Showing results by author "Catherine Gayle"

With her father's health in question, Sara Thomas is focused on reducing his anxiety. That's no small feat, considering his high-stress job, not to mention her own distractions. Everyone knows Sara's single; no one knows she's pregnant. There's never a good time to unexpectedly get knocked up, but now is definitely not it. Regardless, she doesn't want anyone to know - especially not her father - until she has a game plan in place.

Katie Weber left her heart behind in Portland when she decided to follow her dreams in Hollywood. Now she's back to sing the national anthem for the Portland Storm for their annual Hockey Fights Cancer night. One look at the team's bench while she's singing is all it takes to know that Jamie Babcock is still hurting just as much as she is. She's done the Hollywood thing, though, and she's over it. She knows what she wants, and she wants Jamie, but she might have already done too much damage.

On a celebratory trip with his best friend, Ray "Razor" Chambers meets sultry Viktoriya Dubrovskaya and immediately recognizes the desperation in her eyes - a sight he remembers all too well. Permanently in survival mode, the destitute and broken Viktoriya makes him an offer - a proposition he immediately refuses. However, Razor's counter-offer changes everything for her.

Dana Campbell has spent the past seven years in self-imposed isolation for a crime she didn't commit. The danger is well in the past, but her panic attacks make it impossible to have a normal, healthy relationship with a man. Even her counselor has given up on her. She has to find someone she trusts to help her fight through the panic, or her seven-year ordeal will become a lifetime sentence. There's only one man she feels safe enough to ask.

She's reaching for a breakaway pass. Dana Campbell has spent the past seven years in self-imposed isolation for a crime she didn't commit. The danger is well in the past, but her panic attacks make it impossible to have a normal, healthy relationship with a man. Even her counselor has given up on her. She has to find someone she trusts to help her fight through the panic, or her seven-year ordeal will become a lifetime sentence. There's only one man she feels safe enough to ask.

Tired of being the second-best Babcock, Levi “501” Babcock is ready to outshine his older brother. Outranking his brother proves harder than he imagined—until he meets a sinfully sexy gold-medal-winning figure skater. She might be the prize he’s been searching for all along. Bubbly and spirited Cadence Johnson is determined to escape the shackles of her former partner. Moving to Portland gives her the fresh start she’s craved, but the last thing she can afford is a distraction like Levi Babcock. 

Hunter Fielding has long since proven himself to be one of the best goaltenders in the NHL. The problem? His former team had another (slightly better) backstop. They left Hunter out to dry, the upstart Tulsa Thunderbirds claimed him in the expansion draft, and he made a few stupid comments about backasswards Oklahomans. Now the T-Birds say the only way he can redeem himself is to make nice for the media with some local goody two shoes who's made some mistakes of her own.

It was supposed to be a night of fake names, half-truths, and anonymous sex. Keith Burns, star defenseman for the Portland Storm, was just looking for a way to pass the time. Brianna Hayden wanted to find herself after health issues changed everything. Anonymity is the name of their game; the rules were laid down at the outset. A chance encounter brings them back together long after the game should have ended, shattering their initial rules.

As the Earl of Fordingham, Tristan Cavendish has lived by the code his father beat into him for so long he's driven everyone in his life away, including his brother. Now he is alone. Loneliness dictates he must change, so he sets out to make amends with his only sibling. Alas, his brother seems none too inclined to hear him out, and a woman who must be a vision from Fordingham's dreams walks into his path. Now, more than ever before, he knows he must change his ways or risk driving her away as well…but how?

Just before Christmas, Grandmama dies after revealing the identity of Abby's grandfather - the Duke of Danby, no less. Now the entire family will travel to Yorkshire to confront Danby, hoping to gain a dowry for Abby. But then Wesley reemerges, sparking a hope Abby thought long destroyed. Shall the prodigal son's sole inheritance be an unsightly gash? Wesley Cavendish aspires to the political realm, despite his father's near-murderous opposition...not to mention his opposition to Abby Goddard.

Over the years, Gabriel Devalle has more than earned his reputation as one of "those devilish Devalles." No one is more surprised than Gabe, therefore, when a debutante tosses herself into his path, only to have her gown "accidentally" ripped by her mischievous and alluring sister, all in the name of causing a scandal. Or was it to prevent a scandal? Either way, the gown-ripping sister has certainly drawn his notice.

When Aurora Hyatt loses her journal in Hyde Park, her ruin is a foregone conclusion. After all, if anyone discovers her writings, they'll find scandalous fantasies involving the newest rake in town alongside entirely-too-candid thoughts about her typical dreary suitors. Aurora will either be forced into a loveless marriage with the first nodcock to make an offer, or she'll be assigned a permanent position on the shelf. Oh, dear good Lord. What catastrophe will God smite down upon her next?

The first three full novels in Catherine Gayle's Lord Rotheby's Influence series....

The Duke of Danby is matchmaking again. No matter what his overbearing duke of a grandfather wants, Thomas Goddard has no intention of marrying a high-born lady. He's the son of Danby's by-blow, for heaven's sake, and no gentleman! When yet another letter-complete with yet another marriage license-arrives, Thomas does as any reasonable man would do. He rips the thing to shreds, tosses it over the cliffs, and curses Danby's name. Regrettably, his shouted curse startles the very lady his grandfather intends for him to marry.

Lord Falkland bets Lord Jefferson Blount two hundred fifty pounds that Lord Haworth will ensure the ruination of Lady Georgianna Bexley-Smythe by 15 May unless the Marquess of Stalbridge returns to Town and settles his debts before that date. Cedric Loring, the Earl of Montague, has been an honorary member of the Bexley-Smythe family for years. He's always had a special, if sometimes strained, bond with Georgie. But when her name ends up in the betting book at White's before she's even made her debut, he knows no one can protect her quite like he can.

There's only one person in the world that Mattias Bergstrom allows to see his soft side: his younger sister, who was born with Down syndrome. She lives with their parents in Sweden, so there's no worry of accidentally showing his players any part of himself other than the hard-assed former defenseman and current head coach of the Portland Storm. At least not until the doppelganger of Matti's sister snags one of his young D-men in the corridor before the team's skills exhibition event, and his frozen heart melts.

The choice between adhering to a long-held pact and finally accepting love could prove Lady Tabitha Shelton's unhinging. She is plump, plain, pleasant... and thoroughly unappealing to any of the men of the ton - apart from fortune hunters. A self-appointed wallflower, she has every intention of remaining one. Tabitha made a vow of spinsterhood with her cousins when they were girls, and she refuses to go back on her word.

It's the NHL's draft day, but the whole Portland Storm team is back together for an entirely different event. Complete with a double wedding, an unanticipated guest, overdue apologies, unexpected goodbyes, and fresh starts, this big day has the potential to get them all called for a Double Major.

Injury after injury has put Brenden Campbell's NHL career on hold for years. Now he's playing for the Portland Storm and determined to make it stick. Few things in life drive him more than being told he can't have something he wants, and what he wants most is to prove he belongs. Brenden also wants Rachel Shaw, the cute, little redhead who just got hired as the general manager's new assistant. But then she went and made herself off-limits, telling him: "I don't date."

Everyone deserves a second chance. As general manager of the Portland Storm, Jim Sutter knows this all too well. And he's in the perfect position to grant second chances like he's Santa Claus - even if he never gives himself one. When his friends take matters into their own hands, Jim might just get the holiday surprise of a lifetime.