The Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century British epistolary novel. It is generally considered to be the first detective novel, and it established many of the ground rules of the modern detective novel. The story was originally serialised in Charles Dickens&apos; magazine All the Year Round. The Moonstone and The Woman in White are widely considered to be Collins&apos; best novels, and Collins adapted The Moonstone for the stage in 1877, although the production was performed for only two months.
The Moonstone of the title is a diamond, not to be confused with the semi-precious moonstone gem. It gained its name from its association with the Hindu god of the moon Chandra. It was said to be protected by hereditary guardians on the orders of Vishnu, and to wax and wane in brilliance along with the light of the moon.
Rachel Verinder, a young English woman, inherits a large Indian diamond on her eighteenth birthday. It is a legacy from her uncle, a corrupt British army officer who served in India. The diamond is of great religious significance as well as being extremely valuable, and three Hindu priests have dedicated their lives to recovering it. The story incorporates elements of the legendary origins of the Hope Diamond (or perhaps the Orloff Diamond or the Koh-i-Noor diamond). Rachel&apos;s eighteenth birthday is celebrated with a large party, at which the guests include her cousin Franklin Blake. She wears the Moonstone on her dress that evening for all to see, including some Indian jugglers who have called at the house. Later that night, the diamond is stolen from Rachel&apos;s bedroom, and a period of turmoil, unhappiness, misunderstandings and ill-luck ensues. Told by a series of narratives from some of the main characters, the complex plot traces the subsequent efforts to explain the theft, identify the thief, trace the stone and recover it.

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The Moonstone (Unabridged)

Fiercely protective of her heart, India Burke let down her defenses when Cris Ardmore went from another notch on her D/s playdate belt to everything she could never admit she wanted. But being disowned by your family and betrayed by your lover aren&apos;t easy to get over, and India&apos;s old fears of intimacy creep in against a backdrop of professional drama that forces her return to a place that never really felt like home. Though she proved her loyalty when it mattered most, love is about more than grand gestures and Cris wants all of her-which may be more than India is able to give. Can Cris and India navigate to a shared future or will they forever be off course?
** Please Note: Bound in the Streets is Book 2 of the After Hours Series and CANNOT be read as a stand-alone. Bound in the Streets, the beginning of Cris and India&apos;s story, was previously published as Intimate Geography.

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Bound in the Streets - After Hours, Book 2 (Unabridged)

***Includes the bonus short story, Temporary Arrangement, the prequel to The Renaldi Series***
Look, but don&apos;t touch…
The Renaldis. Alone and broke, Paige Stewart can&apos;t believe her good luck. Who hires a virtual stranger out of a New York City coffee shop to care for their adorable grandson?
Apparently Claudia Renaldi does. Widower Matteo Renaldi isn&apos;t pleased that his mother found a replacement nanny so soon after he fired the last one. Yet little Matty takes to Paige like no other nanny before. And Matteo can&apos;t deny he&apos;s quite taken with her as well. She&apos;s beautiful. Sweet. And far, far too young for him.
There&apos;s something about the gorgeously sexy Matteo that fills Paige with longing to break through his wall of formality and touch his softer side. But no one knows better than she that crushing on her boss is one thing. Acting on those feelings is forbidden. Foolish. Inevitable…
Warning: Sexy, grumpy Italian hero who is determined to keep his walls up. No matter how much his son&apos;s sweetly beautiful nanny drives him to distraction.
Tempted by Her Boss: The Renaldis, Book 1 Business? Meet pleasure…
The Renaldis, Book 1
Paige Stewart has committed the ultimate nanny sin-she&apos;s fallen in love with her boss. She adores Matteo Renaldi&apos;s sweet, precocious son. Who wouldn&apos;t? But it&apos;s torture going about her day-to-day tasks, catching fleeting glimpses of the boy&apos;s enigmatic father. Chastising herself for fantasizing she&apos;s in the Renaldi master bed…
It&apos;s ridiculous, pointless. After all, soon little Matty won&apos;t need her anymore and she&apos;ll move on. Matteo has no interest in dating. He&apos;s consumed by work, his son…and his son&apos;s nanny. She&apos;s everything he&apos;s not: young, carefree, trusting, maybe a little naïve. She deserves better than an embittered widower. Yet when she accidentally falls into his arms, he can&apos;t resist drawing her in for a kiss that quickly spirals out of control.
As they travel to his family&apos;s home in Italy and slowly fall in love, the whispers start. And when one particularly ugly story blows up in their faces, their reputations might escape unscathed, but their hearts may not…
Warning: The sexy, grumpy Italian hero is finally won over by his son&apos;s sweetly beautiful nanny-though it was quite the challenge for her to catch him. Watch for lots of high drama, passionate love and malicious rumors before these two can find their HEA.

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