“All for one and one for all” was the girls’ motto. In the grim foster home for orphans run by Louise and Gordon Tooey, at least Brooke, Crystal, Raven, and Butterfly had each other. Calling themselves “sisters,” together they could forget the past and dream of a new chance…a real home. Then they discovered a secret even more haunting than Gordon’s heavy boots pounding on the wooden floors. Their fragile hopes of a better life shattered, they escaped the only way they could. Soon they were runaways in a borrowed car, desperately wishing to wake up one morning in a place of sunshine and love.

Furious at his aristocratic father for abandoning him as an infant, Nathaniel Kent spends his days exacting revenge…in a most lucrative way. The handsome, blue-eyed pirate captain attacks his father’s boats, plundering their cargo and reaping the rewards. When Nathaniel takes a lovely seamstress as his hostage, mistaking her for his spoiled and wealthy half sister, he feels elated over his clever capture. But his sense of triumph disappears as he slowly becomes tormented by his rising passion for the spirited young woman.

After years of abuse from her violent stepfather, seamstress Alexandra Cogsworth finally planned her escape. But she never intended to wind up as a hostage on a pirate ship. Determined to ensure her safe passage on the Royal Vengeance, she keeps her true identity secret, playing the part of Nathaniel’s blood relation.

In 1830s London, scandalous whispers surround the pub known as the Sleeping Dove, a hidden bordello catering to nobles eager to shed the trappings of their stations. Josephine Grant knows the rumors are true—she plays piano at the Dove and is known only as the “Bawdy Bluestocking” to the pub’s faithful.

The reluctant Duke of Lennox is called “The Uncatchable” by society ladies, not that he cares for them or their nicknames. Elias Addison’s estate was thrust upon him when his father died, and it has been little else but a burden.

When a local quarry yields up a garroted body with bad dental work and toes tattooed in Cyrillic, Joe Gunther figures it for a Russian mafia killing, rare as that might be in Vermont. But it’s so very… tidy. So very… professional. Then the CIA calls, inviting Gunther down to Washington for some friendly “assistance” with his case. Suddenly he‘s caught up a shadowy game of cross and double-cross—manipulated by cynical cold warriors who seem not to have gotten the memo—and Gunther soon realizes that he’s a pawn that both sides are willing to sacrifice.