Susan Bella Ikin

The next instalment in the popular Highlanders series, this tale tells the story of D'arcy, freshly returned from the Crusades. After climbing out of a bedroom window to escape an enraged father, D'arcy ducks through another open window to avoid discovery, and finds that fate often has different plans for us than those we make for ourselves.

Eleanor: My life was over. I was sure of it. Or at least, life as I knew it, as I could bear it. After being brought back by Liam McGarrow last year, my father had barely let me have a moment alone. Later, it became clear why my father had decided to guard me so closely, Lachlan had returned, and he seemed to be the only person my father was prepared to let me be alone with. Perversely, I did not want to be alone with him, he stared at me in a way which made me uncomfortable. ** I knew when the words were out of my mouth that I had made a mistake. Lachlan's eyes had narrowed when I told him I didn't want him, but when I said he scared me, I had seen the flush run up his face, and his eyes take on a feverish glint. I got really scared then, realising that he was the type of person who enjoyed other people's fear and pain. ** Donald: Just as I had so often, I found myself riding near the border with McDonnell lands, chiding myself for my foolishness. The air felt oppressive, and I looked up into the summer sky to see dark clouds gathering. My mount whinnied, obviously smelling the storm coming in the air, and I was about to turn back when I saw two horses racing along towards the stream. Even from this distance, I could see that the lead horse carried a woman, her hair had become partially unbound and the red-gold length of it streamed out behind her, and she appeared to be being chased by a man. I watched for a moment longer, not sure if it was a chase or just two young lovers being merry, but something about the man's carriage did not look right. ** "Da What are ye talking about Donald saved me, he didn't hurt me " "Do ye expect me to believe any of that? No wonder ye didn't want to get married, ye had a lover on the side for how long? And ye had me fooled that ye didn't want to get married Well, it looks like ye got yer way, girl, who will marry ye now?" "I will," I said, surprising everyone, not least of all myself. Although this book is part of a series, each book is a standalone with no cheating and a guaranteed HEA.

Kelly and her best friend Annie had a great time at Annie's hen's night. Well, Kelly had been having a great time checking out the gold lam clad behind of the stripper gyrating right in front of her face. Even having to cut the night short because Annie was too drunk to remember to keep her hands to herself in a strip club didn't spoil Kelly's night.What did spoil Kelly's night however, was crashing into the back of a Mercedes on her way home. The other driver was less than impressed, to say the least, which was a shame as he was gorgeous. He also had a girlfriend, so it seemed Kelly couldn't catch a break anywhere tonight.Let go from her job under suspicion of industrial espionage, Kelly fell into a last minute dream job filling in as a maternity leave replacement for the personal assistant of the executive of a private company. So could it get any worse on day one, when Kelly was crawling around on her hands and knees in her new boss's office looking for a dropped key, when in her boss walked, and it turned out he and the driver of the Mercedes were the same person? Kelly made a poor first beginning, and her second introduction to Jack didn't make a good impression either, but he was in a bind, so it was Kelly who had to travel to Paris with him. Would the change in scenery give them a fresh start?Would Kelly get a crash course in love, in the most romantic city on Earth?A Billionaire Bad-Boy Romance with no Cheating and a HEA.

Mary napped in the sun, feeling safe. Unbeknown to her, her guard had also fallen asleep in the warm sun, his back propped up against a tree not far from her.*Liam looked at the sleeping man with scorn, the man's lapse had just made his plan too easy. He crept up on the sleeping woman, startled to see how beautiful she was. Sending some of his men to scout the surrounding area in case there were more guards, he managed to walk right up to the woman, and place his large hand over her mouth to prevent her screaming before she even awoke.*Sending the lazy guard back to Mary's family with a demand for a ransom for her safe return, Liam swung the beautiful young widow up onto his horse and headed to the sanctuary of his home. What he hadn't bargained on was his attraction to this woman, and the complications she brought to his life, particularly when he realized that her family wasn't interested in paying for her return.

Hetty was living an ordinary life, working in an ordinary job, until one night she unwittingly witnessed a murder, which was bad enough, but then they came after her too, so she ran. Zach was hiding from life, his experiences while in the Army had left him unable, or unwilling, to spend time with other people any more. All that changed on the night when Hetty's car became airborne after leaving the road, and ended up nose first in his dam. Now all he had to do was work out what she was running from, and what that was going to mean to him.

In Volume One, Zia met The Captain and was transported against her will to his ship. However, soon she discovered that she didn't want to be anywhere but with him. Unfortunately, space is a dangerous place, as Zia discovered to her peril...."Suddenly Xym felt a horrible, cold, blackness approaching him. He had never known such cold before, nor had he ever been so bereft of hope. He tried to find Zia, to put himself between her and the blackness, but he could barely sense her now, she was so weak.Without warning, the blackness overcame him, and his mind filled with the emptiness of death.Without making a sound his body collapsed over Zia's now lifeless form."

I tried to relax and breathe deeply, hoping that I would go to sleep quickly, but I was too nervous. I heard the TV get shut off, I heard James moving around the room, I assume he was gathering his things together, then the bathroom door opened and closed. After a couple of minutes, I heard the door open and close again, and James' feet made a little sound as he padded across the carpet to the bed. I felt the depression of the mattress as James climbed into the bed. I laid there a while longer, then I heard James' chuckle. "Relax Audrey. You are so tense I swear I could bounce a coin off you I'm tired, I did a fair bit of driving today and the walking tonight made me ready for bed. Even if you hadn't made it perfectly clear before, nothing is going to happen in this bed tonight, so you have nothing to fear from me. Goodnight."

Lucy's boss Adam was getting married, and had invited her to the wedding, which would be held on a pink sand beach in Bermuda, the wedding party was travelling to the site on a cruise ship which would depart New York City. Lucy wasn't looking for a romance, but found the groom's brother both attractive and overconfident: "At my door, he waited while I took the room card off the lanyard which I wore around my neck. While I was looking down, the ship swayed a little more than I was used to, and I lurched towards Nick, and grabbed his chest for support. As I looked up at him, about to apologise, Nick gazed into my eyes, and then slowly lowered his head to mine and kissed me so gently, his lips felt as if they were just touching mine. That felt nice, it had been so long since I had kissed anybody."