'A comfortable chair and a Mary Stewart: total heaven. I'd rather read her than most other authors.' Harriet Evans Ashley Court: the tumbledown ancestral home of the Ashley family, all blessed with 'the gift' of being able to speak to each other without words. When Bryony Ashley's father dies under mysterious circumstances, his final words a cryptic warning to her, Bryony returns from abroad to uncover Ashley Court's secrets. What did her father's message mean? What lies at the centre of the overgrown maze in the gardens? And who is trying to prevent Bryony from discovering the truth? Tell Bryony. The cat, it's in the cat on the pavement. The map. The letter. In the brook. Tell Bryony. My little Bryony to be careful. Danger.

An ancient curse that only love can conquer...Catherine MacClelland, as strong-minded as she is beautiful, is hiding a terrible secret. Predestined to carry on an ancient curse, Catherine knows she must live isolated from the world and resigns herself to a life devoted to her clan. But powerful forces are gathering around her, and she alone will have the chance to break the curse that has plagued the MacClelland clan for centuries.Nicholas Efington, the Dark Duke, has abandoned his wicked life in an attempt to heal the physical and emotional wounds he'd suffered in the past. Now he has only one task on his mind: find a wife and beget an heir. But when Catherine MacClelland's father blackmails him into marrying her, he's drawn into a dark mystery where ancient myths come alive, while finding a lass who brands his very soul with passion.As Nicolas and Catherine come closer to understanding the secret that could destroy them forever, betrayals and ominous forces threaten their only chance at happiness. Will they overcome the curse of the grimalkin or surrender to it as so many before them?

A mysterious and rarely seen beast, the Scottish Wildcat is Britain's rarest mammal, and one of the most endangered carnivores in the world. Over the centuries, one by one, Britain's most formidable wild animals have fallen to the thoughtless march of humankind. A war on predators put paid to our lynxes, wolves and bears, each hunted relentlessly until the last of them was killed. Only our wildcats lived on. The Scottish wildcat's guile and ferocity are the stuff of legend. No docile pet cat, this, but a cunning and shadowy animal, elusive to the point of invisibility, but utterly fearless when forced to fight for its life. Those who saw one would always remember its beauty – the cloak of dense fur marked with bold tiger stripes, the green-eyed stare and haughty sneer, and the broad, banded tail whisking away into the forest's gloom. Driven to the remnants of Scotland's wilderness, the last few wildcats now face the most insidious danger of all as their domesticated cousins threaten to dilute their genes into oblivion. However, the wildest of cats has friends and goodwill behind it. This book tells the story of how the wildcat of the wildwood became the endangered Scottish wildcat, of how it once lived and lives now, and of how we - its greatest enemy - are now striving to save it in its darkest hour.

Only one thing stands in the way of millionaire Gregory MacPherson’s project to revitalize the gritty neighborhood of Ball’s End: a run-down used bookstore. Since none of Mac’s employees seem to be able to get Hailey’s Comic out of the building Mac needs to tear down, he decides to take matters into his own hands. He expects to have it all under control, just like he has everything under control. What he doesn't expect is to fall hard and fast for the store’s owner—the colorful, willowy, and unexpectedly male, Hailey. Hailey refuses to give up his lease, no matter how many incentives Mac dangles in front of him, but when it comes to consummating their mutual attraction, he’s a lot more flexible. Soon Mac is finding it as hard to pry himself out of Hailey’s bed as it is to pry Hailey out of the building. With time winding down and no other options, he does the unthinkable. Mac is trying to improve Ball’s End. Hailey thinks it’s Mac who could stand to be improved. But with a few compromises, they might all end up Better Off.

This book started with the thought that here was an interesting man who lived at an interesting time. He was born a Jew, he made his fortune as a financier, he discovered his vocation as an econo mist, he entered Parliament. Such in outline was the life of David Ricardo. He was born in 1772 and he died in 1823. It was a time of war and the aftermath of war, of change and of resistance to change. As far as possible I have tried always to see him in the context of his time. Though much necessarily is said about the economist in the book, I must make plain that it is not primarily a study of his work. That has been done elsewhere, and some references will be found in the bibliography. In the arrangement of the book I have departed occasionally from a strictly chronological narrative. Instead I have attempted to present the life of David Ricardo in a number of facets, as if it were a diamond. Perhaps the cutting edge of the diamond would be most applic able to him. Nearly everyone who met him noticed the clarity and lucidity of his mind. To demonstrate or illustrate the quality of his mind is therefore the first object of the book. I have been very fortunate in the help I have received in the research and the writing; and certainly, for any faults in the book, nobody but myself is to blame.

In two volumes. Volume I: 601 pages including a 522 page index of family names, in alphabetical order, describing the crest of every name listed and where to find an illustration in the volume of plates; a glossary of heraldic terms and other words; and nearly seventy pages of family mottoes with translations of those in Latin, French or other foreign languages. Volume II: contains 130 plates, each depicting 15 family crests in b&w and a further 18 plates illustrating regalia, insignia, crowns, flags, monograms, arms of principal cities etc. also in b&w. There is a key to all the plates which, in the case of the crests, shows which families have which crest.