In real life I'm an author, a spouse and mother, a flutist, a computer geek, and a binge-TV-watcher of The Flash, Elementary, NCIS, and Wynonna Earp.
I'd love to hear from you!
22 men with everything you might ever desire.
22 all-new ways to fall in love.
22 Billionaires to fall in love with.
Feel the sparks fly off the hot romance and action-driven pages of these EXCLUSIVE TITLES—unavailable separately in ebook format anywhere else!
From sweet to sensual, they’ll satisfy your most indulgent fantasies as you fall in love with an array of billionaire beaus in this contemporary romance collection by some of today’s hottest New York Times, USA Today, and International bestselling authors.
Quench your book-boyfriend addiction with page-turning stories overflowing with decadent luxury, heart-warming love, heated adventure, steamy scenes, and happily-ever-afters.
Featuring billionaires from bad boys to Marines and CEOs to cowboys, this set will take you around the country and jet-setting around the globe with intense, passionate men who always get what they want and fulfill the desires of the women they crave.
Relish each journey in this LIMITED-TIME collection PACKED with novels and novellas that will provide over one hundred hours of reading.
Logan is muscular, graceful, and deadly. A gift of pure sex appeal wrapped with a golden bow. I already don’t trust men and Logan’s arrival at my Blood Center may put me out of a job. None of that seems to matter when his smile stuns me, his kisses crank me to broil, and his bites rocket me to heaven (fangy bites, which, if I weren’t grounded in science, would make me think ampire-Vay).
One thing’s for sure—Logan’s got secrets. Troubles with a long-lost household, a mysterious enemy going by the corny vampire name Lord Ruthven and an even more mysterious ally with a voice like a dark cave called the Ancient One. Between my past and all those secrets I can’t trust Logan, no matter how many times he says “Liese, I love you”—but if I don’t trust him, it may cost me my life.
Elena O’Rourke packs a gun and an attitude. The gun, because she’s a cop. The attitude? Let’s just say her love life has been sorely lacking. But she’ll be damned if apartment manager Bo Strongwell is going to be the guy to turn that around, despite his Viking warrior vibe, cannonball muscles, and black satin voice—because Bo’s the biggest suspect in her murder investigation.
Master vampire Bo Strongwell needs a cop snooping around like he needs a garlic body wash. Fighting rogue vampires keeps him busy enough without Elena suspecting him of murder—even if she smells and tastes like his deepest desires.
When Gunter Marie “Junior” Stieg is offered the opportunity to escape Meiers Corners, she takes it, playing pit orchestra for Broadway-bound Oz, Wonderful Oz.
But someone is threatening the show’s young star. To save the production, Junior must join forces with the star’s dark, secretive bodyguard Glynn, whose sapphire eyes and lyrical Welsh accent thrill her, and whose hard, muscular body makes her passions flare.
Fierce as a warrior, enigmatic as a druid, Glynn Rhys-Jenkins has searched eight hundred years for love and a true home. Junior’s get-out-of-Dodge attitude burns him but everything else about her inflames him.
A sensuous, insidious evil threatens not only the show but the very foundations of Meiers Corners, and Junior and Glynn find themselves at the heart of it…
Times Square. New Year’s Eve. This year, it’s a Countdown to Death.
Twyla Tafel has uncovered an insane plot to unleash vampires on the unsuspecting revelers. She’s armed only with her great admin skills, her useless art degree, and Nikos—a seriously hot vampire she’d love to paint as a Spartan king roaring his muscular challenge at the Persians.
When a blond god blows into Alexis Byornsson’s emergency room and interrupts her treating a little girl, Alexis is furious. Or, not furious exactly, because Alexis is known as Dr. Frozen, but severely, finger-shakingly disapproving. Then he kisses her breathless, and Alexis is stunned, her logical armor shaken, when what should be a nice release of endorphins breaks into a steamy tropical storm.
Luke Steel hasn’t felt passion since his wife died in a brutal attack three hundred years ago and he felt powerless to save her. Alexis shocks him by bringing good things to life in more ways than one. Mates are forever, so what the hell is going on?
