Posts with the custom taxonomy term Sailing/Shipping

The Summons by MaryLu Tyndall

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1717 – Bahamas

Emeline Hyde is the runt of the litter. Especially in comparison to her incredibly talented and comely siblings and heroic parents. She longs for a hero like her father to come and sweep her off her feet and give her the romantic adventure her parents had. She longs to find her place in life, her God-given purpose. But instead she finds herself taken from the only security she’s ever known by a man who is as far from a hero as night is from day.

Captain Blake Keene has one goal in life—to rule over his own kingdom. It is the only way to avoid the bruises of betrayal and abuse he’s suffered for so long. Hence, when he hears about the Ring of Solomon from an old Jewish pirate and tracks it down, he plans on using it to gain the power and wealth he craves.
The Jesuits, on command of the Pope, are after the infamous Ring. In an effort to distract them, Blake slips it into a missionary woman’s pocket, only to put her in danger when the Jesuits discover his ruse. Now, he has no choice but to steal her away.

The Ring is more powerful than he expected. The woman not at all like he expected. With Jesuits on the chase and demons haunting him, Blake soon discovers that Emeline holds a power that far surpasses any relic from the past.

The Privateer’s Prize by Mary Tyndall

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1780 – Georgia

Spinster Thea Cabot has long since given up her dream of getting married and having a family. Shamed for life when her fiancé Isaac Prescott left her at the altar, she spent the past four years caring for her younger sisters and an aging father. Now they are all gone. To make matters worse, her beloved city of Savannah, Georgia is overrun by British troops, and it looks as though they are here to stay. Honoring her father’s dying wish, Thea boards a merchantman carrying a secret Patriot message for a contact in Baltimore, but imagine her shock when the ship is soon captured by an American Privateer, captained by the very man who ruined her life.

The Captain’s Rescue by Kit Morgan

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1897 – Massachusetts

Captain Asher Stone left his little town of Clear Creek, Oregon years ago to manage the Van Cleet Shipping Company. He’s always been detail oriented and good with numbers, so when Cyrus Van Cleet offered him the job, he took it. Over the next eight years Ashton discovered he was good at other things too. Like spying and privateering. But what’s a little extra work? After all, between his three jobs, he’s managed to procure his own ship. But now he’d like to settle down, find a wife, start a family. Unfortunately for him, he’s got a few slight obstacles in the way. For one, someone is spreading viscous rumors that he’s a smuggler. And two, the one woman that really catches his eye, accuses him of ruining her family during his privateering days. But she’s got it all wrong, and he aims to set the record straight with the pretty spitfire.

Elodie Carlson finally has the name of the man that ruined her family. Captain Asher Stone. And she’s determined to bring him to justice! But when she finally gets the chance to confront him, he of course denies any involvement and barely remembers the name of her father’s ship! In fact, he’s just as determined to prove his innocence as she is to prove he’s guilty. And blast it! Wouldn’t you know his explanation as to what might have really happened makes sense? But to prove it they’ll have to work together to bring the real culprits to light, and see them arrested. Can she bear working with a man she’s not sure she can trust? Worse, can she work with a cowboy turned sea captain without losing her heart?

Perilous by Tamara Leigh

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1354 – England

SCOURGE OF THE ENGLISH

Chevalier Amaury de Chanson, once the King of France’s prized privateer on the high seas, has been through the crucible of battle and betrayal. Believed to have perished during an English siege, after years of enslavement by an old adversary, he escapes. Vengeance burning bright, he resolves to destroy his enemy’s pirating operations. Arriving in England where his orphaned son has become the ward of the formidable Baron Wulfrith, he encounters the man’s sister. When Lady Fira unmasks his disguise, Amaury is forced to flee with her to keep her out of enemy hands. As they navigate lands fraught with danger, he is drawn to the woman whose spirit stirs a long-dormant heart, further complicating his quest. Then there’s the secret she holds close… Caught between a longing for justice and feelings he dare not indulge lest the dark of him slay the light of her, will he choose redemption and a future with Fira, or will the tides of vengeance sweep both into the abyss?

KEEPER OF THE BOOK OF WULFRITH

As keeper of her family’s history, Lady Fira anticipates expanding her part in their tale once she weds. When that hope and her independence is threatened by an illness some believe evidence of evil, she hides her symptoms lest her protective family reduce her life to little more than a threadbare tapestry. While continuing to research Wulfrith lore and hone her archery skills, a covert outing places her in the path of the vengeful, long-lost sire of her brother’s ward, entangling her in his bid to escape an enemy who has traded the sea for land. Though secretly thrilled to embark on an adventure, when their flight forces her to act as no lady should and her illness jeopardizes their lives, her courage and faith are tested. And more so with her heart seeking to claim his amid mounting peril. Will he risk his quest for vengeance—even his life—for a woman whose affliction is destined to keep them apart?

