JudeKnight
Kidnapped to Freedom

Kidnapped to Freedom

13,053 950 5

Stolen from the Georgian plantation just ahead of being sold down the river, Phoebe faces the high seas to be reunited with her brother and sister, and the master's son she once loved. Why then, are her dreams filled with the handsome, masked pirate who captains her rescue ship?…

All That Glisters

All That Glisters

13,776 1,145 7

The setting is New Zealand in the 1860s, when gold miners poured into the fledgling settlement of Dunedin. Rose is unhappy in the household of her fanatical uncle, but Thomas, a young merchant from Canada, offers a glimpse of another possible life, if she is brave enough to reach for it. (Short story)…

Never Land the First Fish

Never Land the First Fish

17,287 2,418 75

Lord Maddox feels old before his time-but not old enough to marry, for the last time he tried that, he was hooked by Lady Sarah Grenford, then thrown back when she married Toad Wellbridge. A life-long adventurer and famous balloonist, he sets out to drown his sorrows in a sea voyage, crossing the Atlantic to ply his trade anywhere but England.Emily Kilbrierry straddles two worlds as the daughter of an Anglo-Irish Lord and his Indian wife. Living a free-spirited, unconventional life as a world-renowned violinist is both a blessing and a curse. But when she finds herself in New York City, trying to advance her career on a whole new continent, she may also find an opportunity she neither expects nor wants. Lord Joseph Gildeforte, "Gills" to his family and friends, is waiting the last few months before he inherits a fortune, but in the meanwhile, calling in a debt is his only chance of eating well. Little does he know, his best intentions will leave him saddled with a termagant whose sharp tongue and propensity for gossip has recently shredded the reputation of one of his dearest friends.Lady Athol Soddenfeld has spent her entire adulthood under the thumb of her husband, a drunkard, a bully, and a man who won't take no for an answer. Abandoned by her family, when rescue finally finds her, she is too weary and broken to object to a knight in tarnished armor. But if she doesn't stand up for herself and land on her own two feet, her life might take her in a direction that leads only to ruin.Another Jude Knight / Mariana Gabrielle collaboration, this story starts a few months after Never Kiss a Toad ended, and will be posted the same way. After this week, we'll take it in turns to post an the newest episode every second Saturday. When it isn't our Saturday, we'll post the episode from the previous week so you can follow the whole story on one profile.…

Never Kiss a Toad

Never Kiss a Toad

249,209 21,553 166

[A Victorian romance continuing family stories begun in the various Regency books of Jude Knight and Mariana Gabrielle.]David "Toad" Northope, heir to the Duke of Wellbridge and rogue in the mold of his infamous father, knows Lady Sarah "Sal" Grenford, daughter of the once-profligate Duke of Haverford, will always hold his heart. But when the two teens are caught in bed together by their horrified parents, he is sent away to finish school on the Continent, and she is thrown into the depths of her first London Season.Can two reformed rakes keep their children from making the same mistakes they did? The dukes decide keeping them apart will do the trick, so as the children reach their majority, Toad is put to work at sea, learning to manage his mother's shipping concern, and Sal is taken to the other side of the world, as far from him as possible. How will Toad and Sal's love withstand long years of separation, not to mention nasty lies, vicious rumors, attractive other suitors, and well-meaning parents who threaten to destroy their future before it has begun?…

Gingerbread Bride

Gingerbread Bride

88,581 7,062 17

This novella is the first story in my series The Golden Redepennings.Lieutenant Rick Redepenning has been saving his admiral's intrepid daughter from danger since their formative years, but today, he faces the gravest of threats-the damage she might do to his heart. How can he convince her to see him as a suitor, not just a childhood friend?Travelling with her father's fleet has left Mary Pritchard ill-prepared for London Society, and prey to the machinations of false friends. When she strikes out on her own to find a more suitable locale to take up her solitary spinsterhood, she finds adventure, trouble, and her girlhood hero, riding once more to her rescue.…

The Heart of a Wolf (novel)

The Heart of a Wolf (novel)

633 52 2

Thank you to those who voted on which novella I should turn into a novel. Same name, different book. I've left the novella up. By the end of 2018, it will be a novel, one episode at a time. It may, or may not, end up at the same place as the novella. We'll see.Bastian carries an ancient heritage and an awesome responsibility; to hide, protect, and nurture the people who carry the old blood. He needs a mate to stand at his side; a duchess to share his task. In Isadora, he believes he has found one, until the night she betrays him. Isadora falls in love with the handsome hero who carries her away to his castle. But on the eve that her dreams are about to come true, they are shattered beyond repair. She is cast out without the opportunity to prove her innocence. When circumstances bring them together again, the dangerous feelings between them are not as explosive as the feelings of the local villagers. Bastian and Isadora must work together to save their people.…

The Heart of a Wolf (novella)

The Heart of a Wolf (novella)

14,956 1,136 6

Bastian has never recovered from losing the woman he loved, and in such a way! Betrayed by her, by his own brother, and by a trusted servant, he has refused all contact. And now his brother is dead, his dying wish that Bastian offer protection to his former betrothed. Can he resist the urge to strangle the treacherous liar that he still loves, despite himself?Isadora dreams were shattered the night she was to be betrothed to the man she adored. Cast out without the opportunity to prove her innocence, she has nonetheless found a measure of happiness. Can she bear to trust her well-being to the only man she has ever loved; the man who hates her?The dangerous feelings between them are not as explosive as the feelings of the local villagers. Bastian and Isadora must work together to save their people.This is another story in the collection Lost in the Tale. It turned out to be a paranormal. I know. No one was more surprised than I.On 2 February 2018, I began rewriting it as a novel. It starts in the same place, but who knows where it might end? Certainly not I. Follow the novel on Wattpad and find out.…

