Books like The Defiant Mistress by Claire Thornton

A Highland romance with a dark past, where a widowed lady seeks justice and a man from the past must learn to let go...

Rachel’s innocent offer to help Matthew Riordan after a party turns into a tangled web of blackmail, business competition, and unexpected desire, leaving both to confront whether romance or revenge will win.

In the chaotic days before Waterloo, Louisa Varley is left penniless and abandoned, forced to become an actress. After the battle, she returns to England, where she is bound to Lord Lyston, who will do anything to win her over, but she refuses him.

A Greek hotel magnate’s former mistress, battling amnesia, is led to believe she is engaged to him and brought to his island, only to be discarded again when her memories return.

Georgia, Countess of Maybury's second brilliant marriage to save her reputation after losing everything in a duel leads her into a forbidden love with a scarred ex-naval officer, stirring up scandal and creating a family scandal with her husband's new wife.

HEART OF AN ANGEL Poor and alone, ebon-haired Angelica needed money fast --- but there was only one way a girl could get lots of cash in the small mining town. The innocent beauty detested the thought of selling her body's charms, but the day came when she had no choice but to walk the streets. Tears filling her alluring eyes, she happened upon rich, towering Gareth Dawson, and arranged to be his high-priced consort, he clasped her hard against his virile chest, he trailed sensuous kisses down her creamy neck ... and Angelica never guessed that one passionate night in his ardent embrace would make her want him for all eternity! SOUL OF A DEVIL Because his father had married badly, dark and moody Gareth Dawson had learned that ladies made life miserable --- unless a man was free to love and free to leave. Even though he became wildly infatuated with Angelica's ripe curves and supple flesh, he wouldn't let his deeper, more protective instincts move his hardened feelings. Then the moment arrived when he couldn't deny he would always need her by his side ... but still he swore he'd never take her for his lawful wedded wife. No matter what she wanted, Gareth would keep her only as his loving concubine, his wild DEFIANT MISTRESS.

When the soothsayer warned Leilani Howe that a tall blond haole would soon invade her Hawaiian paradise - and her heart - bringing passion yet leaving behind pain, Lei planned to stand her ground and solidly defy fate. But the moment her company's temporary troubleshooter stepped onto the island, the very earth seemed to tremble beneath her feet, and her heart quaked in recognition of her nemesis. Instantly she knew she would have to draw deeply on her inner strength, rally her staunchest defenses, to deny the precarious destiny that beckoned so seductively. For Paul Lindstrom's sensual heat rivaled the tropical sun, and she didn't need a prophecy to tell her that he planned to make her his...

When a chance encounter at a high‑society party forces Emily Quest into a whirlwind romance, her family's business fate hangs in the balance, and a mysterious stranger turns out to be her unexpected protector.

Louisa Varley, a stunning former heiress and actress, must navigate love and danger after being abandoned by her bigamist husband, confronting a disapproving Lord Lyston amid the backdrop of Waterloo.