Showing results by narrator "Ruth Urquhart" in All Categories

Ironcross Castle was called cursed by the Highlanders. Its most recent lairds had perished in accidents, falls, or fires. The newest owner, Gavin Kerr, did not fear death. It was feeling that he dreaded - the pain of betrayal and loss. Now, he arrived at the castle to hear of hauntings and cults and to be drawn to the portrait of beautiful Joanna MacInnes, who died here amid a furnace of flame. And looking at her, Gavin desired her, feeling an impossible longing to take her in his arms. 

As a young duke, all Nathaniel wants is to be left alone. So when he meets Charlotte, an outspoken American heiress, he is suspicious of her indifference. Too many women have sought - and failed - to catch him. However, Charlotte is unimpressed by his title. She has no interest in English dukes. All she wants is to leave dreary England and travel to the sunny sands of Egypt to see the grand pyramids. Unfortunately, a debutante seeking to entrap Nathaniel gets murdered.

A heinous crime. A valiant hero. An undeniable temptation. Lady Charlotte Frampton is dead . . . at least, that is what everyone believes. Fleeing from her life-shattering past, Charlotte reinvents herself as Lotte and becomes the companion to a viscount’s sister. All she is hoping for is a...

Maria had been forced to marry at 17, then was left widowed shortly thereafter. Now, five years later, her brother had chosen another husband for her, sight unseen - the boy king of Scotland. Maria, who had never known passion or love, refused to submit, vowing to flee to freedom. But the ship she chose went down in the gathering fog, leaving the dark-haired beauty at the mercy of wind and tide, and headed for a shattering destiny. 

Five days before her wedding to Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, Kate Hamilton finds her friend Sheila in need of her help. Sheila, a soon-to-be bride herself, needs Kate’s help to get Carl Curtis, her fiancé, out of Venezuela. His passport was taken from him by the authorities, and they say he owes them money. Carl says it’s a bribe, but he’s unable to leave unless it’s paid. Sheila decides to sell her grandfather’s coin collection, including a valuable gold coin presented by Queen Victoria to her great-grandmother. Among her grandfather’s stored possessions is a letter from the Queen.

As wild as the rugged north country where she was raised, Saxan Honey Todd has sworn to avenge the murder of her twin brother. Recklessly, she gallops across the English countryside in pursuit of the man she believes to be his murderer: Botolf, Earl of Regenford. As hard and unyielding as the armor he wears in battle, Botolf is irresistibly drawn to the impetuous beauty who has come to wage war with him. Saxan stirs his passion to the point of madness, but to love her would be madness indeed.

As identical twins, Bothan and Calum MacNachton share a bond stronger than most brothers, one forged by a terrible secret. Rumors and dark tales have been whispered about their clan for centuries. For they roam the Highlands at night, driven by a savage hunger that can never be sated. Their only hope lies in marriage to Outsiders, mortal women whose pure blood will weaken the hold of their eternal curse.   

Forest child they call me. It is within the woods that I find solace and feel the magic of my ancestors. For I am a Druid. One who can trace her roots from the very first to call the Isle of Skye home. The isle draws many to its magical shores. It drew him. Imposing, bold, and handsome. We fell hard and fast that summer. Then he left with the tide to the city.

It's 1199. King Richard the Lionheart is dead, leaving his brother, John, to inherit his lands. Young Isabelle of Angouleme is told that she is to be married to King John of England in a complex plot to gain the English succession, oust Christianity and restore the Old Religion to Europe. But when Isabelle takes matters into her own hands, passions will rage, and dynastic fortunes will rise and fall.

Jaime Macpherson learned the meaning of betrayal on the Isle of Skye when her beloved Malcolm MacLeod wed another woman to save his inheritance. Her dreams of happiness crushed, she sought refuge in the elegant palace of the Duke of Norfolk. There Jaime would find Malcolm again, a prisoner in the castle dungeon. In the icy darkness, she learns how to love again. But with England and Scotland at war, her bold scheme to free Malcolm would imperil her own life.

Charlotte "Charlie" Stewart would rather don a kilt and ride her horse than simper in a ballroom. But with her younger sister about to be wed, she can't escape the pressure to be next. A husband has been chosen, and Charlie's fate seems set. Until an afternoon gallop sends her horse colliding with Kade Kendrick, the broad-shouldered Highlander who was once her childhood pal . . .

It's that aftershave. I'm trying to work out the familiar smell which is creeping up my nostrils. I see him come towards me confidently, smiling. Dressed in a navy suit, crisp white shirt and red tie. He may be a bit greyer around the edges, but there's no doubt it's him. As I stand just a few inches away from the man who invaded my sleep, dreams, and nightmares for years, I can't believe I've survived. I stare straight into his dark eyes. As he reaches his hand out towards me, I vomit all over his feet. Everyone respects my stepfather. But I know who he really is.

Conall MacInnes was born to a clan that for centuries has been charged with the guarding of the sacred Druids. It's a duty he has always met with a willing heart, until the day his sister, a Druid priestess, goes missing and the very Druids he has protected refuse to help him find the last remaining member of his family. Then a 300-year-old prophecy places a Druid in his hands for safekeeping. It's the chance at revenge he's been waiting for, but is he willing to pay the cost his revenge will demand - the loss of his mate and the future of Scotland?

Grieving after the death of his younger brother, Hugh Castle, the Earl of Monnow, finds evidence to suggest it was not an accident, but a failed attempt to kill him. He vows revenge, planning to take advantage of the rumor that he is also dead to uncover the murderer. But Hugh doesn't count on meeting another desperate adventurer, Helen Archer. She has lost the fabled Peckham Necklace at Hugh's home, Ormsby, and risks censure if she doesn't find it. So together, Helen and Hugh hatch the perfect plan.

Miss Kathleen Calvert may be the daughter of an Irish aristocrat, but she has no intention of acting like one. All she desires is to return to her family's estate to raise horses and manage her father's magnificent gardens. But when a scandal threatens her reputation, her parents order her to a remote Scottish estate, hoping she will finally learn to behave like a proper lady. To make matters worse, her escort is a handsome Highlander who just happens to be the most boring man in all of Scotland.

Lady Sabrina Bell has never been so embarrassed in her life. Not only did her new suitor fail to appear for their morning rendezvous in Hyde Park, but a thief pushed her into the Serpentine. Being rescued by a burly Highlander just adds to her humiliation. Nor is he content with rescuing her just once. Even when Sabrina travels to Edinburgh as part of King George's entourage, Graeme Kendrick is there, interfering, exasperating, and so very tempting.... 

The map of everything you know, everything you are, everything you ever will be...just got rewritten. A novel of hard SF exploring the nature of identity both inherited and engineered, from one of Britain's most acclaimed new talents. In the near future, when medical nanotechnology has made it possible to map a model of the living human brain, radical psychologist Natalie Armstrong sees her work suddenly become crucial to a cutting-edge military project for creating comprehensive mind-control.

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.

It's been over a year since Megan found herself entangled in a murder—much to everyone's relief, including her girlfriend Jelena and Detective Paul Bourke. So when a body of a young woman quite literally lands in her lap at her favorite Dublin cafe, Megan tries to do the right thing and leave the crime-solving to the police so she can enjoy the St. Patrick's Day weekend. After all, she has no connection to the victim. Or does she?

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.