Trained as a mercenary soldier, Darius Laris was a man of decisive action. He was also a man of compassion. Seeing a young slave woman about to become the spoils of war, he claimed her for his own. Marrying her before God and king, he made her a free and respectable soldier's wife. Brice Ashlyn was born a slave. Abused and beaten, she learned quickly to avoid being noticed and to stay away from men. When her master's walls fell to enemy forces, she ran, but not fast enough. In Darius' offer she found deliverance, but experience had taught her to fear power such as his. Could she trust in his protection, or had she traded one form of slavery for another?

Trained as a mercenary soldier, Darius was a man of decisive action. He was also a man of compassion. Seeing a young slave woman about to become the spoils of war, he claimed her for his own. Marrying her before God and king, he made her a free and respectable soldier's wife. Brice was born a slave. Abused and beaten, she learned quickly to avoid being noticed and to stay away from men. When her master's walls fell to enemy forces, she ran, but not fast enough. In Darius' offer she found deliverance, but experience had taught her to fear power such as his. Could she trust in his protection, or had she traded one form of slavery for another?

15th Anniversary Celebrating fifteen years of romance Silhouette INTIMATE MOMENTS Try to Remember A FORGETFUL WIFE? When Valeri Richmond awoke in the arms of rugged Nathan Thorne, all she knew was that she was compellingly attracted to the sexy mercenary whose mission was to bring her back to a husband and children she did not remember. But after Nathan brought her "home," he knew they'd been set up. Her "husband" welcomed her back with a shower of bullets and a demand for information that the pretty amnesiac could not recall. Now Nathan had a new vow: to one day claim Valeri as his own. A forgotten past…a hoped-for future.

In Mercenaries in British and American Literature, 1790-1830, Erik Simpson proposes the mercenary as a meeting point of psychological, national, and ideological issues that connected the severed nations of Britain and America following the American Revolution.When writers treat the figure of the mercenary in literary works, the general issues of incentive, independence, and national service become intertwined with two of the well-known social developments of the period: an increased ability of young people to choose their spouses and the shift from patronage to commercial, market-based support of authorship. While the slave, a traditional focus of transatlantic studies, troubles the rhetoric of liberty through a lack of autonomy and consent, the mercenary raises questions about liberty by embodying its excess. Simpson argues that the mercenary of popular imagination takes monstrous advantage of modern freedoms by contracting away the ostensibly natural and foundational bonds of civil society.Substan

Stowing away on an alien ship? Idiotic. Stowing away on the Warborne's ship? Suicidal. Marika Ingrassia is desperate. To escape another wedding arranged by her father, she runs. Between a homicidal groom and a ship full of trained killers, she'll take her chances with the mercenaries, thank you very much. Only things don't go quite to plan. Her idea to force them to help her at gunpoint seemed a stroke of brilliance until she's on board and facing down the sexiest mercenary she'd ever seen. She can't think straight, never mind shoot straight. She's doomed for a long walk out of a short airlock until Mr. tall, muscled, and growly agrees to help her escape her father's clutches... by marrying her. Just one problem. This time she wants the wedding to be for real... She's the prettiest thing he's ever seen. And everything a killer like him doesn't deserve. Skinny has been a mercenary most of his life. One of the legendary Warborne, he's killed more men than he's had hot dinners and he's damn good at it. When he finds a scared human female, he doesn't expect his reaction to her, or for her to clock him over the head with a pipe. Unpleasantness aside, when he realizes she needs help, he's all ears. And everything else she needs. Up to and including his hand in marriage to protect her... No plan survives first contact with the enemy. Between an assassination attempt and his past catching up with them... can Skinny convince Marika he's the alien for her, or will he lose her forever? Keywords: alien mate romance, alien romance, space books for adults, sci fi, sci fi books, sci fi romance, sci fi adventure, sci fi series, space marine, alien warrior, alien assassins

Mary Delany’s phrase “the matrimonial trap” illuminates the apprehension with which genteel women of the eighteenth century viewed marriage. These women were generally required to marry in order to secure their futures, yet hindered from freely choosing a husband. They faced marriage anxiously because they lacked the power either to avoid it or to define it for themselves. For some women, the written word became a means by which to exercise the power that they otherwise lacked. Through their writing, they made the inevitable acceptable while registering their dissatisfaction with their circumstances. Rhetoric, exercised both in public and in private, allowed these women to define their identities as individuals and as wives, to lay out and test the boundaries of more egalitarian spousal relationships, and to criticize the traditional marriage system as their culture had defined it.

Micah Steele is forced to pick up his gun once again when Callie Kirby, a woman from his past, is kidnapped by his sworn enemy, and Lily Germaine helps Noah Laramie get his life back on track after he loses an arm in Afghanistan.

Beautiful Trinity Yeager's mission: join Nathan August's star-hopping team of mercenary soldiers. With one condition: Trinity must prove her resilience as a lover for him and his first officer, Sebastian Cole. Trinity not only sees Nathan's bet. She raises it... Now, from galactic dens of depravity to far-reaching planets of dominant females and strapping male slaves, Trinity, Sebastian, and Nathan join forces, risk flesh and blood, and push the boundaries of erotic adventure in order to protect, honor, and service.