Then an old frenemy takes off the gloves. With Alexis’s life at stake, all-consuming passion is the one thing neither Luke nor Alexis can afford, yet the one thing that will never let them go.
When top Minneapolis exec Ric Holiday says refuses to design an ad campaign for Meiers Corners, Dr. Synnove Byornsson is sent to plead the city’s case.
On the way to Holiday’s penthouse, Synnove is accosted by rowdy drunks and her blouse is torn. Enter Holiday, with his tousled blond hair, blue eyes, and sinewy strength barely civilized by suit and tie. He’s style over substance, everything she hates, but when he drapes his coat over her she starts to discover he’s more than mere sizzle.
Punk musician Nixie Schmeling is a hundred pounds of Attitude in a city full of Normal. She’s especially full of attitude after she’s volunteered to run Meiers Corner’s inaugural fundraising festival and finds out it’s to pay for a lawyer.
Six foot plus of black-haired, blue-eyed sex-on-a-stick, powerful attorney Julian Emerson has come from Boston to defend the Corners from a shady group of suits—and the shadier gang the suits control.
But even if they manage to succeed, what future is there for a tiny punk musician and a skyscraper blue-blood? And that’s before Nixie finds out Julian’s a vampire.
Rock-star music director, spy, and deadly vampire Dragan Zajicek takes the podium of a small orchestra near Chicago as a cover to investigate rumors of a monstrous, impossible-to-defeat vampire known as the Soul Stealer. There Dragan meets gorgeous-but-doesn’t-know-it flutist Raquel “Rocky” Hrbek who is investigating the monster vampire herself.
Cruelty made Rocky a shy shadow of herself, except for when performing on her flute. So when shockingly virile, filthy rich, gorgeous Dragan inexplicably pays attention to her, it threatens her protective shell .
After a tragedy killed his family, Dragan walled off his heart, threw out rules and went rampaging with the bad boys. Rocky’s sweet nature threatens to shatter his hard-won defiance. Yet as they track down the rumors the two are drawn closer—until the Soul Stealer appears and zeroes in on Rocky. Now she and Dragan must find a way to destroy an indestructible creature before Rocky is utterly consumed and Chicago is bathed in blood.
When a shadow-man rescues newly minted police officer Sun-Hee “Sunny” Ruffles from death, the first thing she tries to do is arrest him. The next is kiss him. She’s a Ruffles, the most bumbling family on the planet, and the lithe assassin couldn’t be more her opposite. But they’re both pursuing the same criminal, and it’s Sunny’s job to protect and serve, even sexy, shadowy assassins.
Aiden Blackthorne’s identity as the assassin has protected him from his heart-breaking past. He’s in Meiers Corners to meet the vampire Eloise to win their freedom from her homicidal father. Rescuing the clompy cop delays Aiden, and he chafes—until a bomb explodes where he and Eloise were to meet.
Alone his whole life, Aiden doesn’t want to drag Sunny into his conflict with Nosferatu, but her bumbling reveals the truth, that Aiden’s past isn’t buried as deeply as he’d like. She smells and tastes like his mate, and his instincts scream to protect her. But she’s a cop, and, like it or not, the only backup he has. And to fight the evil master Nosferatu, Aiden will need everything he is, must reclaim everything he was, and even unearth everything he might have been.
Sophia Blue wishes the cute little doggie she’s found in her aunt’s abandoned magic shop could talk. Maybe he’d tell her if the old woman has wandered off on a walkabout, or if there’s foul magic afoot. Odd how the scruffy little fur ball seems to understand Sophia’s every word.
Just a few years ago, she might have cast a spell to translate the dog’s ear-piercing yaps. But her magic is out of her reach, locked away in penance for mistakenly helping an evil wizard.
Noah Blackwood was the last person to see Sophia’s aunt before she hit him with a spell gone sideways. By night he’s two-hundred pounds of authority, a respected local pack leader. By day? He’s twelve pounds of poof dog. A tasty morsel for the five anti-alpha wolves gunning for him.
