A Game of Hearts

Two Couples, All Four in Danger

Blood-Red

In Regency England, red-blooded commoners have difficulty opening the doors of the blue-blooded haut ton. Rafe Lockhart and Roger Denby both have greater ambitions and never expect to fall in love.

Rafe & Maggie

The Self-Made Man

Self-made man Rafe Lockhart needs a titled wife to give his daughter Connie the society debut she has dreamed of. A quick marriage to Lady Margaret Symonds, widow of an earl, is the answer to his problem.  Her beauty and wit sweeten his plan.

The Damaged Widow

Maggie Symonds suffered through twelve years of an emotionally abusive marriage after a rake ruined her during her debut.  She hesitates to enter another marriage, especially to a man whose wealth is the sole reason that society accepts him.  Financial difficulties and her own budding attraction to Rafe drive her to accept his proposal.

A Rosy Future Turns Blood-Red

Neither expects passion to fire up their marriage.  Neither expects that surprising passion to last.

Maggie’s confrontation with Rafe’s mistress is the first blow.

The second comes with Rafe’s suspicions that the rake has lured Maggie back into his bed with protestations of a resumed love.

Roger and Connie

An Unexpected Love

Falling in love with his employer’s daughter Connie was not Roger Denby’s biggest mistake.  No, that mistake was giving her a taste of passion.  When he rejected Connie, he then had to watch her pursue a gentleman who might be charming her into a snare.

Did Roger drive her into that relationship by awakening her desires?  All he knows is that he still yearns for Connie.  How can he prevent her from ruining herself?

Her Heart Refuses to Break

Connie Lockhart knew the walls between her and Roger Denby:  She was not yet eighteen.  She was the boss’s daughter.  She was as far out of his reach as marriage into nobility was out of hers.

She thought those walls had tumbled down when he kissed her.

Yet he rebuilt them even higher than before and returned to being only her watchdog.  Believing their relationship hopeless, Connie pursues a titled gentleman who is no longer out of her reach since her father’s marriage to an earl’s widow.  And revenge on the snobbish society darlings seems especially sweet.

Then this Game of Hearts turns to Blood-Red Danger.

Rafe is suspected of murdering a valuable employee, and this Game of Hearts twists into unexpected trouble that Rafe & Maggie and Roger & Connie could never have anticipated.

Readers may also enjoy the preceding A Game of Secrets and A Game of Hearts.

Read the opening chapter at this link: https://maleebooks.blogspot.com/2025/11/celebration-with-gratitude-game-of.html

The Trailer

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For M.A. Lee’s page https://writersinkbooks.com/m-a-lee/

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A Game of Spies

A Card Sharp in skirts captures the attention of a British spycatcher

for the Wrong and the Right Reasons.

The Card Sharp in Skirts

With a talent for whist, Josette Sourantine has charge of the card room at every Sourantine salon.

She flirts with the cynical rake Tobias Kennit and the handsome society prize Lord Gordon Musgrove.  Yet it is the mysterious Giles Hargreaves who intrigues her.

The British Spycatcher

Col. Giles Hargreaves, son of the Marquess of Grasmere, has found the émigré spying for Napoleon. He wants to arrest her, but he cannot until he locates the source feeding her vital government secrets.

He attends the Sourantine salons hoping to locate the man stealing the information for Celeste which she then smuggles to France.  He decides to dally with Celeste only to be distracted by the lovely Josette.

Can a Spycatcher love a Spy?

Has Giles blinded himself to the extent of the spy ring?  As sister to the French spy, Josette must be embroiled in the betrayal of England.

Is Josette giving her heart to a rake who merely dallies with her?  How can Giles love her when they have known each other so briefly?

A Net Closes, but Giles didn’t cast it!

Then Josette is caught in a net designed to tangle up the English as the French spies escape. Will Giles lose her just when he’s given his heart to her?

Read the Novel’s Opening at this link: https://maleebooks.blogspot.com/2024/07/a-game-of-spies-1st-glimpse-of-josette.html

To the Reader:  A Game of Spies follows A Game of Secrets. Both are complete novels with no cliff-hangers.  While readers may find that reading the first novel creates a fuller experience, it is not necessary to read it in order to enjoy this book.  And while the trilogy concludes with A Game of Hearts, another novel that stands on its own, A Game of Spies does not end with a cliff-hanger.

The Trailer

How to Purchase: Ebook or Paperback.

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For M.A. Lee’s page https://writersinkbooks.com/m-a-lee/

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A Game of Secrets

No Damsel in Distress

Kate Charteris never expected to become a damsel in distress, yet she becomes just that when she must flee her cousin’s unwanted attentions.

Alone in Regency England, Kate’s parents are deceased, and her family friends remain with Wellington’s army in Portugal and Spain. Yet she is no damsel who faints at the first sight of a dragon-like trouble.

Hero Seeking a Spy

On the hunt for the lair of smugglers and spies for Napoleon, Tony Farraday never expected to fall hard for a damsel not quite in distress.  He collides with Kate on a city street and feels instant attraction.

Yet Kate must catch the mail coach before it leaves, and Tony still needs orders from the spycatcher Giles Hargreaves.

Re-United in a Nest of Smugglers

Neither expects to meet again at a run-down inn on the English coast.  On a crumbling cliffside, they vow to keep each other’s secrets and pretend to be strangers.  Yet that initial spark still burns. Their attraction catches flame strongly and obviously, jeopardizing their pretense.

The French spy arrives, demanding immediate passage across the Channel to take vital information to Napoleon.  Kate befriends the spy, but she is playing a dangerous game.

  Tony hopes to delay the spy long enough for Giles Hargreaves to arrest her and the smugglers—only to be caught in a trap.

Yet More Trouble Arrives for our “No Damsel in Distress” and our War Hero

When Kate’s cousin arrives, can she evade him long enough to help Tony escape?  Or have they both lost this Game of Secrets?

A Game of Secrets is a complete novel without a cliff-hanger, but the danger continues in A Game of Spies.

Read the opening chapters: Game of Secrets

The Trailer

The Purchase? in Ebook or Paperback.

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Amazon

For M.A. Lee’s page https://writersinkbooks.com/m-a-lee/

For the Home page https://writersinkbooks.com/