Showing results by narrator "Philip Battley" in All Categories

Lord Percy Nibley needs a wife, preferably before his mother’s nagging on the subject drives him to distraction....In desperation, the shy nobleman enlists the help of Baron Marchmain - Lord August Bright...August selects a suitable young lady for Lord Nibley; Miss Patience Pearson, a cool, level-headed woman, close to being on the shelf and with the reputation of a blue-stocking, meanwhile setting his own sights on capturing the heart of her vivacious younger sister, Caroline.

Hampshire, 1938. Victor Silvius is confined in a private sanatorium after attacking prominent judge Sir Giles Drury. When Sir Giles starts receiving sinister threatening letters, his wife suspects Silvius. Meanwhile, Silvius’ sister Caroline is convinced her brother is about to be murdered... by none other than his old nemesis Sir Giles.

Raz Frewer just made a bet with the Devil. He needs a cure to save his dying wife, and Lucifer has it—a mystical lamp, but its pieces were scattered around the globe centuries earlier. If he can find them, he'll get his cure; if he can't, the Devil gets his soul.

When the beautiful Lady Isabella Scranford finds herself in the family way and her lover refuses to do the honorable thing, she knows her life is at an end. With a reputation for being a cold-hearted bitch, there will be no sympathy for her, only shame and ridicule. Finding that even her best - and only - friend refuses to be associated with her any longer, Isabella decides she cannot go on and makes a fateful decision. When a filthy and frightening man rescues Isabella from drowning, she begins to believe her fate has taken an even darker turn. Yet appearances can be deceptive....

Alexander Sinclair, Fourth Earl of Falmouth, has a reputation for rebelling in vice. Wine, women, and gambling are only one side of this dangerous man, for the earl has a second life, leading a criminal gang, smuggling contraband between France and Cornwall. Seeking ever more risk, Alexander often leads his men on their nighttime missions. One unlucky night the revenue men appear, and the smugglers sail into a violent storm in an effort to escape, but the ship and all aboard go down.

Blackmailed by his sister into giving a Christmas house party to celebrate her recent marriage, Edward Greyston, Marquess of Winterbourne, is quite certain the next few days will be an utter nightmare. Nightmares, however, are something Edward is all too familiar with. After the bloody battle of Waterloo, he has returned from the war a changed man, full of rage and guilt. Suspecting one of his house guests, the bluestocking Belinda Holbrook is about to trap unsuspecting and gullible Lord Nibley into marriage, he goes to warn him, only to get caught himself.

Being dared to kiss a man in the moonlight is all well and good, but men and moonlight do not fall from the skies at will. Until they do. Under instruction from a friend, drab Alice Dowding lingers alone on a moonlit balcony. Not the most sensible course of action for a usually sensible girl. Yet, being sensible has gained Alice a seat among the wallflowers, and her only likely chance of marriage to a man she finds nigh on repulsive. Something must be done.

Daniel Stanton has been blessed with everything. He is charming, confident and handsome—and heir to the great Stanton fortune. At age 24, he has had his fair share of amorous adventures with women, as well as one tantalising experience with a man, leaving him wondering about his sexual inclinations. Those questions are quickly answered when he first meets Ambrose Cranshaw, his grandfather's estate manager. He wants the man, and what he wants, he usually gets. Not this time though.

They’re rugged and powerful intelligence agents with a desire for sexy, feisty women. As one, they’re unstoppable. Together, they’re INVINCIBLE. He’s a hard-ass rancher with big secrets. She’s a city-slicker with big dreams.

Powerful new technologies enable us to see the details of how our neural systems work. We no longer need to speculate about how genes are expressed or the nature of consciousness. Now, we can understand how the brain functions from the bottom up, how we communicate, form ideas, and behave accordingly.

They’re torn between duty and love, passion and power, reputation and regality. In this four-book boxed set the Royal Agents of M16 destroy the enemy, journey across the globe into perilous situations and steamy encounters, then return to the men and women they love. While each title in this series is a standalone featuring one couple with their own HEA, the books in the series will be more enjoyable in order.