The instant the sun goes down and Sophia’s eyes meet Noah’s, fire ignites between them in an incendiary kiss. But when the evil wizard reappears intent on murder, Sophia must break through killing layers of pain to find her magic. And Noah must reclaim all that he is—even defy the law—to claim the woman his heart knows is his mate.
A value-priced collection featuring couples who disagree about political and social issues—but still manage to find their happily-ever-after endings.
Rise up! Resist! Romance? These five couples try to deny the sparks that fly with those on the opposite side of their picket lines. But love has a way of finding the perfect compromise.
Core Attraction -- When Dr. Declan MacCarthy protests outside the power plant where Fiona Halpin handles public relations, she’s almost too busy doing damage control to notice how gorgeous he is. As Fiona slowly warms to Declan and his passion for his cause, can she drop her defenses enough to let him reach her inner core?
Hard Knocks -- Neurologist Helen Chang Frobisher is writing op-eds against Portland’s new hockey rink to try to prevent the kinds of concussive brain injury that plagues her father. Oregon Wolves player Adam Magnus is fighting to build a successful career on the ice. But while the two spar in public over the future of a sports franchise on the brink, in private, they battle an impossible attraction.
California Sunrise -- Dr. Raúl Mendez finds himself drawn to plucky single mother Alicia Fuentes after he diagnoses her young son on the autism spectrum. Can their blossoming relationship withstand the political and very personal battles surrounding immigration?
The Very Thought of You -- San Francisco builder Nick Mancini has offered the tenants in his new apartment house a good deal: twenty-five grand to vacate the premises so he can demolish it for his next project. Molly Hewitt is rallying everyone to hold out for far more cash. Surely he can flirt his way out of this roadblock—or are the stakes too high this time?
Edie and the CEO -- Edie Rowan is passionate about workers’ rights, but when her protests backfire, championing the little guy gets her in trouble with sexy CEO Everett Kirk. He sends her to attend management camp—and even drives her there himself. But when they let down their professional guard, the sparks start to fly.
When American Skyler Jones is kidnapped, she manages a heart-pounding escape, only to be cornered in the hotel room of a lithe, enigmatic man. As the kidnappers burst into the room, the man hides Skyler by covering her body with his—and kissing her. The man, known only as Cliff, races Skyler through narrow streets and hides her on a boat going home.
Skyler thinks her troubles are over, but Cliff is really Sir Humphrey Hawkesclyffe, genius inventor of the next gen supercomputer. He’s zeroed in on Skyler—he says for heading his software development team, business only. But as they work together, Skyler starts to fall for the lonely boy genius who's become a rugged man of action.
He seems to fall for her, too—at least their sizzling kisses suggest more than simple chemistry. But is Cliff just mixing pleasure with his business? Then the kidnappers come back for round two...but it's not Skyler they've come for this time.
Shifter Emma Singer has more problems than she can shake her pretty little wolf tail at. Her heirloom journal is missing, her pack alpha wants her for his harem, and her family plans to sell her to him. Even her wicked little crush on her hot boss is doomed—why would six-and-a-half feet of handsome royal wizard want a boring, good-girl iota shifter like her? Not to mention her only power is going berserker—that's a real relation-shipwreck!
Gabriel Light is a wizard prince who turned his back on his exceptional powers after he was accused of causing his parents' death. Now he pours his intellect into his tech business, and hides his naughty, forbidden lust for his pretty shifter clerk. But when his sister is imprisoned, and Emma is kidnapped, it's time for this alpha geek-wizard to decloak with all laser cannons blazing. Only one problem—how can he be sure Emma won’t get caught in the crossfire?
Then Gabriel and Emma stumble on hidden magic, a key to power beyond imagining—if they can stay alive long enough to use it. But if Emma unleashes her berserker wolf on their enemies, can Gabriel draw her back from the brink before she destroys everyone in her path?