A Suitable Husband

A Suitable Husband

35,071 2,438 8

As the Duchess of Haverford's companion, Cedrica Grenford is not treated as a poor relation and is encouraged to mingle with Her Grace's guests. Perhaps among the gentlemen gathered for the duchess's house party, she will find a suitable husband?Marcel Fournier has only one ambition: to save enough from his fees serving as chef in the houses of the ton to become the proprietor of his own fine restaurant. An affair with the duchess's dependent would be dangerous. Anything else is impossible. Isn't it?This book was first published in the Bluestocking Belles' holiday collection Holly and Hopeful Hearts, and is also available as an ebook from most eretailers.…

The Lost Treasure of Lorne

The Lost Treasure of Lorne

25,409 2,239 12

For nearly 300 years, the Normingtons and the Lorimers have feuded, since a love affair ended in a curse that doomed dead Lorimers to haunt their home, the Castle of Lorne.Now the last Marquis of Lorne, the last of the Lorimers, is one of those ghosts, and the Duke of Kendal, head of the House of Normington, holds the castle.Kendal doesn't care about the feud or the ghosts. He wants only to find the evidence that will legitimate the son his Lorimer bride bore him before her death, and to convince his stubborn housekeeper to marry him.But the time allotted to the curse is running out, and his happiness depends on finding the Lost Treasure of Lorne before the 300 years draws to a close.…

My Lost Highland Lass

My Lost Highland Lass

64,658 4,103 10

In this story from the (as yet unpublished) collection Lost in the Tale, Janet spends a promised Season in London, with her English father. Will she meet the English tourist who wed her than left her? Not if she can avoid it, though she may need to find him if only to finalise a divorce.The Earl of Medford thinks the Scots girl with whom he had a brief affair in the Highlands must have bewitched him, for he cannot forget her. But his agents say no one of that name exists. And his sister insists he must put the interlude behind him and choose a bride.Can they resolve their differences? And will a child, a cat, a meddling sister and a jealous stepmother help or hinder?…

The Prisoners of Wyvern Castle

The Prisoners of Wyvern Castle

75,215 5,459 20

Rupert has been imprisoned by his wicked sister, and compelled to wed. His new wife, Madeline, has likewise been threatened into saying her vows. Forced into marriage, they find love, but can they find freedom before it is too late? The Prisoners of Wyvern Castle is a prequel to Embracing Prudence, due for publication in 2016.…

A Baron for Becky

A Baron for Becky

254,226 16,185 28

Becky is the envy of the courtesans of the demi-monde - the indulged mistress of the wealthy and charismatic Marquis of Aldridge. But she dreams of a normal life; one in which her daughter can have a future that does not depend on beauty, sex, and the whims of a man.Finding herself with child, she hesitates to tell Aldridge. Will he cast her off, send her away, or keep her and condemn another child to this uncertain shadow world?The devil-may-care face Hugh shows to the world hides a desperate sorrow; a sorrow he tries to drown with drink and riotous living. His years at war haunt him, but even more, he doesn't want to think about the illness that robbed him of the ability to father a son. When he dies, his barony will die with him. His title will fall into abeyance, and his estate will be scooped up by the Crown.When Aldridge surprises them both with a daring proposition, they do not expect love to be part of the bargain.(This book has been published, and is available at most eretailers and in print.)…

Magnus and the Christmas Angel

Magnus and the Christmas Angel

10,123 940 6

Callie's childhood sweetheart returned from betrayal and shipwreck in time to rescue her from an unwanted marriage, and everything should have been perfect.But scarred without and within, Magnus is not the boy she lost. Months after their wedding, Callie despairs of bridging their differences.Can a lost kitten provide a Christmas miracle?…

The Lost Wife

The Lost Wife

25,727 1,449 4

Daughter of an English father and a Spanish mother, Teri grew up in England, and returned to Spain only after the death of her husband. Her ability to speak English, and also French, comes in handy now that Napoleon and Wellington are fighting over the possession of Spain. Teri nurses wounded soldiers from both sides, as well as her village's guerilla band. But she doesn't expect to find herself nursing her husband, unaccountably alive even if unlikely to remain so.David had been ripped from his new bride just weeks after the wedding, and had returned home months later to find his wife gone, run off---they told him---with another man. When he couldn't find her, he'd enlisted, taking his anger and pain to war. He hadn't expected to wake up to find her nursing him.…

The Raven's Lady

The Raven's Lady

8,948 623 4

Felix returns home in disguise after thirteen years away from home. He plans to catch a smuggler, then take up his viscountcy. He does not expect the smuggler to be Joselyn, his childhood sweetheart. (Short story)This story was written as a party prize. The winner could choose three things to include in the story (characters, animals, or objects), and a story trope --- a situation or plot line.I had great fun writing my tale of a lady smuggler, the man sent to bring her to justice, and a loud pet raven. The story trope was that the smuggling was to help the people in her neglected village.I hope you enjoy it.This story and three others are published in Hand-Turned Tales, which is available at most eretailers.…