Three friends and rival spymasters, two scandalous affairs, one murder, and an innocent man hanged on the testimony of his best friend set the stage for the next generation to try to solve the mystery of the murder and redeem lives shattered by disgrace. During the writing phase, the six authors who created the eight books of this unique Regency continuity referred to the series as "The Silken Rope Scandals" since, it turns out, peers condemned to hang are executed with a rope made of silk. No common hemp for milord, please.
In addition to being, as far as I know, the first historical continuity intended for the North American market—most continuities series are contemporaries--our Regency series is also unique because, subject to editorial review, we were given complete freedom to create the concept, the characters, the plot—everything.
It was fabulous fun to team with such a talented group to torture, bedevil (and connect) our various heroes and heroines!
My book, third in the series, is THE SMUGGLER AND THE SOCIETY BRIDE.
Having signed on as temporary skipper of a smuggling cutter as a favor to the comrade who saved his life, former army Captain Gabriel Hawksworth wonders what induced this stunningly lovely lady to abandon London during the Season in favor of an extended visit to her spinster aunt. Gabe scents a scandal…and if the lady's morals are a bit looser than her proper family would like, he's just the man to offer her some diversion during her stay in Sennlach. Until he gets to know this unusual lady better--and decides a temporary dalliance won't be nearly enough!
Now, for the complete list of titles and descriptions. Drum roll, please!
Nell Latham is a milliner who is not all she seems. Her life is hard - and then a mysterious stranger with death on his mind throws her into the path of the Carlows, a family with enough dangerous secrets of their own, without the added complication of Nell and Marcus Carlow developing a tempestuous attraction for each other. At gunpoint.
Nell the milliner is obviously ineligible as a bride for Marcus, who is also a viscount But Nell's true identity is a threat to both her and Marcus's family and is the catalyst for revelations of scandal, murder and treachery that will resonate through all of the books.
Ten years ago, during a night of reckless gaming, Nathan Wardale ruined a man and won the right to take the innocence of his daughter, Diana.
It was a debt he never planned to claim. But now, London's luckiest gambler will see that the only thing worth winning is the one thing he can't have: the heart of Diana Price.
Major Rhys Morgan, late of His Majesty's Light Dragoons, hopes, despite his wounds, to continue his service for king and country. The consequences of his heroic rescue of a little girl pitch him instead into the midst of a Romany camp and into the arms of a beautiful and mysterious Gypsy healer.
The last thing Nadya Argentari wants or needs is a romantic involvement with an Englishman. When someone seems to be targeting her and her family, however, Rhys vows to protect the woman he has fallen in love with--a relationship they both know will never be accepted in the either of the very disparate worlds they inhabit.
The Honourable Imogen Hebden, (the daughter of Louise's Murdered Baron.) is not pretty, has no fortune, and goes up to London for her first season with the shadow of scandal hanging over her. Her mother's family try to re-instate her into society, but it is such an uphill struggle she decides she must find work as a governess. The very last thing she wants to do is fall under the spell of a handsome rake, but Viscount Mildenhall is just sooo irresistible!
Rosalind Meadowfield is a dowager's companion with a secret to hide. Even when she is accused of theft and fleeing for her life Rosalind dare not reveal the truth of it. With so much at stake how can she find herself falling for the very man sent to apprehend her?
Will Wolversley, or Wolf as he is known, a man with a past, strong, honourable, and embittered, has every reason to dislike his captive. She is the very epitome of all that he has been raised to despise, yet her innocence and courage touch his hardened heart and whisper a dangerous temptation.
Between thief-taker and thief burns a flame of passion that cannot be ignored - not by Rosalind or Wolf...or by the shadowy background figure so determined upon Rosalind's downfall.
Louise Allen's second story is set on and around the battlefield of Waterloo. Major Hal Carlow is a self-confessed rake and is not fit company for the impoverished and proper Miss Julia Tresilian. But Brussels just before the battle of Waterloo is a social hot-house that throws them together.