Warning: Contains a hot wizard prince panting to bring out a good-girl shifter's naughty side. Accidental voyeurism, deliberate orgasms, a jealous rival wizard, and fun with prophecy.
THE WRONGED DAUGHTER -- Cinderella hungers to escape from under Widow Wikkid's grinding thumb. But to snare a plum job at Prince Industries, Cin desperately needs her degree, and she can't wrap her mind around tax accounting.
Then scarred but sexy Rafe Montoya ignites her imagination with his brilliant tutoring—and, as they work together in his cozy apartment, he sets her body on fire. She thinks he's the one for her, until he starts pushing her to attend Gideon Prince's marriage-mart ball.
THE HANDSOME PRINCE -- Rafe is really Gideon Prince, head of Prince Industries. He must name his bride by his April first birthday or suffer the loss of his family fortune.
Rumors say he's still single because women love his money and looks, not him. Is he lonely or just another duplicitous tycoon?
THE GLASS SLIPPER TEST -- Hopefuls flock to Prince's birthday ball, but only the woman who is kind, wise, and generous will win his heart. Is it Cin, or will her stepmother, as she always does, snatch the prize for her own daughters?
And on the night of the ball, when Cin discovers Rafe’s true identity, can she even accept his final test?
Warning: Rags-to-riches fairytale meets the texting generation. Stepsisters who are a blush-brush shy of a full makeup set, and a ball gown built like a tank.
For anyone who has ever been persecuted or hidden their light under a bushel.
It's always sexy when he runs the company...but she commands his heart. These 10 couples know exactly what suits them and where to draw the line between business and pleasure. Find out who's boss on these perfect lunchtime breaks!
An Inconvenient Love -- To expand his real estate business, Luca Castellioni needs an English-speaking secretary and a wife, so he strikes a bargain with pretty stranger Sophia Stevens. She's fascinating, and soon enough he wants more marriage and not so much convenience in their agreement. Too bad his new wife has reconstructed her own life without him. Can love overcome the obstacles between them?
Urgent: One Nanny Required -- Rania George is offered a sweet gig babysitting a boy she adores. Only catch? She has to fly to Hollywood--a place she loathes--and spend three weeks with his devastatingly handsome and arrogant father.
Slow Ride -- Mechanic Cooper Moretto rolls up on trouble with a capital T when he spots Kyla O'Grady's '67 Mustang Coupe by the side of the road. The new gal in Aston Falls is out of cash and he's short-handed, so an employment trade makes sense. But there's danger following Kyla. Can their love vanquish the threat?
Bride by the Book -- Small-town Arkansas attorney Garner Holt badly needs an assistant to sort out his cluttered office, but he didn't expect a super-secretary like Miss Angelina Brownwood. She's perfect until an online search reveals a flaw: Angelina isn't a secretary. But does her secret mean she's not the girl for him?
Looking for Prince Charming -- Glory agrees to pose as her boss's girlfriend while he campaigns for Lord Mayor of Melbourne--which might not be the best idea since she's already in love with him!Battling the Best Man: Now a Chicago resident, Dr. Kory Flemming can't say no to returning home for her best friend's wedding. Trouble is, Will Mitchell, the only man smart enough to keep pace with Kory in high school, is the best man, and he's up to his usual flirtatious tricks. Can they set aside their rocky past to make a new future together?
A Man for All Seasons -- There are crazier ways to spend a holiday. At least that's what journalist Janey Turner keeps telling herself when she agrees to spend Thanksgiving with the editor she's never met in person before. But the chemistry that flares between her and Joe Argenti is as hot and unexpected as the lightning strike that soon ignites Casper Mountain. Will her professional dreams cost her a merry Christmas?
Act of Love -- When you're young and passionate about your first theatre job, you do everything your director tells you, right? Not if you're Marigold Aubrey, who can't seem to resist speaking her mind around charismatic Tor Douglas. But is she trying for the part, or his heart?