The Italian Musician’s Sanctuary by Danielle Grandinetti

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1931 – England

Margherita Vicienzo flees Italy pursued by her former fiancé, a member of Mussolini’s Blackshirt. Smuggled illegally into England, Margherita is a foreigner at the mercy of strangers. Her limp from an improperly healed broken leg means she has nothing to offer the Ferryman family, who offer her sanctuary, and nothing to appease their son who resents her presence.

Luke Ferryman needs a wife. He wants to marry for love, but carries the weight of his family’s generations-old expectations on his shoulders. Though he inherited the role of both baker and ferryman, he knows he can’t fulfill both needs once his aging grandparents retire. A wife would help, but not an illegal one like the refugee his matchmaking grandmother is harboring.

As opposite as night and day, Luke and Margherita forge a tentative friendship that grows despite the constant threat of Margherita’s discovery. But when strangers appear in the close-knit seaside town, threatening Luke’s livelihood and Margherita’s safety, the choice between justice and mercy becomes harder. And sacrifice proves the only answer.

Moonlight on the Mississippi by Stephenia H. McGee

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1920s – Mississippi River

A lost treasure, a mysterious disappearance, and a deadly family secret—but winning her heart might be the real challenge.

Steamboat Captain Camilla Lockhart discovers a handsome stranger on board with an offer he claims she can’t refuse. If he thinks she will get involved in another hopeless treasure quest, he’s lost his sunbaked mind. Not after what happened to her father. But with her boat falling apart and her crew about to starve, Mr. Gray’s unusual proposal might be her only hope.

Daniel Gray inherited a host of problems, including a clue that could unlock old family secrets and a treasure that’s long since faded to lore. His father left him with only one name—Lockhart. But when he hires the striking, yet unconventional, steamboat captain to help him navigate the treacherous waters of the Mississippi River, he never expects his heart to get tangled in the currents.

With a criminal operation’s net tightening around them, the two must battle against time to uncover a lost family treasure and solve a mysterious disappearance before the men hunting them from the shadows discover the dangerous truth.

To Catch a Coronet by Grace Hitchcock

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1813 – England

Sometimes the only way to outsmart a scandal is to find a crown big enough to silence it.

Muriel Beau, country baker turned heiress, can’t stop instigating outrage. She discards two arranged engagements, then further antagonizes Kent society by publicly proposing to a baron at a ball. His rejection leaves her with no choice but to flee to the city and to secure a coronet so splendid that her peers will forget her debacles. The glitter of the London courts convinces Muriel that it’s possible to find the future she dreams of, until she finds herself entangled in yet another escapade–one that may cost her more than her crumbling reputation.

After years of serving as a privateer under an assumed name, Captain Erik Draycott, heir to Draycott Castle and soon to assume his uncle’s title of Earl, returns to his London home to find it in disrepair thanks to his longtime nemesis. A staunch bachelor intent on returning to his ship, the captain is shocked when his mentor encourages him to take a wife. But while his alleged pauper status causes the potential London brides to turn their noses up at him, the ladies of Kent have no such qualms and are eager to fill his coffers with their fathers’ wealth.

Caught in a whirlwind of high society and high seas, Muriel and Erik navigate a risky undertaking that threatens their futures and creating stakes that soar above the masts of Erik’s ship. Will Muriel’s bold charm and Erik’s daring bravery be enough to outsmart the scandal and secure a future as glittering as the crown Muriel seeks?

Whispers on the Tide by Naomi Rawlings

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1887 – Alaska

He only offered her passage to Alaska. But they end up fighting for something bigger along the way…

Maggie McDougal is determined to save her family’s land after her parents’ sudden deaths. And if that means leaving the sandy shores of Lake Michigan and traveling across the country to Washington Territory in search of her brother so he can claim the land, then so be it. Anything is better than watching the land she loves fall into her uncle’s greedy, conniving hands.

The trouble is, when the ship that her brother works on arrives in Bellingham, her brother isn’t on it. But Captain Sacha Amos is. And when he offers to take Maggie north to Alaska where she can meet her brother on his new ship, she has little choice about saying yes.

Except Alaska doesn’t turn out quite like she thought, at least not after she meets the gruff captain’s large, sprawling, family. A family that happens to include one sister who’s a doctor, another who’s a lawyer, and two half siblings that the family loves against all odds.

Or after she discovers the secret study that a scientist is conducting aboard Sacha’s ship—one that just might put an end to seals being illegally killed for their pelts.

But seal pelts are worth a lot of money, and if word leaks about what Sacha’s trying to do, he’s going to find himself in the crosshairs of some very powerful men.

Caught between her mission to save her family’s land and the escalating tension in Alaska, Maggie soon finds herself fighting for something that’s bigger than just property or family ties. And she just might discover a new home along the way—one that offers more warmth and love than she ever imagined possible.