Luke Frankland, a junior intelligence officer just home from the Iraq War, finds himself cast into a world of cyber espionage and state-level politics. Out of his depth and with no one in the government heeding his warnings, he forms a makeshift team and tries to establish who is waging a new kind of war from behind a keyboard. The truth will leave him plunged into an arena he little expected, and where the real cost is not measured in 1s and 0s but in human life.

Sebastian Grenville, the duke of Sindalton, known as Sin to the ton, has had his fair share of scandal. His father's involvement in what became referred to as "The Scandal of the Century" plunged him into the spotlight at the tender age of 12, and he's been there ever since. Egged on by his best friend, Beau - the marquis of Beaumont - his life is one of dissipation and ease. But every duke needs an heir, and everyone knows Sindalton is on the market for a wife.

Freddie is unremarkable—too unremarkable. He doesn't stand out in any way, and in fact teachers and fellow students keep forgetting who he is. Even his mom thinks he's a disappointment, and spends almost all her time at work, producing a TV show. After a particularly awful night when he embarrasses himself in front of Jasper Perry (the gorgeous teen star of his mum's new show), Freddie decides to follow a proactive new philosophy designed to transform his social and romantic life: saying 'yes' to every opportunity.

To the public, they’re winemakers—each a billionaire in his own right. However, there’s far more to these men than meets the eye. Their membership in the secret society known as Los Caballeros has been handed down to them from their fathers and grandfathers for generations. Their vow? To come to the aid of the innocent and less fortunate, offering protection and safety, even when it means putting their own lives on the line.

Lucretia ‘Crecy’ Holbrook has a secret, a secret she has kept for many years. Even her dearest confidant and sister, Belle, would not understand what Crecy is prepared to do, the risks she is prepared to take, to get her heart’s desire. For Crecy is not like the other smiling débutantes; she despises poetry, thinks dancing a chore, and is quite prepared to throw something at the next fool to compare her to Aphrodite. Far more likely to return from a country walk with a badger’s skull and some bloody, injured creature than a posy of wildflowers, Crecy is drawn to the dark, the damaged, and the unlovable. Her heart longs for one man alone, one with a wounded soul, one so dreadfully damaged that even her tender care might not be enough to save him.

Dinah Osborne needs a husband and she needs one now. Not just any man will do. To meet the terms of her rather eccentric grandfather’s will, she must be safely engaged to marry a man of worth before her 21st birthday or she’ll not receive a penny of her rather large inheritance. Sadly her social climbing grandfather’s notions of worth and her own are not in the least alike, and nothing but a Lord will satisfy the terms of his will. But Dinah is alone in the world and has no entry into the select ranks of the ton. She does, however, know a thing or two about blackmail.

It is December, 1648, and England faces one of the greatest crises in its history. Bands of renegade soldiers and broken men roam the countryside, looting, burning, and raping. In Parliament, former allies are torn apart after six years of bloody conflict. John Swynfen, a rising young MP and one of the leaders of the moderate party, is working for peace, but only if safeguards can be established to protect Parliament and control the powers of the king. Ranged against him and his friends are Oliver Cromwell and his son-in-law Henry Ireton, intent on seizing power by the sword.

Historic quarters in cities and towns across the middle of Europe were devastated during the Second World War—some, like those of Warsaw and Frankfurt, had to be rebuilt almost completely. They are now centers of peace and civility that attract millions of tourists, but the stories they tell about places, peoples, and nations are selective. They are never the whole story. Exploring seven old towns, from Frankfurt and Prague to Vilnius in Lithuania, Marek Kohn examines how they have been used since the Second World War to conceal political tensions and reinforce certain versions of history.

It is 1903 in the English countryside when Robbie, a shy young art student, meets the twenty-nine-year-old Anton who is running from memories of his brutal childhood and failed marriage. Within months, they begin a love affair that will never let them go. Robbie grows into an accomplished portraitist in the vivid London art world with the help of Anton's enchanting former wife, while Anton turns from his inherited wealth and connections to improve the conditions of the poor.