Some fires don't burn out - they become you. Jane was born in the dust of the Nebraska Territory, baptized in violence and raised beneath the boot of the God-fearing congregation. By the time she's a woman, she's no stranger to pain - or to running. Branded a criminal, hunted across the West, she trusts no one. Especially not men with law badges and silver tongues. Until she meets him. The sheriff is steady, haunted, too good for the territory that bred him. Without realising she is the outlaw that he's tracking, he offers her shelter during a storm - nothing more. But Jane has survived by reading men like maps, and she sees it in him: desire, reined in tight. Jane stepped closer. The sheriff's walls were plastered with her crimes - wanted posters, notes, crude sketches of her own face. And now Jane stood between them and the man hunting her. He'd brought whiskey. She smiled. "Tryin' to get me drunk, Sheriff?" His chuckle was slow. "Just bein' decent." She moved closer, each step a gamble. If he saw the posters in the lamplight, he'd surely recognise her. No. She had to keep him looking at her. Only her. A button slipped free. The sheriff's jaw tightened. "You don't have to do that." "I know," she said, and closed the last inch between them. It began slow, a breath shared, a thread pulled taut - then it snapped. His mouth met hers, rough and unrelenting. There was no tenderness, only heat. Her back hit the wall, her shirt slipped, and his hands roamed like fire. She had used her body as a weapon before. But this was surrender, too - fury and need burning under her skin. Outside, the storm battered the shutters. But the real storm was here. And through it all, Jane kept her eyes on the wanted posters above the bed. Her own face stared back. Wanted: The Outlaw is a work of historical fiction that dangles religion, redemption, and extremely steamy romance on the end of the hangman's rope.

A single mom with a past, and a tattooed bad boy who needs to change his future. Macy Roberston knows better than to get too close to the bad boy hockey star, but Declan James is stubborn and willing to prove he'd do anything for her. After Macy's sister passes away, Declan knows this is his time to shine and prove to Macy that she shouldn't judge a book by its cover--all while dealing with his own problems. * * * Macy Declan James is bad for me. Like, tattoos covering his back and arms, bad. Like, break my heart type of bad. He starts fights on the ice for something as simple as a wrong look. He hooks up with any brunette with long legs. He parties. His image is terrible. He's just the kind of man I don't need around my son. So what if he holds him when my arms get too tired? So what if he surprises him with gummy bears and voluntarily watches kids' TV shows? So what if he scratches my back while I fall asleep? So what if all I want to do is hop on the back of his motorcycle and let him take me for a ride? It doesn't matter. My son comes first, and Declan is not father material. Declan I've never been a one-girl-only kind of man. I know I get around, and I'm not ashamed of it. Or at least, I hadn't been. Macy Robertson is the kind of girl that any man would settle down for, even me. She's got pretty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The best part of her package? Axel. I'm sure you were expecting me to say her breasts--which don't get me wrong, those are a work of art--but Axel? He's got me wrapped around his finger almost as much as his mama does. I never thought I wanted kids. They're loud and messy. But I'd do anything for that little boy. Maybe it's because he's got Macy's eyes. Or maybe it's just because he's the reason I officially met the quiet high school teacher who's kept me awake every night since we met. I'm not sure, but I'm going to do everything I can to prove how much of a father I can be to Axel, because if not? I lose my one chance at love.

Facing an arranged marriage she cannot escape, Eleanor 'Nell' Ainsworth is determined to experience passion at least once before it is taken from her forever. Her solution is scandalous, improper, and wildly tempting: Lord Anthony Dashcombe.

After a one night stand on New Year's Eve, Lia and Derrick don't expect to see one another again. After all, she's a Harvard PhD student and he's a professional hockey player for the Boston Knights - there's no way their paths should cross again. Except when they do, it's immediately obvious the chemistry between them hasn't dimmed one bit. Too busy for the real thing, neither of them sees the harm in continuing to see each other in a casual sense. Though when Derrick gets traded to a team in California and things begin to go sideways with Lia's research team, the pair can't seem to shake the fact they've grown to rely on one another, even now that they're thousands of miles apart.

WATTYS 2026 SHORTLIST She meant to trap one man. She ended up compromising another. After giving her heart to a man who never intended to marry her, Miss Alice Burton is done being made a fool of. If Fitzwilliam Montgomery won't honour his promises willingly, she'll make sure he has no choice. There's only one problem. Alice sneaks into the wrong bedchamber. Instead of her faithless former lover, she finds Adam Warble, the Marquess of Richmond. And by the time she realises her mistake, they've been discovered in a thoroughly compromising position. Marriage is inevitable. Adam is convinced Alice deliberately trapped a future duke. Alice is equally convinced he despises her. But beneath her new husband's cold reserve lies a desire he cannot hide forever... and secrets he is determined she will never uncover. Adam's solution is simple: marry Alice, save her reputation, and send her safely away before she discovers the truth about him. Alice has a rather different solution. She's staying.

The last thing US Marshal Jasper expects to find after a gunfight with a band of outlaws is a woman. She's dressed like a man, she swears like a man, she's and deadly with a gun, and she's gorgeous. But Clara has a past she's been running from, a name on her kill list, and she won't let anybody, handsome lawman or not, get in the way of her revenge.

***All Credits To Elizabeth Gaskell*** When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the north of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction. In North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell skillfully fuses individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale creates one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature.

When war erupted across Europe in 1939, sixteen year old Katherine Montague had known what she wanted to do - what she had to do. Now, five years later and a trained nurse in the British army, she finds herself thrust into the thick of that same war. But as the fight for the Western Front rages on, Katherine discovers something amid the rubble of the death and destruction around her. Something that will plunge her into a completely new war - one she'd never intended to fight, but has no intention of losing. The war for William Hughes' heart. Love might be enough to win the battle, but will it be enough to win the war? If not, her own heart just might pay the price.

A compassionate nurse and a hardheaded playboy are locked in a battle of wills. Will she get through to him on time? When Kit Hart takes a job as a caretaker for the wealthy Leonardo Donato on his deathbed, she forms an instant bond with him. The once hardheaded man has changed in the face of death and opens up about regretting his estrangement from his eldest son, Luca. Compelled to help, Kit reaches out to Luca....and his cocky attitude and careless feelings about his father infuriate her from the moment she hears his annoyingly alluring voice. Luca is happy with his carefree, no-attachments lifestyle. He has no intention of reopening old wounds with his dad and definitely doesn't intend to let anyone into his closed-off heart. ... But this feisty little woman won't give up, and the more she pushes, the more she gets under his skin. Despite his efforts, he can't seem to shake her. Kit knows getting her heart involved is the last thing she should do, but if a broken heart is the price for a dying man's wish. She'll gladly pay it. Mature: Sexual content, language, adult situations This is a steamy enemies to lover, dramatic romance novel

Samantha Morgan has always been tough, but the scrappy teen is about to be tested like never before. In a desperate bid to protect his daughter, her gambling-addicted father drives her away, leaving her in an abandoned forest. However, she soon discovers she's not alone. A mysterious guy named Jackson is living out there, and seems to have been for a long time. Jax is as guarded as Sam is pensive, but when danger approaches, they realize they need to work together to survive. As they come to depend on each other, their attraction grows into something neither of them expected. But with a deadly winter looming and an ongoing threat hanging over Sam's life, do they even stand a chance? Part one of two in the Flames Series.