VALENTINE COUPLE # 13!

AIDAN & MADELEINE!

I love this trilogy--and I love poor mixed up Madeleine especially! There's something about someone who lies in a good cause--and then gets stuck with those lies!

DEVIL IN MY BED

Runaway Brides Bk 1

Three Lords and a Baby...

When Aidan de Quincy finds a precocious tot on the steps of his gentleman's club, he is sure he isn't the child's father...well, nearly sure. In order to find out, he needs to find the only woman he ever loved--the one who broke his heart!

Madeleine Chandler has a secret, but not the one 

Aidan thinks she does. Her past is about to catch 

up to her again and only Aidan can save her. All 

she has to do is tell one more tiny little lie...

 Quotes:

"From its unconventional prologue to its superb 

conclusion, every page of the first in Bradley's 

Runaway Brides series is perfection and joy. Tinged 

with humor that never overshadows the poignancy 

and peopled with remarkable characters 

(especially the precocious Melody) who will 

steal your heart, this one's a keeper." 

--Romantic Times BOOKreviews

 Under the covers:

I wrote this book while pondering the meaning 

of fatherhood. What makes a father? Is it instinct? 

Having a good example to follow? Reading the 

parenting books that have been strategically left 

by the toilet with relevant passages highlighted 

in yellow? Aidan is a man who is locked down tight--

until a child manages to pick that lock with a smile.

 Portraits of our lovers:

AIDAN

Aidan de Quincy, Earl of Blankenship, has only loved one woman in his life. Madeleine loved him beyond 

his wildest dreams, then coldly refused him and shredded his heart into tiny little pieces. If little 

foundling Melody is his daughter, then only Madeleine can be her mother. That’s a little trip in the way-back machine that Aidan really doesn’t want to take. 

Bringing Madeleine to live with him and Melody sounds like yet another journey into heartbreak…

but he can’t resist her, even knowing that she’ll 

only destroy him yet again. Oh, but what a way to go.

MADELEINE

Miss Madeleine Chandler has been living a lie for so long she is beginning to believe it…until the day the past comes back to bite her in her lovely arse. The only thing to do is flee and the only place to flee is back into the arms of Aidan, the man whose heart she was forced to break years before. Unfortunately, the only way to get herself back into those arms is to lie yet again. Is she the mother of the child so recently left on his doorstep? Um, sure, yeah, whatever. But just when Maddie’s heart begins to remember why she loved Aidan so desperately in the first place, the brittle, shaky pyramid of her lies begins to sway beneath her feet!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

VALENTINE COUPLE # 12!

SOPHIE & GRAHAM!

Sophie and Graham are one of the most popular couples I have written--for good reason! This book wrote itself, as if it couldn't wait to find out what happened any more than I could!

DUKE MOST WANTED

Heiress Brides Bk 3

In the game of love

Sophie Blake's grandfather willed his fortune to the 

first of his granddaughters so marry a duke. Since her cousin, Deirdre, will seal the deal any day now, the quiet bookish Sophie can sit back and enjoy her time with the only man she truly adores: Graham. No matter that the part-charmer, part-scoundrel has absolutely no designs on her! Sophie is content to engage Graham in lively conversation, beat him at cards . . . and probe at the darkness hiding behind his rakish smile.

 

You've got to play by heart. . .

Then Graham unexpectedly gains a title, an estate in near ruins and a mountain of debt. If there is any chance of survival he must find a rich wife--quickly. As his hunt for a bride begins, Sophie realizes that 

she isn't even in the running. Suddenly no longer content to be a wallflower, Sophie gets a stunning makeover and becomes the belle of the ball. But this beauty has secrets of her own. Will she be 

Graham's salvation, or seal his fate?

 Quotes:

"What can Bradley come up with after The Liars 

Club and the Royal Four? The answer is a humorous 

romp of marriage mayhem that’s a love and laughter 

treat, tinged with heated sensuality and tenderness. 

This winning combination ensures Bradley’s 

Heiress Brides series will climb the bestseller charts."

—Romantic Times Bookreviews

 Portraits of our lovers:

SOPHIE

Plain, bookish Miss Sophie Blake only came to her first London Season to escape her dreadful home and see a bit of the world. She knows she hasn’t a chance of wedding a duke—until her best friend and object of her most secret affection, Graham, abruptly attains a title and a need for a rich wife! A rich wife she can be, if she can just convince Graham to wed her instead of one of the many Society beauties throwing themselves at his feet. Sophie must set aside her books and translations in order to undergo a complete transformation—from her ginger hair all way down to her size mumble-something feet. Only the wisdom of the famous Lementeur can pull it off. After all, Sophie must compete in world of delicious debutantes and willful widows, all intent on gaining a duke of their own!

