A Marriage Made In Secret

She must choose… …her queen—or love! As the queen’s new lady-in-waiting, Mathilde Gosselin tumbles straight into Parisian palace intrigue when she meets courtier Henry Wright, who she discovers is a spy! Mathilde’s loyalties are now divided—between this enigmatic, courageous man and her queen. And amid the turmoil, her falling for the unsuitable, illegitimate Henry means they’ve no choice but to hide their new love from the world… From Harlequin Historical: Your romantic escape to the past.

Ava grew up in a poor family in London before marrying Cesare, an Italian millionaire. Despite their totally different upbringings, the two fell in love at first sight. When Ava got pregnant, they decided it was time to get married, and Ava put her career on hold. The two of them should be living in conjugal bliss, but their marriage has been rocky from the start?Cesare spends too little time with his family and buries himself at work, treating Ava coldly when she tries to talk to him about it. Ava, convinced that he doesn’t love her anymore, knows they need some time apart. And yet, when they meet again after some time has passed, a sad-looking Cesare gazes at her with hungry eyes and tries to kiss her. Is it really love…or only lust?

A brooding Italian… With a dark family history, single dad Leon Malatesta is determined to keep his baby daughter out of the headlines. And so, when a striking woman starts asking questions around the sun-kissed town of Rimini, Leon's protective instinct goes into overdrive. …and a mysterious beauty! Only, Belle Peterson turns out to be the long-lost daughter of his stepmother! Her innocence touches Leon's locked-away heart in a way he never believed possible after losing his wife. Now Belle brings the possibility of a new future for them all…if only he can convince her he wants to marry her for love, not just to give them all the family they want so much….

A duchess awaiting trial for her vile husband's murder is the most delicious gossip the ton has heard in years. But for Kate Townsende, the woman in question, it could be a matter of life and death. And when a shrewd and handsome nobleman offers to publish her side of the story while arranging for a barrister to take her case, she's tempted by much more than the chance to defend herself... James Bancroft, Viscount Medford, tells himself he's only interested in a bestselling pamphlet, but Kate's stubborn determination is captivating. Could the accused widow be telling the truth? At first, James isn't sure of anything besides his growing desire for her—but before long he's willing to risk much more than his reputation to make the infamous beauty his wife... Secrets of a Scandalous Marriage is the third Secret Brides novel from Valerie Bowman.

“Where does ‘highly happy’ come from—and can we have some too?!” Have you ever looked at a blissfully married couple and thought, I wish I could know their secret? Now you can. After years of investigative research, Shaunti reveals twelve powerful habits that the happiest marriages have in common. Best news of all? Anyone can learn the secrets of a highly happy marriage! In The Surprising Secrets of Highly Happy Marriages, Shaunti Feldhahn shares her findings about little, very unexpected, often overlooked actions that make a huge difference. You’re about to discover that highly happy couples: • Go to bed mad • Keep score (just not in the way you think) • Boss their feelings around • Have factual fantasies • Get in over their heads • Don’t tell it like it is • Don’t look to marriage to make them happy… Packed with eye-opening research and practical helps, this book delivers relationship insights that will take your marriage from “just fine” to “just the marriage we’ve always wanted.”

The institution of marriage is commonly thought to have fallen into crisis in late medieval northern France. While prior scholarship has identified the pervasiveness of clandestine marriage as the cause, Sara McDougall contends that the pressure came overwhelmingly from the prevalence of remarriage in violation of the Christian ban on divorce, a practice we might call "bigamy." Throughout the fifteenth century in Christian Europe, husbands and wives married to absent or distant spouses found new spouses to wed. In the church courts of northern France, many of the individuals so married were criminally prosecuted. In Bigamy and Christian Identity in Late Medieval Champagne, McDougall traces the history of this conflict in the diocese of Troyes and places it in the larger context of Christian theology and culture. Multiple marriage was both inevitable and repugnant in a Christian world that forbade divorce and associated bigamy with the unchristian practices of Islam or Judaism. The prevalence of bigamy might seem to suggest a failure of Christianization in late medieval northern France, but careful study of the sources shows otherwise: Clergy and laity alike valued marriage highly. Indeed, some members of the laity placed such a high value on the institution that they were willing to risk criminal punishment by entering into illegal remarriage. The risk was great: the Bishop of Troyes's judicial court prosecuted bigamy with unprecedented severity, although this prosecution broke down along gender lines. The court treated male bigamy, and only male bigamy, as a grave crime, while female bigamy was almost completely excluded from harsh punishment. As this suggests, the Church was primarily concerned with imposing a high standard on men as heads of Christian households, responsible for their own behavior and also that of their wives.

Scandal and secrets abound in this sexy Regency romance! Seeking a sensible husband Tempted by a dissolute rogue… Debutante of the season Esther Barrington-Hall is looking for a steadfast, responsible husband after her dreadful childhood with her destitute mother. Aristocrat Oliver Moreland is a notorious rake and Esther knows it would be wrong to give up her newfound life of safety for a man like him. But he is exciting and undeniably attractive. And dangerous, too. Because he is the one man in society who knows about her past… From Harlequin Historical: Your romantic escape to the past.

She must choose... her Queen - or love! As the Queen's new lady-in-waiting, Mathilde Gosselin tumbles straight into Parisian palace intrigue when she meets courtier Henry Wright, whom she discovers is a spy! Mathilde's loyalties are now divided between this enigmatic, courageous man and her Queen. And, amidst the turmoil, falling for the unsuitable, illegitimate Henry means they've no choice but to hide their new love from the world...