Edie and the CEO -- Edie Rowan is passionate about workers' rights, but when her protests backfire, championing the little guy gets her in trouble with sexy CEO Everett Kirk. He sends her to attend management camp--and even drives her there himself. When they let down their professional guard, sparks fly and secrets are revealed.
The Meatball Mistress -- Ryan Garridy is a diehard commitment phobe, struggling to keep his Italian restaurant afloat. The last thing he needs is to hire Cara Manzoni, a woman who skipped out on paying for her meal. Unless, that is, this secretive stunner can save more than just his livelihood.
-4 also available separately.
Sparkling, sassy, sinfully sexy. Indulge your yen for action-packed vampire romance with these short bites.
Biting Holiday Honeymoons -- That special night with their master vampires is interrupted by Dracula and Santa Vamp. Biting Halloween—Elena and Bo's honeymoon in the Dells is derailed when they get run off the road by a vampire. They chase him, only to find out Dracula—the real Dracula—is on the loose. Introduces Glynn Rhys-Jenkins from Biting Oz. Biting Christmas—Nixie and Julian slide into a hot-tub honeymoon, but things turn nasty when Santa Vamp and Mrs. Claus show up. Warning: These titles contain vampires. Fighting, biting, loving vampires. And adult couples trying to have sexy times on their wedding nights. Explicit language. Slang guide included.
Oz Bites -- Vampires and sex and flamingos oh my! Punk musician Nixie Emerson is now married to her master vampire and life is grand. Until the mayor “voluntells” her to assemble a pit orchestra for Oz, Wonderful Oz, a new Broadway-caliber musical. Problem—she has no budget. Add in a vampire turf war and a pregnancy that makes finding the right sexual position a challenge and running from rogue vampires impossible, and she’s getting overwhelmed. As a rebel who thrives on creative solos, she’s getting zilch for solo time. Then someone blabs there’s no pay and her musicians back out. Worse, whoever’s stealing secrets isn’t just stealing Nixie’s. Warning: Contains wild sex, explicit violence, and a frazzled punk heroine. Or is that explicit sex, wild violence, and a frazzled lawyer vampire? What the heck. There’s sex, swearing, fighting and smiles.
Murder at Chipmunk Lake -- Nixie's lost her mojo! Nixie Emerson, punk rock musician and first-time mom-to-be, has a stalker. Her band Guns and Polkas has gone national after their big stage debut, but the price of fame is the stalker trying to scare her into leaving the band. Her husband, master vampire Julian, whisks Nixie away to the Wisconsin north woods—where they meet the stalker on the pier of their cabin and he again threatens Nixie. Julian punches him out and the couple walks away thinking the problem is over. But when the next evening the stalker is found dead, they find out the trouble is only starting. Warning: contains a cranky pregnant lady trying to control her swearing, a master vampire appeasing his wife with food and creative sex, murder, mayhem and several arguments over what to name the baby.
Biting Serendipity -- Best April Fools joke ever—falling in love. Serendipity “Sera” Braun hoists beer steins at her tavern job, where a Viking bouncer is bedsheets waiting to get sweaty. But Thor only scowls at her. Warning: A terribly lonely vampire, a conflicted schoolmarm with a caged wild side, nosy roommates and the female version of a bromance, not to mention scorching sex, swearing with the **** filled in, a whole town full of busybodies—and the best April Fools joke ever.
When and why did you begin writing?
I’ve been telling myself stories forever, romantic stories of passion, adventure, and action. Later I entertained classmates with fun parodies on student life. Stories seem to bubble up inside me until the pressure is so great I have to let them out, lol. But it wasn’t until I got my hands on a computer keyboard that words began to pour out in my first romance. It was combination hobby, escape, and adventure.
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
My novels are action-packed, steamy stories that are foremost exciting and fun to read. But the stories have a theme. Making a choice, working for hope, finding joy. Becoming a better version of yourself. Finding the one who helps you be a better person. Helping that one be better, too.
What books have most influenced your life most?
