The impulsive and rakish Marquis of Troon is due to be married to the disreputable but passionate Lady Dilys Powick in direct opposition to the wishes and advice of his closest friends. The Marquis then goes ahead and arranges a spectacular steeplechase with large prizes for the winners in order to celebrate his nuptials. When one of the contestants dies unexpectedly of a heart attack, the Marquis is stunned to discover that he has been named in his will as the Guardian of the contestant’s daughter, the sensible and charitable Valeta Lingfield, who is also very beautiful. An encounter at the Marquis’s superb stately home with a mistreated climbing boy tests the unlikely relationship between Valeta and the Marquis as she is determined to look after the boy until he can be returned safely to his parents. And further conflict, intrigue and danger follow a meeting with the villainous sweep, who is from a notorious criminal area of London. Will the lovely Valeta return safely from London? Who is behind these treacherous kidnappings? And will the Marquis ever change his ways? The answers can be found in this excitingand poignant story set in the Regency.

In 2006 Kit DesLauriers made history by becoming the first person to climb--and then ski--from the summit of each continent’s highest mountain, the famed Seven Summits. Centered on this quest, her book Higher Love represents a hero’s journey, rich with personal insights, life-threatening consequences, and a thrilling crescendo. Spanning seven continents in just two years, this deeply personal memoir recounts Kit’s initially secret journey that would change her life forever. From braving Antarctica’s bone-chilling temperatures to trudging through an African rainforest, from corn snow on the slopes of Australia to blue ice on Everest, Kit leads you up each mountain and gives you a heart-racing ride back down. This candid, fast-paced story shows how in¬spiration, teamwork, and honoring our true nature blazes the trail to every summit, on or off the mountain.

One mother's struggle to overcome the tragedy of her son's death from AIDS offers a lesson in understanding and love, and in breaking down the barriers, between generations

In 2005, a previously nameless 10,031-foot mountain in Montana's Gallatin Range was officially designated Alex Lowe Peak by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. It was a hugely appropriate act. Not only was Alex Lowe one of the modern era's most extraordinary mountaineers, his life was intricately woven into the landscape of southwestern Montana.

Reeling from the loss of his home and family, the author attempts to reclaim his former, youthful self by returning to Yosemite to rock climb full-time after a 28-year hiatus. As he tries to control fear and become the climber he once was, he struggles to understand where his 30-year relationship went wrong. His journey of rediscovery documents the adventurous climbing world of Yosemite Valley and is filled with pain, terror, broken limbs, brushes with death, camaraderie, and hilarious stupidity. The story of his marriage is raw, exposed, and painfully embarrassing. Interweaving a story of decline with one of rejuvenation, the author wrestles with the meaning of weakness, strength, failure, and success.

From Ashima Shiraishi, one of the world's youngest and most skilled climbers, comes a true story of strength and perseverance--in rock climbing and in life. To a rock climber, a boulder is called a "problem," and you solve it by climbing to the top. There are twists and turns, falls and scrapes, and obstacles that seem insurmountable until you learn to see the possibilities within them. And then there is the moment of triumph, when there's nothing above you but sky and nothing below but a goal achieved. Ashima Shiraishi draws on her experience as a world-class climber in this story that challenges readers to tackle the problems in their own lives and rise to greater heights than they would have ever thought possible.

"Following in the prose of the beatniks, the athletic counterculture of the dirtbags is carrying the torch with the belief that a simple, rewarding life, close to nature, is still possible in this modern world. In The great American dirtbags, these people and their wild stories come alive..." -- BACK COVER.

At the notorious Hell and Sin Club nestled in London's dark streets, Niall Marksman relishes taking the fortunes of the very same society that once disregarded his existence. It's only when Lady Diana Verney appears at the gaming club looking for help that Niall knows that the devil has finally come to collect-- by forcing him to protect the duke's pampered daughter. Disdained by the peerage and ignored by her father, Diana knows that someone wants to harm her. Now her life and safety are in the hands of the most dangerous man in London. But a man raised on the city;s mercenary streets is adept at stealing anything he wishes-- including a lady's reputation and her heart.

As a cousin of Queen Victoria, the beautiful Princess Marigold is obliged to yield to the Queen’s wishes when it comes to marriage – and the Monarch is most reluctant to allow her to marry the man she loves, Prince Holden of Allenberg, because she views his tiny European Principality as insignificant and uninfluential. So, although the Queen assents to their engagement, she puts obstacles in the way of their marriage in the hope that Princess Marigold will fall out of love with Prince Holden if she can keep them apart for any length of time. One such obstacle is the Royal order that Marigold travels to Greece to represent the Queen at the State funeral of Prince Eumenus. Determined to stay with her beloved Holden, the Princess comes up with a cunning plan. She will send another young woman in her place – and Prince Holden knows the ideal candidate, the beautiful young Vicar’s daughter called Avila Grandell, who looks uncannily like the Princess and, being half-Greek, speaks the language fluently. And so, with her mother’s concerned consent, this awestruck young innocent’s adventure begins, voyaging to Athens and on to the island of Malia. Little do any of them expect Avila to be touched by the Light of the God Apollo and would then fall in love with a handsome charming Prince of her own!

All alone and penniless after the unexpected death of her much-loved father, the lovely but innocent Minella Clinton-Wood is desperate. But who can she turn to? Her Aunt Esther has made her reluctance clear, describing the idea of Minella living with her as ‘a burden’. But then she finds a letter to her father from her slightly older friend, Connie, the local Parson’s attractive daughter, thanking him for some mysterious kindness. “Someday perhaps I will be able to do something for you,” Connie has written to him. Maybe, Minella thinks, Connie can help her. Arriving in London, she discovers that her friend is one of the famous Gaiety Theatre’s exotic and flamboyant Gaiety Girls. And Connie immediately begs the demurely beautiful Minella to stand in for one of them who is ill at an exclusive party, which is given by the dashingly raffish and handsome Earl of Wynterborne at his sublimely impressive country home, Wyn Castle. Naively Minella agrees to the subterfuge – and soon finds herself dressed up to the nines in a decadent Social world beyond her experience as she has been brought up quietly in the country. Doubling the deception after the party is over, the Earl asks her to travel with him to Egypt, pretending to be the wife who had once betrayed and left him for another man. So Minella embarks on a voyage of discovery, deception and perhaps love.