The Silk and Scandal series is connected by one character seeking justice for a 20-year-old crime when his father was murdered and another hanged. But was it the right man? Merrill quickly draws readers into this dark tale of vengeance and redemption. The mystery carries the readers onward, as do the finely drawn characters.
Gambler Nate Dale has almost forgotten witnessing his father's hanging when he was 10 — until a stranger gives him a silk rope, reminding him of the curse placed on his family. If Nate finds evidence of his father's innocence he can remove the curse. First, he must inform the Carlows that the Gypsy is back.

Diana Price, the Carlow girls' companion, knows all about the curse and has sworn to protect the girls, but she cannot protect herself from Nate. She has no idea that he holds a marker that gives him the right to take her virtue. Nate never planned on acting on the debt, but he does fall in love with Diana. Truths are revealed, much of the past and present come to light and a love is forged that might break the curse. (HARLEQUIN, Jul., 288 pp., $5.99)

Reviewed By: Kathe Robin

"...Since this is a mini-series, Ms Allen had the job of introducing us to the characters for the seven books coming up. She did a fabulous job of giving you enough clues to figure out who is involved but not what their identities are or how they will fit in...I find myself excited to read the next in the series to see if my guesses about the mystery and characters are right.

Although there is a happy ending, the book in no way wraps up the story. I would say if you're going to start it be prepared to commit to the full series. I know that I am."

by Joanne Grant, editor of the Harlequin Historical Silk & Scandal miniseries

I am here to tell you some very exciting news about a brand new Regency continuity in Harlequin Historical that starts in June 2010, but before I get into the details I thought I’d share with you the story of how the Silk & Scandal continuity came to be…

Over the last few years there have been a number of exciting and dramatic continuities commissioned for our contemporary series such as The Royal House of Karedes and the subsequent sequel, Dark-Hearted Desert Men (that launched in April), in Harlequin Presents, and The Brides of Bella Rosa in Harlequin Romance, which also begins in April. So we decided it was time to give Harlequin Historical a turn!

Once we had settled upon which authors we would like to approach, we were faced with the challenge of what we wanted our continuity to be about. We had strong ideas about what we love most about Regency historicals, and with eight books to play with we knew we could get many of these elements in, such as: roguish rakes, virgin brides, marriages of convenience, but we needed something to gel the continuity together – we needed the actual continuity element! That is when we decided to approach the authors. It was a brave move – our most recent continuities had been “bible-driven”, but we had confidence in our authors that they would “wow” us.

The authors brainstormed, and brainstormed some more, and I met with Louise Allen to discuss the ideas, but I knew we weren’t quite there yet. It is our jobs as editors to continually push authors for more – more innovation, more excitement and in this case, more scandal! And it seems that little word “scandal” was the light bulb moment for the authors. What followed was a flurry of activity between the authors, as they developed their ideas further, whilst we waited patiently. And boy, was it worth the wait!

When I was finally introduced to a scandalous back story involving a love triangle, a scorned gypsy lover, a murder, a curse, and a hanging with a silken rope, I was definitely intrigued, but when I was introduced to the continuity character – I was sold!

He was a man so dark and mysterious that there was debate amongst the authors as to whether he was too bad, and should remain a villain, but I have a soft spot for seemingly irredeemable alpha males, an anti-hero. Especially when they are sexy, seductive and as at home in a gambling hell hole as in a society ballroom. A man so shady that you know that beneath his stern, all-penetrating gaze, lies a complex mixture of emotions that can only be released by the right woman, and when that right woman comes along – the results will be explosive! A man so intriguing, that he will keep readers reading for eight books…yes, this was what the continuity needed, and so Stephano Beshaley AKA Stephen Hebden, was born and the Silk & Scandal continuity was created!

In a nutshell, each story in the miniseries has a passionate, intense, central relationship but with Stephano as the linking thread. He is a darkly dangerous, yet sexy stranger, out for revenge, delivering a silken rope as his calling card. Through him, a long-forgotten past is stirred to life, and the notorious events of 1794 which saw one man murdered and another hanged for the crime, are brought in to question. The final book is Stephano’s story when all is revealed!

Silk & Scandal

From glittering ballrooms to a Cornish smuggler’s cove; from the wilds of Scotland to a Romany camp – join with the highest and lowest in society as they find love in this thrilling new eight-book miniseries!

Has this whetted your appetite? I do hope so and if you just can’t wait to read book one (on sale NOW on eHarlequin.com), then we have just the thing! All six authors have collaborated on an online read, Seduced by the Dark Stranger. This serial introduces some of the heroes and heroines from the continuity and there is also a brief cameo by Stephano. You can read a new chapter in this story every Tuesday and Thursday in May!

Also available this month is Christine Merrill’s Harlequin Historical Undone! prequel: Taming Her Gypsy Lover, a scorching read that takes readers back to 1794, when the scandal that is the basis for the continuity has just happened!

Christine tells me: "Ten years ago, during a night of reckless gaming, Nathan Wardale ruined a man and won the right to take the innocence of his daughter, Diana.

It was a debt he never planned to claim. But now, London's luckiest gambler will see that the only thing worth winning is the one thing he can't have: the heart of Diana Price."

"Lady Honoria Carlow flees London after a scandalous disgrace to take refuge with her aunt in Cornwall and try to figure out who engineered her ruin...and why.  Enter handsome Irishman Gabe Hawksworth, known locally as "the Hawk", currently captaining a smuggling vessel for the army friend who saved his life, and suddenly Honoria finds that exile to the rugged Cornish coast seems much more appealing.

Though her aristocratic family would be appalled at her attraction to a low-born free trader, there’s something about the well-spoken Gabe that calls out to the free-spirited Honoria, even as Gabe wonders about the story behind the  unexpected appearance of this mysterious beauty.  Until an attraction that should never have been becomes a compulsion too strong for either of them to resist…"

Major Rhys Morgan, late of His Majesty's Light Dragoons, hopes, despite his wounds, to continue his service for king and country.  The consequences of his heroic rescue of a little girl pitch him instead into the midst of a Romany camp and into the arms of a beautiful and mysterious Gypsy healer.

The last thing Nadya Argentari wants or needs is a romantic involvement with an Englishman.  When someone seems to be targeting her and her family, however, Rhys vows to protect the woman he has fallen in love with--a relationship they both know will never be accepted in the either of the very disparate worlds they inhabit.