GRAHAM

Lord Graham Cavendish is a bored youngest son of many, who hasn’t a hope of inheriting until his father and brothers are abruptly wiped out in a hunting accident. (Bull elephant = 4, Cavendish men = 0) Suddenly saddled with the dukedom of Edencourt, faced with responsibility to his estate and his dependents for the first time in his life, Graham realizes that the lone solution is to find a rich wife and find her fast. He puts aside his amusing companionship with the sharp-tongued Sophie to do a little hunting of his own. Women are lining up to be his duchess, after all. The only problem is, the woman he most wants is the one he cannot afford to marry!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

VALENTINE COUPLE # 11!

DEIRDRE & CALDER!

Deirdre is a beauty of another order entirely--the only thing her looks have ever gotten her is trouble from her social-climbing stepmother. The only thing Deirdre wants--the only thing she's ever wanted!--is the Beast of Brookhaven for her very own!

THE DUKE NEXT DOOR

The Heiress Brides Bk 2

A marriage of convenience

The dangerously beautiful Deirdre Cantor is 

determined to inherit her grandfather's vast fortune. 

All she needs is to marry a duke . . . and be the 

first granddaughter to walk down the aisle. 

So when brooding Calder Marbrook, the Marquis 

of Brookhaven and future Duke of of Brookmoor, 

is abandoned at the altar, Deirdre makes it her 

business to become his wife--in spite of the 

whispers about his past.

 

An inconvenient truth. . .

Soon Deirdre's visions of a lavish existence with 

the handsome Calder are shattered when she 

learns his shocking secret. Feeling betrayed, 

Deirdre seeks veangeance by playing a perilous 

and seductive game of cat and mouse with her

husband that threatens to drive them both to the 

heights of passion. But at what cost? Calder is 

determined to keep his secret under 

lock and key--and to make his stunning wife 

his in every way that matters. Even if it means 

winning her heart all over again . . .

 Quotes:

"What can Bradley come up with after The Liars Club 

and the Royal Four? The answer is a humorous romp of

 marriage mayhem that’s a love and laughter treat, 

tinged with heated sensuality and tenderness. This 

winning combination ensures Bradley’s Heiress Brides 

series will climb the bestseller charts."

—Romantic Times Bookreviews

“Bradley tells an involved, sexy story. If you haven’t 

yet read a Bradley novel, let yourself be seduced by 

the mistress of the genre!”

—Romantic Times BOOKreviews

 Under the covers:

I love the Grimms' tale of "The Summer and Winter 

Garden," the story of Beauty and the Beast. A primary 

theme in this one is the conflict between marrying for 

love and marriage as a sort of bargain. In the fairytale, 

the father trades his daughter for his own life. In my 

version, the woman trades herself for the man of her 

dreams--but doesn't know how to get herself back 

when things don't turn out as planned! Deirdre does 

everything wrong because she's been raised to use her 

beauty like a weapon, instead of following her heart.

Calder is the Beast (and the father of the Beastie--his 

outrageously misbehaved daughter, Meggie) not because 

he is cruel, but because he is cold and unwilling to 

compromise. His past is full of pain and regret because 

of willful women and he isn't about to let Deirdre add 

to that. At the same time, Deirdre isn't about to let the 

man she's longed for since she was fifteen shelve her

 like an unwanted doll.

I love the battle between fire and ice. There is nothing 

more fun than breaking down the walls of a solitary, 

self-contained man when armed with lust, laughter 

and love!

 Portraits of our lovers:

DEIRDRE

Miss Deirdre Cantor is an exquisite beauty who has been well instructed in flirtation and manipulation by her 

conniving stepmother Lady Tessa. However, beneath her practiced airs there has survived a passionate, 

generous soul—who has been jonesing for the somber Marquis of Brookhaven since she first saw him when she was fifteen years old. Now her chance has come. 

When her cousin jilts him on their wedding day, Deirdre steps in and proposes a cold, practical arrangement—a marriage that will benefit them both. It isn’t until Calder surprises her with his horrid child 

Meggie and threats of dire consequences if Deirdre cannot tame the wild girl that Deirdre realizes that she will need much more than 

her beauty alone to tame the Beast of Brookhaven!

