A dedicated Pinkerton agent, Sarah Margaret "Yancey" Calhoun can't ignore an impassioned summons from the Dowager Duchess of Somerset, who believes Yancey is her son's estranged wife. Nothing could be further from the truth. But another woman named Sarah Calhoun has been murdered in Chicago. And Yancey could be next. Traveling to England alone is hardly intimidating for a woman who works undercover. But when Yancey arrives at the remote country estate of Stonebridge, she is shaken to find that Samuel Treyhorne, the Duke of Somerset, is a force to be reckoned with--and a man who trusts her as little as she trusts him. Masquerading as Sam's wife may be the only way to untangle the web of deceit that threatens both their lives. As Yancey's feigned affection for Sam becomes all too real, she must risk everything she holds dear...if she hopes to save the man she's come to love.

This is the story of a ministers wife who feels her lifes assignment is to remain in a difficult marriage. As she struggles to remain faithful to her vows, despite the emotional abuse, she finds comfort in learning how to hear the voice of God. The marriage was like a classroom where she learned more about herself while being taught lifes lessons as the scriptures unfolded before her daily. Marriage taught her how to trust God when she could not see or feel her way to the blissful place she had anticipated. The former life of this ministers wife was anything but holy as she battled Satan to free herself and rise to a place of prominence in a small city in Ohio. The supernatural power of God intervened to set her free from a world of drug abuse and sin as she became obedient to the scriptures. God no longer parts the Red Sea but His involvement is active in our daily lives as He divides our sorrows, while enabling us to conquer the tests and trials brought about by our own choices. The book ends with the untimely death of her spouse and her marriage to a new minister. See what lessons befall her this time as the marriage masquerade continues.

Pregnant and abandoned, Emily Collins plans to leave her life behind and start over–until her Greek billionaire boss, Nikos Drakos, offers her a marriage of convenience to solve both their problems. As they live under the same roof, Emily’s feelings for Nikos deepen, and she starts to believe he might feel the same. But a visit to Greece uncovers unexpected complications, leaving her questioning their future. Can their convenient arrangement turn into the love of a lifetime?

Taylor Braxton needs to get married, then divorced, with no strings attached. Taylor, a physical trainer, has just inherited her grandfather’s B&B on Maui, but there’s a catch. She can’t have the deed until the day after her one-year wedding anniversary. She’d rather stick a fork in her eye than get hitched, but the B&B is a dream come true. So all she has to do is find a woman who will agree to fake a marriage. How hard can it be? Jayden Wheaton could use a year in paradise to help her recovery. After a crippling accident, she hires Taylor in the hope of gaining back some mobility. When Taylor casually mentions her dilemma, Jayden jumps at the chance, hoping the warm island temperatures will help with her chronic pain. A marriage masquerade in exchange for a year in Paradise? Yes, please. After all, it’s not like either of them are looking for romance, so there’s zero chance of their feelings complicating the arrangement. Right?

A SECRET LISTTo protect his loved ones and escape the dark fate of his brothers, a noted warrior abandons his identity. Hiding from relentless soldiers who want him dead, Brody MacCaulay vows to protect the woman he loves more than life, more than freedom, more than Scotland. But his presence throws her into danger. A VOW HONOREDTo escape an arranged marriage to an abusive noble, a Lowland Lady weds a stranger to save his life. But vows spoken do not make a marriage, especially when Megan MacMurry holds a different love inside her heart.A SACRIFICE MADEOutlawed, and with a price on his head, Brody condemns himself to a life of heartbreak without Megan. Wanting her desperately, knowing he can't have her, he heads alone to certain death...

Paired at Her Majesty's masquerade ball with a man she despises rather than endure a fourth season and gain a reputation as a spinster, Lady Lucianne Gordon is perplexed when she finds herself actually falling in love with Lord Oxenby.

Why should anyone think of fighting battles in the area of marriage?...Is there anything spiritual about marriage?...Is marriage not a mere union between a man and a woman? Good questions! Marriage is more than a union. There is more that meets the eye when a man who comes from his own background decides to be joined in wedlock with a lady who comes from another background. Beloved, your marriage rises or falls on your ancestry. Unknown to many people, the extent they will go in the area of marriage has been predetermined by their ancestors. And no matter what you have achieved today, there was a day when you came to this world as a helpless infant. Though your navel, which today, has been separated from your umbilical cord may be seen as an ordinary part of the body. It should actually remind you that it was formerly the rope that tied you to your parents and by extension, your ancestors who lived hundreds of years ago. This is a deep spiritual understanding you must not ignore. Just as there is no human being without a navel, there is no man or a woman who was not formerly linked to his or her parents through the umbilical cord.

Studie over het werk van de Engelse schilder William Hogarth (1697-1764).

When young Phoebe asks Sir Philip Freewit, the man who has got her with child, to fulfil his promise and marry her, he replies with shock: “My wife! Then I should never love thee more”. Thomas Durfey’s The Marriage-Hater Matched (1692) pokes fun at the figure of the libertine rake, which had become a favourite dramatic type with Restoration theatregoers, and forces him in the end to make up for his past recklessness. Besides the marriage-hater and the two women that vie for his affections, a remarkable gallery of secondary characters people this amusing comedy: a Frenchified lady fawning on her lap-dog, a fat clownish Dutchman laughing at his own jokes, a impertinent match-making widow obsessed with food, a peevish old-fashioned courtier, a pert lisping ingénue and two rude boobies bearing the names of Greek philosophers. This first modern critical edition offers a fully annotated text in addition to an introduction that situates the comedy in its literary and theatrical contexts. ;The editors discuss at length how Durfey drew upon successful comic modes while at the same complying with the moral values advocated by the new monarchs, William and Mary (1688-1702).