Showing results by narrator "Ruth Urquhart" in All Categories

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?

Mairi Wallace has faced terrible dangers since she discovered her magical abilities. But she's never experienced anything as hazardous as this. An unfamiliar peril has arisen and suddenly the Mages are no longer the biggest threat to Scotland's future. A new King, with the Afflicted hordes at his beck and call, is claiming her country for his own. From the towering battlements at Edinburgh Castle to the sweeping streets of Glasgow, Mairi and her friends are going to have to draw on every scrap of power they have.

Fiona does not remember the years before she came to the priory on the Isle of Skye. Only the gentle Prioress knows the truth about the spirited, red-haired lass's true birth. So it is in a simple cowl and peasant's dress that she emerges from the island's mists and faces the famed warrior chief of the Highlands, Alec Macpherson. Alec has served King James with his sword. Now he would give his very soul to protect this beautiful girl from the intrigue that swirls around her. But Fiona wants his heart as well, and willingly he gives it.

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?

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....

Saffron Sawyer is on her own. She's no longer part of the Office of Faery Godmothers - in fact, she's no longer part of anything, even if her magic is stronger now than she could have ever dreamed possible. Thwarted at every turn and stalked by monsters in the streets, her life feels like it's falling apart. But Saffron isn't going to give up hope. She's sworn revenge on the Director and she can't forget about Jasper and the way he makes her feel.

With his young sister Georgiana's reticence a constant reminder that his onetime friend, George Wickham, should not be trusted, Darcy decides a trip to rural Hertfordshire is in order, for both him and Georgiana. Darcy believes the people there are of so little consequence, Georgiana will know no fear in interacting with them. He soon learns he's wrong about both his sister and Hertfordshire, but not about Wickham. Even bearing the brunt of Mr. Darcy's insult doesn't soften Elizabeth to her wife-hunting cousin, Mr. Collins, and her first reaction is to disdain both men.

Adrianne Percy was hidden in the Western Isles, safe from her family's enemies - until her sisters sent a notorious pirate to return her to the Highlands. But when she hatches a plan to free her kidnapped mother, it requires her to marry the handsome rogue. But what begins as a simple matter of business quickly flares into an uncontrollable desire. As Adrianne's heart smolders, their calculated arrangement threatens to ignite into a burning passion....

Libby Snow's great-great-grandmother Ellen was obsessed with the strange legend of Ulla, a Viking maiden who washed up on shore with the nearly lifeless body of her husband. Central to the mystery is an ornate chalice, and Libby, an archaeologist, finally has permission to excavate the site where Ulla is believed to have lived. But what Libby finds in the ancient dunes is a body from the Victorian era, clearly murdered...and potentially connected to Ellen.

When the Marquess of Campbell inherits a fiery, red-headed Scottish beauty as his ward, it's his job to marry her off. No problem. She comes with a fortune. Lady Bridget MacDuff will have suitors falling all over themselves to wed her. Not so fast. Lady Bridget has plans for that fortune, and they involve helping unfortunate women. And she has no intention of helping her devastatingly handsome guardian in his quest to get her off his hands. He doesn't plan to marry, either. Why should she?

Orphaned by a cholera epidemic, Neb and his young brother are sent to the desolate farm of their last living relative. But when the savage Horsekin tribes begin raiding the villages along Deverry's western border, the brothers must flee for their lives. A chance encounter with Salamander—a bard and master of dweomer magic—proves their salvation, as he brings them to the shelter of Tieryn Cadryc's dun. Here Neb finds love with his soulmate Branna only to be dragged into a war for the very survival of the kingdom.

Saffron Sawyer aspires to rise from the magical world's bottom rung. But when her wish to join the renowned Office of Faery Godmothers is granted, bullies make her first day on the job unbearable. And to add to her misery, she discovers that someone is abducting her coworkers one-by-one. Desperate to prevent another kidnapping, she scrambles to piece together the clues. After teaming up with the handsome and powerful Devil's Advocate, she uncovers a strange connection between the disappearances and her lowly former gig.

American-born Cherise Williams believes herself to be heir to an old Irish earldom, and she's come to Dublin to claim her heritage. Under the circumstances, Megan's boss Olga at Leprechaun Limos has no qualms about overcharging the brash Texas transplant for their services. Megan chauffeurs Cherise to the ancient St. Michan's Church, where the woman intends to get a wee little DNA sample from the mummified earls - much to the horror of the priest. But before she can desecrate the dead, Cherise Williams is murdered - just as her three daughters arrive to also claim their birthright.

Eighteenth-century Scotland is famed for generating many of the enlightened ideas which helped to shape the modern world. But there was in the same period another side to the history of the nation. Many of Scotland's people were subjected to coercive and sometimes violent change, as traditional ways of life were overturned by the "rational" exploitation of land use. The Scottish Clearances is a superb and highly original account of this sometimes terrible process, which changed the Lowland countryside forever, as it also did, more infamously, the old society of the Highlands.

In the peaceful land of the Rhiddaer, Jahdo, the rat-catcher's son stumbles upon a secret meeting between a city council man and a dangerous, mysterious woman. Suddenly the boy is tangled in a web of intrigue and black magic that drags him far from home. In the company of a blind bard, Jahdo must travel to Deverry to unravel the evil that binds him. But there the boy is caught up in dangers far greater than he has ever known. Two powerful sorcerers—one human, the other elven—are battling to save the country from a goddess gone mad.

Bella Parkinson is the most promising actress in London, bright, sexy...and hopelessly scatterbrained. Rupert Henriques is dashingly handsome and wealthy enough to buy her every theatre in London if she wanted it; he cannot wait to marry her. But Bella has a secret from her past - and the one man who knows it is about to come back into her life again....

"Kiss of the Vampire" by Hannah Howell 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 Efrica is life in the darkness - and in his arms.

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.

Elizabeth Boleyn has been ordered to yield to a lecherous king what she most prizes - her innocence. Now, at the tournament of two kings, her beauty has attracted not only the eyes of Henry Tudor, but those of the handsome Scottish warrior Ambrose Macpherson, whose bold offer to bed her might be her only salvation....

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.