CALDER

Calder Marbrook, Marquis of Brookhaven, aka the Beast of Brookhaven, can’t seem to keep a wife. His first wife despised him and fled to her death, which still shadows his reputation. His second bride jilted him at the altar, flying into the arms of his own brother rather than wed him. When lovely Deirdre proposes, Calder is so surprised that he accepts. (He never stood a chance against Deirdre’s twin weapons of mass 

distraction!) Then again, why not marry her? Calder wants a peaceful, ordered existence and complete control over it. Gently bred (and smokin’ hot) Deirdre is mild-mannered and obedient—or is she? Calder is about to realize that clashing wills and lonely hearts 

do not a perfectly uneventful marriage make!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

VALENTINE COUPLE # 10!

PHOEBE & RAFE!

A sleeping beauty tale, where the beauty's sexuality has been asleep ever since she ruined herself at fifteen after encountering a little pri--dancing tutor!
I love frustrated, agonized Rafe, and I love Phoebe's unwise, undeniable, unending passion for him!

DESPERATELY SEEKING A DUKE 

(Heiress Brides # 1)

Only a Duke will do.

The only way for vicar's daughter Phoebe Millbury 

to inherit a family fortune is to find herself a duke--

just as her late grandfather demanded in his will. 

But Phoebe, who's still trying to make good after a 

romantic scandal, also has her two cousins to 

contend with. They're all competing for the same 

money, maybe even the same men...until Phoebe 

meets her match in the terribly handsome and 

charming Rafe Marbrook.

 

But will it be "I do" — or adieu?

When she receives a proposal from the Marquis of 

Brookhaven, Phoebe is thrilled to learn that Rafe 

is headed for dukedom...and accepts his offer. 

There's only one problem: It's from Rafe's older, 

less captivating brother, Calder. Now Phoebe 

finds herself on the verge of yet another scandal 

as she faces a desperate choice: Marry Calder for 

his money and status--or follow her own heart? 

Either way can only lead to trouble...

 Quotes:

"What can Bradley come up with after The Liars Club

and the Royal Four? The answer is a humorous 

romp of marriage mayhem that’s a love and 

laughter treat, tinged with heated sensuality 

and tenderness. This winning combination 

ensures Bradley’s Heiress Brides series will 

climb the bestseller charts."

—Romantic Times Bookreviews

 Under the covers:

When I was young, I found the most fascinating part of the story of "Sleeping Beauty" to be the tangle of thorns that grew up around the castle of the sleeping princess and the fates of all the princes who died there, trying to fight their way past it. I always felt as though they deserved the princess more than the guy who just happened to ride up the day the hundred years had passed and the thorns fell away.

When a man earns a woman's trust and love through trial and self-sacrifice--and a great set of buns!--it is always more satisfying to me. In DESPERATELY SEEKING A DUKE, Rafe Marbrook has to earn what he most desires. He must put away his rakish ways and grow to be the man that Phoebe most needs, a man who will protect the tender heart she offers, not trample it or lock it away unused.

I found Phoebe to be one of the most intricate characters I've ever written. Imagine the very real conflict a woman would feel even now 

between choosing a respectable man--a good and handsome man--who would give her all the security she would ever need and is known to honor his commitments--not to mention that her father thinks he invented sliced bread!--or choosing a man with a very bad reputation, no visible means of support, a real problem with 

commitment yet makes your knees weak to watch him walk across a room!

Be honest--wouldn't you have to think about that one for a while? Phoebe literally must choose between love and life itself--for if she 

chooses the rake, she will most definitely lose the life she knows.

Phoebe emerged from the most romantic side of me--from the girl inside who cries when Heathcliff shouts Cathy's name into the wind, 

when Darcy walks away from Elizabeth after being refused, and when no one can reach the princess sleeping inside the thorns.

 Portraits of our lovers:

PHOEBE

Miss Phoebe Millbury is a proper vicar’s daughter from an insignificant village. How is she supposed to secure a proposal from a duke to win an inheritance?

Poor Phoebe has a problem. A brief, doomed infatuation with her dancing master at the age of fifteen resulted in Phoebe’s total suppression by her righteous father. Her wild sensual nature was doomed to sleep forever after encountering a little prick—oh, wait, that was the princess in the story.

