Ever since Miranda Pardew haughtily rejected his shy request for a dance, Barnaby Traherne has been a resigned bachelor. Ten years later, her circumstances have changed and the still-smitten Barnaby has an opportunity to hire the now-impoverished Miranda as governess to his brother's children. Barnaby must decide if he'll hold a long-stinging grudge, or allow the spirit of Christmas into his heart.

It's a scandal that 27-year-old Sarah Stanborough is still unwed. Despite her matchmaking mother's fervent wishes, Sarah refuses to encourage the eminently eligible John Phillip North, marquis of Revesne. The arrogant bounder has actually fought duels to keep her potential suitors at bay. Only one man attracts the independent spinster: handsome Edward Middleton, her young cousin's guardian, who detests the frivolous gossip and shallow flirtations of London society as much as she does.

When James Everard announced that he had invited a young lady home for the holidays, his father, the Earl of Gyllford, was astounded and skeptical. Could it be that Jamie was finally showing an interest in something other than horseplay with his friends? But when lovely Miss Evalyn Pennington arrived at Gyllford Manor, it was the earl who found himself inexplicably drawn to her winsome beauty. Having been dismissed from her post as a governess, Evalyn would long remember the kindness of being welcomed at Gyllford Manor when she had nowhere else to turn.

The Hartleys are on the brink of disaster. Viscount Mainwaring has died, unaccountably leaving his entire fortune to an American. Worst of all, Anne Hartley's future is in jeopardy. She has been forbidden from marrying the nobleman she has adored since the moment she found him thrown from his horse in Hyde Park.

'Tis the season when lovers' eyes shine by the light of a blazing Yule log, when a quick kiss is shared beneath the mistletoe, and when love is the most splendid gift of all. Savor the beauty and passion of Christmas with two heartwarming stories by outstanding Regency author Elizabeth Mansfield. From A Sneeze on Tuesday: A broken engagement and a miserable cold were not in Elinor's holiday plans. But her spirited heart found its own remedy: a true and lasting love.

When the Marquis of Amberley's coach is waylaid by highwaymen and his coachman shot, he is forced to take shelter at the first house he finds and is subsequently trapped there for a week by a severe snowstorm. Oakleigh Manor is the home of Rosalind Vernon who lives alone but for her devoted servants and an ill-natured parrot, cut off from the outside world by the tragic result of a childhood accident.

At the end of his Grand Tour, somewhere between Athens and Constantinople, Christian Selwyn, the young Earl of Hazelmere, vanished—seemingly without trace. Time passes. In London, his uncle and cousin move into his home, while his unofficial fiancée, Sophia, is left desolate and in limbo.

Julia Fletcher is the unimportant daughter of the Fletcher family, with neither beauty nor wit nor accomplishments, but always in a scrape. Somehow she never manages to get through the day without breaking or spilling or tearing something. She’s quite the despair of her stepmother. She’s looking forward to their grand new home because it will give her a vast estate to roam over without getting into too much trouble. Or so she hopes.

Nowadays the Marquess of Hastings would probably be described as having Asperger's. He's good-looking and rich, but his lack of social skills make it hard for him to find a much-needed wife. He scandalizes the ton by putting an advertisement in the newspaper describing the type of spouse he requires and the marriage of convenience he envisages. Amazingly, he finds a suitable candidate. Elisabeth is an impoverished gentlewoman with literary aspirations. But can this oddly-assorted pair possibly coexist, let alone find happiness?

In Regency England, marriage is everything. For young widow Sybella Lovatt, the time has come to find a suitable husband for her sister and ward Lucie. Male suitors are scarce near their Wiltshire estate, so the sisters resolve to head to London in time for the Season to begin. Once ensconced at the Mayfair home of Lady Godley, Lucie’s godmother, the whirl of balls, parties and promenades can begin. But the job of finding a husband is fraught with rules and tradition. Jostling for attention are two lords.

As a lovely heiress, Roderica Delamore should be a prize catch--except for her shameful secret. She has the ability to hear the thoughts of those around her. Even her family and close friends can't hide from her strange gift. Knowing that she can never marry, for no man could bear it, Roddy still longs hopelessly for a family of her own. Until she meets the man she's been waiting for--the Earl of Iveragh, a mysterious Irish aristocrat whose thoughts are entirely closed to her.

Is Number 67 Clarges Steet the unluckiest house in Mayfair? Every season the beau mondes of the Regency would hire a house in the heart of London’s fashionable West End at disproportionately high rent for often inferior accommodation and yet Number 67 Clarges Street, a town house complete with staff, remains vacant from year to year. Could it be that it is associated with ill luck and even death? Something must be done so that the servants of this house don’t lose their livelihood.

A war hero's widow, Graceanne, still has her adorable three year old twin boys to love, until she receives a letter from her late husband's demanding cousin, Leland Warrington, the Duke of Ware. It seems that the duke, 32 years old, twice widowed, and with no forseeable plans to marry again, is in desperate need of an heir. And seeing that Graceanne has two boys, she could easily spare one.

Disowned by the cruel father who has always despised her, she has nowhere to turn until she is taken under the wing of a glamorous relative she never knew: the former Duchess of Ellsworth, who has scandalized society by remarrying soon after her first husband's death. At the opulent seaside estate of Ellsmere, Oriel thinks she has found a safe haven - but the darkly handsome young duke, Herron, believes otherwise. Haunted by the death of his father, he suspects that Ellsmere is sheltering a murderer.

A troubled Byronic hero, a young governess blinded by her romantic obsession, a beautiful but forbidding manor, and a secret as ominous as the black rainbow that frames the huddled towers of the manor in the moonlight are the romantic elements of this Gothic mystery.