I’m an introverted performer, so Quiet and Presence were big eye-openers to me. The Physics of Immortality was groundbreaking for my spirituality. My favorite re-read is Sunshine.
Can you share a little of your current work with us?
I have a bunch of titles coming up, lol.
Hunt Mates (Pull of the Moon) is part of Haunted by Love, an anthology for the March of Dimes. It’s the story where iota wolf shifter Emma Singer meets her boss (and wizard prince) Gabriel Light. Emma has just snared a coveted job at Gabriel’s Choice Buy store—when a pricy phone is stolen, and it looks like Emma’s the thief. (August 1-15 wide, then Kindle unlimited through October.)
The Biting Love Series is rereleasing with Entangled Publishing. Nine steamy stories where high-stakes urban fantasy meets zany small-town mayhem. The first book is Bite My Fire, where Detective Elena O’Rourke solves her first murder. Tag line: He’s perfect…and he’s her number one suspect. He is yummy Viking master vampire Bo Strongwell. (Releases July 31.)
On the contemporary romance side of things, Bad Boy Billionaire’s Lady, part of the box set Billionaire Ever After, is the story of Elizabeth Rothschild, who promised a dying man she’d protect his charitable legacy. But the greedy, manipulative sharks on the board want her out. And now the biggest shark of all, the Lovless heir, is coming home.
Rebel Lovless joined the Navy to escape his robber-baron grandfather molding him into a ruthless copy. So when the old man dies, the SEAL returns to give away his billions, only to find surprise charities—and a hostile board tearing at the throat of charity organizer, classy lady Elizabeth Rothschild. (Releases September 12.)
Night’s Caress (The Ancients) is coming from Entangled Publishing September 25. Seb Rikare is an FBI Special Agent and ancient vampire. He’s investigating a series of murders where the bodies are drained of blood and clutching incriminating tourist pamphlets for the small city of Meiers Corners, Illinois. The town is enemy vampire territory, so to follow the clues, he needs to go in undercover. He enlists the help of brash, vibrant human woman Brie Lark. Since he’s all about no-emotion, her flamboyance and passions drive him crazy, lol.
How did you come up with the titles?
I found out recently that series should be branded, that is, the titles should resonate together. So I started thinking of titles in groups. The Pull of the Moon series revolves around a dangerous prophecy where each couple has to find a piece of the Key to Magic. So Heart Mates (finding the heart piece), Mind Mates (finding the mind piece), and Soul Mates. When I added in prequels to book 1 and 2, they became Prophecy Mates (finding the prophecy) and Hunt Mates (hunting for the real phone thief). I’ve been in two billionaire box sets now, so I knew those three books should have “Billionaire” in the title. A solid standby is picking a poetic stand-in for the hero and heroine—like The Flame and the Flower. Variation, take out the “and the” and make it possessive. So, Bad Boy Billionaire/Lady became Bad Boy Billionaire’s Lady. The next story in the set features a classic Bruce Wayne sort of billionaire and a radical reporter, so The Classic Billionaire’s Newshound.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
My greatest joy as an author comes from readers joining me in my story worlds. I hope you’ll come and join me soon, and that you find entertainment and pleasure in the pages of my books.
What do you want your legacy to be and why?
I hope to leave the world a better place than I found it. I think it’s something impressed on me early on. When we had picnics at the park (big family things with cousins and volleyball and tons of food) we always left the site as clean or cleaner than we found it. Now I apply that to not only places I’ve been, but people I meet and organizations I’m in. I hope to give a little joy, a little peace, a little entertainment, and a lot of love.
If your book was made into a film, who would you like to play the lead?
Benedict Cumberbatch. I don’t care which story, lol. That voice *shiver*.
Do you have a blog/website?
Blog http://maryhughesbooks.blogspot.com/
Newsletter http://www.maryhughesbooks.com/Newsletter.html
Group Blog http://www.lustwithalaugh.com/
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/MaryHughesAuthor
Twitter http://www.twitter.com/MaryHughesBooks
BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/mary-hughes