Yet like a certain fairy tale princess, Phoebe’s erotic 

nature will wake to a prince’s kiss. Well, he isn’t really a prince. Handsome, dashing Rafe isn’t really a duke, either, but when Phoebe receives a proposal of marriage the next day, she accepts before she understands one tiny, insignificant detail-- that the duke in question is actually Rafe’s stuffy elder brother.

What’s a proper vicar’s daughter to do? How can she resist her highly flammable desire for Rafe while fulfilling her father’s dream of her wedding a duke? How can she live with her own broken heart if she does?

RAFE

Bad boys don’t get good girls, not to keep anyway. When bad-ass rebel Lord Raphael Marbrook meets sweet country girl Phoebe, he can’t help hoping that isn’t true. Maybe a love like hers could turn him from his wicked ways.  Maybe he should marry her quick before she finds out about his unsavory reputation—

Too late. Rafe’s upright, uptight older brother beat him to it. Now Rafe must watch the girl of his dreams announce her engagement to the brother who has always gotten everything Rafe truly wanted, from the estate itself to their late father’s trust and approval.

Now as Rafe is forced to keep his feelings to himself, he falls more and more in love with Phoebe—while his brother begins to love her as well. Ironic, that the woman who might have saved Rafe is now the one who will most certainly break his heart forever.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

VALENTINE COUPLE # 9!

STANTON & ALICIA!

When Stanton first meets Alicia, she is covered in oatmeal. Things go swiftly downhill from there! ;)

SEDUCING THE SPY (Bk 4)

Elite spies, secret defenders of the king, The Royal Four are unsurpassed in courage, honor, and daring. Known to his brothers-in-arms as The Falcon, Lord Wyndham is the most secretive and aloof of the four. But when The Falcon meets the impetuous Lady Alicia, he discovers a soul mate whose hidden fire matches his own….

Lady Alicia Lawrence was cast out of polite society 

and branded a liar for a youthful mistake. When she 

overhears details of a conspiracy that could affect 

her country’s fate, she turns to the one person who might believe her—Stanton Horne, Lord Wyndham. Posing as Wyndham’s mistress in order to root out the enemy, Alicia is drawn into an uneasy  partnership…and a wildly seductive liaison.

Lord Wyndham’s uncanny ability to detect lies has made him a valuable member of the Royal Four, but in matters of romance it has proven a distinct liability. Alicia is the only woman whose thoughts he cannot read… and the only one whose sensual touch quenches every secret desire. As the mission grows more dangerous and more personal, and each encounter with Alicia more fiery than the last, this daring spy must face his greatest challenge yet—learn to trust the passion in his heart…

 Quotes:

Thrilling up to the last page, titillating from one 

sexually charged love scene to the next and captivating 

from beginning to end, the last of the Royal Four 

series displays Bradley's ability to tell an involved, 

sexy story. If you haven't yet read a Bradley novel, 

let yourself be seduced by the mistress of the genre!

—Romantic Times

Have you discovered the bawdy charms of 

Celeste Bradley? Laced with intrigue and adventure, 

she has quickly become a staff and reader favorite 

and with each book we just fall further in love with 

her characters. This is the final book in the superb 

Royal Four quartet, with her most dangerous 

deception yet!

—Rendezvous Books

 Under the covers:

A friend of mine has a phrase that really pegs a 

certain type of guy. She calls them "crowbar" men, 

because you can't get their feelings out of them 

with anything short of 18 inches of steel and applied 

leverage. Stanton Horne is this sort of man--a bloke 

so buried beneath himself that even he doesn't know 

what he needs! Lady Alicia, on the other hand, is 

just the sort of girl to keep a crowbar handy in her 

reticule. She never lets Stanton get away with 

anything, therefore providing him with what 

women call "growth opportunities" and men call 

"twisted feminine torture!"

This book is about truth and lies. I've come to 

realize that the ones you tell yourself are the 

hardest to see through. Maybe we could all use 

a crowbar once in a while.

 Portraits of our lovers:

STANTON

Stanton Horne, Lord Wyndham, is quite sure that life--or more specifically, love--has ruined his comrades in the Royal Four. As the Falcon, Stanton is the guardian 

of the integrity of the Crown, from the ruler himself if necessary. Cool and remote, ever watchful, Stanton takes his duty very seriously.

When surfaces a witness to a plot that might include the capricious Prince Regent himself, it is Stanton who 

puts himself to the ultimate risk--that is, engagement to be married--in order to bring back into Society a 

woman considered to be dangerously false and a complete stranger to the truth.

