Jane Toombs

Once upon a time there was a beautiful young lawyer accustomed to solving riddles. Executing Douglas Ramsey's outrageous requests had become so old hat to Caron Carlisle she swore she could spin straw into gold. But come on! Bad enough that Douglas demanded she find the billion-dollar baby--his missing heir--the kicker was that the man with the answer had broken her heart long, long ago. Now, she faced the hardest riddle of all-- what was worse: remaining safe in her shell or opening herself to heartbreak again?

ACCURSED Janella Maki lived in a world without a past, a world where childhood memories were shrouded in terrifying shadows. A world in which she never felt she really belonged. Then one day a handsome man appeared and introduced himself as her Uncle Lucien. He had been married to her long lost Aunt Tovi, he said, and he'd come to take Janella back to her people. Desperate for answers that would explain her bouts of amnesia and illuminate her mysterious past, Janella agreed to accompany him--little knowing that by doing so, she had sentenced herself to a nightmare without end. For in the curiously remote house to which her uncle had brought her, Janella learned that buried in her past were her own supernatural powers...powers born of ancient Scandinavian rituals...powers of evil that, once unleased, she could not control.

Spinster Celeste Prescott has no use for rakes. The Earl of Campion has no time for straight-laced young ladies. Fate throws these two unlikely-to-suit the other into a situation where both are striving to keep a love-struck young lady and a lovesick prince apart. Just when they think they may have prevented any chance of the prince and his love ever getting together, Celeste and the Earl find themselves mired in the quicksand of overwhelming mutual attraction. Impossible! Surely sense and sensibility must triumph over what can't possibly be love...

This is a dated HR which, despite Layton’s writing skills being far superior to that of most contemporary HR authors, suffers in what is now deemed acceptable behaviour in a Historical Romance hero. Strikingly beautiful young Julia Hastings had been an inexperienced innocent (and her parents too impressed by youth, looks, wealth and a title) when handsome, high-born Robin Marlowe induced her to elope with him -- only to abandon her without a word of explanation on their wedding night. When Robin disappears a shattered Julia is dropped back at her parents’ home by one of his friends. Julia is left with her virtue intact but her reputation in tatters. Her loving parents and family are supportive, but her presence in their home makes their lives difficult. Julia moves away to earn her own living. Over the next few years her life becomes a struggle to defend herself against men who consider her easy prey and then a shallow employer who becomes jealous when her toddler shows a preference for Julia’s company. By now, Julia knows better than to trust any man, and yet she is stunned when Robin’s uncle, Lord Nicholas Daventry, tracks her down and insists that she has acted treacherously towards his nephew. Nicholas then treats Julia abominably, forcing her to travel with him to Paris (as he searches for Robin in the aftermath of Napoleon’s defeat). He never shows Julia any kindness or respect - in fact, he even insults her by grudgingly offering to set her up as his mistress, on the understanding that he can’t stop himself from lusting after her and she deserves no better because of her “past”. Yes, he is a total pig. So it’s somewhat amazing that Layton pulls together a purported HEA for this couple. But she does.

Having been raised by an eccentric Irish grandmother, Deirdre Darrington was clearly too impulsive and rather too forthright for a lady of the ton. But the headstrong miss's fanciful facade bid a heart that was fair to breaking with love for a man who was supposed to be her friend, not her suitor. To make matters worse, the adored Clive Chadbourne was affianced to her very own stepsister! How could Deirdre manage to be his June bride without ceasing altogether to mind her manners? How in the world was Clive Chadbourne, third son of the Earl of Moulton, newly returned war hero, and very much the gentleman, supposed to bide the fact that he was less than devastated when his fiancee suddenly broke their engagement? And why did he suspect that coy little Deirdre might have put a spoke in her dear stepsister's wheel and might have an eye for him herself? Come to think of it, Deirdre wasn't so little anymore. In fact, she was really a most attractive minx! Perhaps the time had come to see her in a different light, the light of love

FROM HERE TO PATERNITY The blonde and the baby definitely spelled trouble. Bachelor Zed Adams knew it the instant spitfire Karen Henderson and diaper-clad Danny stormed his peaceful Nevada ranch. Still, never had trouble looked so danged appealing...... Until adorable Danny christened Zed "Da"-and his loyal guardian brandished "evidence" of Zed's paternity. Whoa! No way was Zed anybody's papa! And he'd stop at nothing to prove it. But ten sticky little fingers took hold of Zed's heart. Worse, sexy Karen fueled dreams of fatherhood. And suddenly DNA be darned! Zed was acting an awful lot like a daddy....

CENTURIES BEFORE THE FIRST WHITE MAN SET FOOT ON MOUNT SANGRE, THE ANCIENT ONES WARNED THAT SOMETHING SLEPT THERE, SOMETHING UNSPEAKABLY EVIL,,,AND YET, ONE TERRIBLE NIGHT, THAT EVIL WAS AWAKENED BY INNOCENTS TOO YOUNG TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEIR SECRET CEREMONY WAS UNLEASHING. NOW, TEN YEARS LATER, VALORA ROLLAND HAD RETURNED TO HER FAMILY'S ANCESTRAL MANOR, AND TO THE BLACK MOUNTAIN THAT BROODED ABOVE IT, DETERMINED TO FACE THE PAST. AND THAT MEANT FACING LUIS REDHAWK, THE MAN WHOSE POWERS, ANCIENT AND MODERN, HAD DRAWN HER AND TERRIFIED HER FOR SO LONG... AND IT MEANT LEARNING, AT LAST, WHAT TIED THIS MAN TOT THE DARK FORCE THAT WAS ONCE AGAIN STIRRING RESTLESSLY AT THE PEAK OF MOUNT SANGRE.

HAPPY AND INNOCENT, DAWN'S DAUGHTER CHRISTIE HAS GROWN UP IN THE SAFEST, MOST LOVING OF HOMES ... Yet Christie can't help feeling as if a dark cloud hovers over Cutler's Cove ... a cloud whose origins lie in her family's troubled history, and the many questions no one, not even Dawn, will answer. Only one person can always chase away her blues: Gavin, Daddy Jimmy's young and handsome stepbrother. Then, in one harsh night, Christie's world is changed forever. She is shocked to discover her Uncle Philip's unbrotherly love for her mother, but even worse is the way he now looks at Christie, his eyes bright with tortured passion. Fleeing to New York City, she finds her real father, a pathetic, helpless has-been. Desperate and heartbroken, she turns to Gavin, who travels with her to The Meadows, the plantation where Christie was born. In Gavin's arms, in the first, tender moments of true love, Christie finds a refuge from her painful memories. But The Meadows is blighted by its own dark secrets --- and all too soon Christie is torn from Gavin's embrace. Now as black storms of evil gather around her, Christie must struggle to break the cruel bonds of the past ... to defy the curse that has haunted Cutler's Cove for generations ... (back cover)