Books like Playing Hard to Get by Monica Murphy

Convenient Bride for the King is a romance novel by Kelly Hunter that explores themes of love, duty, and destiny within a fictional setting.

Playing the charming heartbreaker--risky, elusive, and trouble where women were concerned--was completely out of character for Slade Ramsey, but when his fiancee threw him over, he'd rebounded by shedding his nice guy image and seducing- Shavonne Brady on a trip to her West Virginia town. Shed fallen hard, in love for the first time, and something in him had shattered when he'd left her crying two long years ago. Now he'd returned to confess what he couldn't forget, to exorcise the memories of his betrayal--and to earn her trust by sharing a family secret that would set her free. Shavonne didn't want to want him back, to be rendered vulnerable by passion and need, but she was helpless under the sensual assault of Slade's hunger for her. She had to know his promises this time were truly vows of love, but would denying her desire bring him closer or push him away forever?

A serial killer strikes again in a small town, but secrets from decades past are revealed when two investigations converge on a Catholic boarding school.

After a decade in hiding, Victoria Louise returns to her Boston family home to exact revenge on the high‑school clique that ruined her at a sweet‑16 party, luring them into a deadly trap in the renovated playroom.