Then again, there's no chance that he could ever fall in love with someone so completely without honor or integrity!

ALICIA

Lady Alicia Lawrence isn't about to let her exile from society make her bitter--well, not completely bitter. After all, she has her survival to attend to, cut off from her family as she has been. There is little time 

to think about how she was seduced and betrayed by the man she thought she loved. At least poor and ruined as she is, there's no danger she'll be making that mistake again!

When she accidentally overhears a group of conspirators, she does her duty by reporting it to someone who cares, then goes about her poverty with good conscience.

When a wealthy, devastatingly handsome man comes to her door and involves her once again with Society and all its cares--well, by God, if she must go back, she's going to go back in style!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

VALENTINE COUPLE # 8!

MARCUS & JULIA!

This book was a joy to write--full of drama and sexy intensity and humor! 
Seriously, a pet lion? Who gets away with that?

ONE NIGHT WITH A SPY  (Bk 3)

They are...The Royal Four. This is the story 

of the spy known as The Fox…

For years, Lady Julia Barrowby has acted the part of 

an old man’s ornamental bride, never revealing that 

she has secretly helped the ailing Lord Barrowby in 

his work with the Royal Four. Now that her husband 

has died, Julia believes his place in the Four is hers 

by right. But convincing the remaining members will 

not be easy, especially with Marcus Ramsay, Lord Dryden,distracting her at every turn. Somehow, the mysterious Marcus seems to see into her very soul, effortlessly satisfying all her secret, forbidden longings…

Marcus stood next in line to be chosen for the Four, and he is not willing to be displaced by a woman, no matter how intriguing or beautiful she may be. Under orders to investigate Julia, Marcus discovers her diary, overflowing with years of loneliness and yearning. Fulfilling Julia’s fantasies is the perfect way to get closer to her, but seducing this fascinating creature is fast becoming more than a means to an end—it is his soul’s deepest desire…

 Quotes:

Bradley is at the top of her form! With high suspense, 

erotic and passionate love scenes and a plot that 

twists and turns faster then a roller coaster, she 

grabs you and holds you captive until the last deep 

sigh.

—Romantic Times

The latest superb entry in Bradley's series has 

everything her readers crave: wit, a deliciously 

sensual romance between a delightfully original 

pair of protagonists, and a captivating plot expertly 

laced with intrigue and danger.

—Booklist

 Under the covers:

This book was inspired by the thought that a)I like to write widows and b)there's no reason that all previous marriages have to be bad ones. Someday, somehow, it was bound to happen that one of the Royal Four would only find the perfect apprentice with a combination of skill and intelligence--and the sheer nerve needed to 

become a force in the nation--in someone who just happened to be female.

Julia is just that person. That alone is enough to make her a misfit in her world (because I love to write misfits, too!)

Tie that together with a whopping secret that could cost her everything, and you get a woman with a lot on her mind. Her struggles reminded me of the stories so many friends tell me, about 

the cost of being supermom and superwoman, of being everything to everyone and of having to put part of themselves (in Julia's case, it is her sexuality) on the back burner.

Marcus, I found to be a mystery until I was partially through with the story. He is the man who has everything--except control over his own future. He can't help resenting the beautiful Julia for her claim on the position he thinks should be his. On the other hand, he can't help but admire her for being so damned good at it!

Portraits of our lovers:

MARCUS

Marcus, Lord Dryden, is a man weary of waiting for his chance. An unwanted second son, a soldier punished when his brilliance showed up a superior officer, a lord with no domain--all Marcus truly desires is a seat on the Royal Four, preferably before he is old and gray.

Student to the Lion, well-trained and ready, Marcus hungers for the seat of the Fox, Lord Barrowby, who died without a replacement...or so everyone thought.

Now with his dream about to be snatched from his grasp, Marcus is determined to discover more about that mysterious protégé--a creature known only as the Beauty of Barrowby.

JULIA

Julia, Lady Barrowby, spent her childhood with a group of traveling players, and now plays the part of the widowed Lady Barrowby--but beneath her lovely, ladylike façade, she is the new Fox, the first woman member of the elite Royal Four.

But will the dangerous remaining Three allow her to take her rightful place or will they try to "convince" her to step down through sabotage 

and manipulation? There is no one she can trust when her world begins to disintegrate about her...

except one.

It would be ridiculous to take a chance on a man she barely knows--but there's just something about him...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!