Showing results by publisher "Soundings" in Women's Fiction

Saul Parenti has always been glad that he's second in line in the Arrezzian monarchy. He can concentrate on his business empire - and the delights of his new wife, Giselle...but when his cousin is killed, Saul must ascend to the throne. Instead of pursuing their own dreams, Saul and Giselle must now make their lives about pomp and protocol. But the secret traumas of Giselle's past have scarred her deeply; she never wants to be a mother - and that leaves her marriage in crisis, because her royal duty is to produce an heir....

Ellen is settled in Edinburgh when one day her sister begs a favour: can she come and look after her farm and three children while she has a much-deserved holiday. Ellen loves her nieces and nephews, but the animals are a bit of a worry.... After a manic yet fun weekend, her world is shattered when a freak accident kills her sister and leaves her the children's legal guardian. Ellen never asked for children, nor to run a farm, but now she's in charge of both.

Christmas 1917, and as the Lilley family gathers at the Rectory in the Sussex village of Ashden, the mood is far from festive. But while the sisters face heartache and the new year brings fresh tragedy, the Rectory opens its doors to a new world, its inhabitants strengthened by the grief and happiness shared during the long years of war.

Molly's perfect life comes crashing down following the unexpected death of her husband David. She is left alone with a big, old house to maintain, finances in disarray and her hopes for happiness in a heap. But Molly is a survivor. Despite objections from her two daughters, Molly fears that the only solution will be to sell their beloved home.

Sienna had been swept off her feet by the handsome, powerful Greek, Alexis Stefanides. 'I shall imprint myself on your heart and body so that you will never forget me,' he'd said once he'd won her heart. She'd been chosen - not for love but in vengeance for the wrong he believed her brother had done his sister. Too late the truth came out - too late to save Sienna's whole world from exploding in pain. Still deep in shock, Sienna found herself married to Alexis, with her mind instinctively fearful of her body's intimate cravings....

Susannah was a successful writer for Tomorrow magazine, but the new managing editor - the dynamic Hazard Maine - made it clear that he thought she was cheating her way to the top. It didn't help their working relationship, either, that Susannah found him devilishly attractive. So attractive that she allowed him to believe the worst of her, so that she wouldn’t be tempted to fall in love with him! Why, when he despised her, did he insist on singling her out?

Unhappy in her life and relationship, Francesca is inspired by her sighting of a mermaid swimming away to freedom to leave her lover and uproot her life. She moves to Lewes to stay with Agnes Potts, her loving, eccentric friend. Francesca begins to paint again with Agnes' encouragement, and when her painting of the mermaid is seen by Henry, a local potter, he takes her into his employment. When Agnes suffers an accident, Francesca must become nurse, chef and companion to her friend.

Marriage to Joss Wycliffe was the obvious solution to Eleanor de Tressail’s problems. She had no other way of keeping her grandfather’s debt-ridden estate intact, and she had promised that she would never part with Easterhay. But she hesitated.... For one thing, Joss’ proposal was more of a demand. For another, he made it clear that he was marrying her for the sake of her aristocratic background and not because he wanted her - or even liked her!

The Davies family is as dysfunctional as they come. When Frank marries a younger woman, Susan, his 10-year-old daughter, Louise, feels pushed out, and even more so when baby Karen arrives. Now, years later, with her father gone, Louise feels even more the odd one out. Obsessed with finding her birth mother, she distances herself from her family and spitefully makes trouble for Karen whenever the opportunity arises.

Charley would do anything to keep her wages coming in to support her impoverished sisters and nephews -even if that meant working in Italy for the demanding and commanding Duke Raphael Della Striozzi. Raphael couldn’t see how a woman so artistic would be seen dead in her cheap high-street clothes. It was straight off to a designer boutique for her! But it was in Raphael’s bedroom that Charlotte’s complete transformation took place - from shy, dowdy virgin to confident, beautiful...mistress!

