd, Earl of Ainsworth.

Roland de Montbryce has never met Adelina de Quincey, yet he feels inexorably drawn to his distant cousin, a woman forced into a betrothal to an elderly man. His heart tells him she is his soul mate. Risking his life by sailing to King John's England to rescue her might be considered foolhardy, especially by those who know Roland as the carefree, philandering second son.

Having escaped the besieged castle in the guise of a nun, Marguerite d'Aigremont must find a way to get back to her native England—without anyone discovering she is King John's cousin. She despises the Normans who sided with their age-old enemy to bring about king John's ouster as Duke of Normandy. But she is dependent on Becket if she's to have any hope of returning to England. Despite their differences, Becket and Marguerite are drawn to each other. Will the Montbryce Dynasty survive intact when King Philip of France discovers the family has aided King John's cousin?

Earl Griffith Halliwell is a rakehell with two passions-thoroughbred horse breeding and blondes. Lady Susan Crompton is a raven-haired, crusading bluestocking appalled by Halliwell's neglect of his impoverished tenants. Griff thinks members of the fair sex are useful only as mistresses. Susan scorns all things masculine and resents the power men have over women. Sparks fly when they clash.

Gabriel makes his first mistake when he falls in love with his predecessor's beautiful young widow, Lady Emma Crompton. He faces a second hurdle—he is slowly being poisoned with arsenic. A double mystery unfolds when it comes to light Lady Emma's deceased husband was also suffering from arsenic poisoning. Is there a curse on the Earls of Farnworth or are there other forces at work that will rob Gabe and Emma of their chance to find true love?