"I want to know why, when you become all woman in my arms, when you respond so passionately to my kiss, you’re going to marry a man who you’ve just admitted can’t turn you on." Carter Macdonald oozed sex appeal. He was the sort of man who could easily sweep a woman off her feet. But Elspeth was made of sterner stuff. She wanted an orderly life with no highs and lows, no chaotic emotions. And that was exactly what Peter, a wealthy lawyer, was offering her.

Annie can’t believe Dominic Carlyle’s claim. How can he be her husband? Why would she have walked out on him and forgotten all about their marriage? To jog Annie’s memory, Dominic insists they move in together: Annie is strangely compelled to say yes - haunted by the memory of a dream in which a man makes love to her - a man who looks just like Dominic.

Felicity Clairemont has come to Spain to claim her inheritance. Unfortunately that means spending time with the Duque Vidal y Salvadores - and the darkly handsome Spaniard has always made it plain how little he thinks of her. The last time Vidal saw Fliss he desired and hated her with equal measure. But now honour demands he must help her. As the truth about Fliss’ family comes flooding out, and the power of their attraction takes hold, can Vidal admit how wrong he’s been about her?

For nearly four years Blake Templeton had left his wife, Jaime, and their daughter, Fern, strictly alone. So why had he now decided to re-enter their lives? Was it just chance that his arrival coincided with the proposed sale of the Abbey - and the attacks on Jaime to stop her from joining the campaign against its sale? And just what was his involvement with the beautiful Caroline Travers - the owner of the Abbey? Jaime just could not believe that her husband had changed so much, but all the evidence was there, plain to see. Or was it?

“Always love life” was the message Briony Stone’s first sweetheart left with her before he was killed in an air crash. It seems strange that the same thought should be voiced by Robert Baker, the young vet whom she has known such a short time, but to whom she is so unaccountably drawn. Briony, now married to the snobbish, unimaginative Charles, realises too late that she has disregarded her lover’s advice, running away from life into marriage with a man she likes and respects but doesn’t love.

Gina longed to share her life with the man she loved, but Charles told her love must wait. Gina must learn sophistication, devote herself to becoming a suitable wife for a fashionable author. Charles’s apparent indifference saddened and frightened Gina, for she was horrified by the new Charles who she couldn’t understand. In bewilderment, she turned to Peter for help and by doing so resolved her problems and found the love for which she had waited.

Having lost her mother at a young age, Maria Conti is close to her father, Leo, who owns an Italian restaurant, Leonardo’s. Secretly, however, she worries over Leo's drinking and gambling binges. Maria has no one to advise her as Leo's family is in Italy and her mother's family in Ireland rejected her when she married a foreigner. Then Leo is tragically killed. In the dark days that follow it emerges that he has left them deeply in debt. Maria has no choice but to turn to her estranged Irish family.

Judith is suddenly all alone in the world. Her husband, Jack, has left her - why, she doesn't really know. Her two sons are in Australia, and both her mother and her best friend Naomi have recently died. Embarking on a journey to Exmoor to meet the famous artist Robert Haussman, with an oddly assorted group of fellow-enthusiasts, Judith finds herself a prey to all sorts of irrational fears. Chief amongst them is the increasing conviction that Jack is dead. Why did he leave her? Where has he gone? And why does Robert Haussman exert such a strange influence on her?

Sarah believed in love at first sight. But after meeting the man of her dreams, and spending a night of passion in his arms, she was scared the magic couldn’t possibly last. So she left before he awoke. Joshua Howard had met his perfect woman, and lost her again in one night. Now he vowed to get his own back on her, and his revenge was going to be slow and sweet. It would begin as soon as he introduced himself as Sarah’s new boss!

A perfect family...but shocking revelations and heartache lie just beneath the surface of their charmed lives. Luke Crighton was adored by women, envied by men…and pursued by one very determined individual: Bobbie Miller. The Crighton family had been the cause of scandal and heartache for Bobbie, and she wanted revenge. All she had to do was seduce Luke, and the Crighton family secrets would be hers to expose. But the perfect seduction somehow backfired. Once Bobbie had Luke’s attention, she didn’t want to let go!