The Resolute by MaryLu Tyndall

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1696 – At Sea

Pregnant, in prison, and about to be hanged for piracy, Lady Gabrielle Hyde has lost all faith in God, man, and life itself. Unlike her wildly adventurous family, all Gabrielle ever wanted was to settle down with a good man and have a bevy of wee ones. Then how did she end up about to take her last breath at the end of a rope?

Captain Cadan Hayes despises women of noble birth. Betrayed by his wife and her lover, he spent five long years as a prisoner-slave on Barbados. Now, as a fierce and successful pirate, he longs to enact revenge on the man who ruined his life.

When Cadan discovers that Gabrielle carries the son of his enemy, he captures her to use as bait. What he didn’t expect was that the lady would be the one to trap him! Ship battles, sword fights, kidnappings, and a hunt for lost pirate treasure send the couple on a wild adventure that could either grant them their hearts’ desire or end up in disaster for them both.

The River Queen by Stephenia McGee

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1923 – Mississippi

River pirates, a stolen steamboat, and a deadly chase down the Mississippi—but falling in love might be the real adventure.

When river pirates attack and steal his steamboat, Emmett Carter barely escapes. Rescued and transported to a magnificent world of glitz and showbiz aboard a flashy showboat, Emmett is immediately captivated by something more than recovering his lost inheritance—The River Queen’s beautiful, but quirky, songbird.

Anola Flynn, the star singer on The River Queen, is struggling to keep the business running as attendance dwindles during the 1923 season. With her dreams of saving the family legacy—and the only life she’s ever known—slipping away, she forges an alliance with Emmett to keep her family afloat.

Now, to outsmart the gangsters chasing them, Anola and Emmett must wade through a dark current of deception and betrayal to save not only their dreams, but everyone they care about, from sinking deeper into the Mississippi River.

The Lieutenant’s Secret Love by Elva Cobb Martin

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1800 – South Carolina

An exposed family secret changed her life forever and blindsided his Marine heart.

From the day Hannah was abandoned as a newborn, her adoptive parents have kept the truth of her origin from her and her siblings. But when that secret is exposed, a threat arises which forces her to leave the only family she’s ever known and the adoptive brother she adores. She must start her life anew in Charleston.

U.S. Marine Lieutenant Adam White, harbors a secret—more confidential than patrolling the Caribbean for French corsairs, more threatening than the fight against Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean. Adam carries a personal, burning secret in his heart. He’s fallen in love with Hannah since discovering she is not his blood sister. And the thought that she might only ever see him as her loving big brother may be the greatest threat to him yet.

As the Charleston men seek to win Hannah’s heart, she never loses touch with the man who had been her older brother. The man her heart can’t help seeing him in a whole new light. But when Adam’s squadron sets out for the Mediterranean on the most dangerous mission of his life, only God can keep him—and their love—alive.

The Sugar Baron’s Governess by Elva Cobb Martin

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1785 – Jamaica

She needs a new start…He knows a reckoning is coming.

Banished from Charleston for his misdeeds years earlier, Joshua Becket built a new life on both sides of the law in Jamaica. As sugar plantation owner and member of the governing British Assembly, he’s known and respected on the island. But he guards a secret identity. As swashbuckling Captain Jay, he leads daredevil privateering exploits on his ship, the Eagle, when the mood suits him. Currently, he needs a governess for his young daughter whose mother has passed.

Widowed gentlewoman Abigail Welch accepted the governess position, leaving behind her disintegrated life in Charleston. This new start in Jamaica might finally help her find healing for her broken heart after losing her husband in the Revolution and their infant son to yellow fever.

Joshua’s precocious, undisciplined daughter is the drawing card that brings him and Abigail together like clashing cymbals of disagreement…and fiery attraction. Can love and the miracle power of God give them a new beginning and a happily ever after?

Sharktooth Island Collection

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1830/1893/1937/Present – Georgia

Out of the Storm by Susan Page Davis

Laura Bryant sails with her father and his three-man crew on his small coastal trading schooner. After a short stay in Jamaica, where she meets Alex Dryden, an officer on another ship, the Bryants set out for their home in New England.

In a storm, they are blown off course east of Savannah, Georgia, to a foreboding island. Captain Bryant tells his daughter he’s heard tales of that isle. It’s impossible to land on, though it looks green and inviting from a distance. It has no harbor but is surrounded by dangerous rocks and cliffs.

Pirates outrun the storm and decide to bury a cache of treasure on this island and return for it later. On board is Alex, whom the cutthroats captured in Jamaica and forced to work for them. Alex risks his own life to escape the pirates and tries to help Laura and Captain Bryant outwit them. Beneath the deadly struggle, romance blossoms for Laura.

A Passage of Chance by Linda Fulkerson

Orphaned at a young age, Melody Lampert longs to escape the loveless home of the grandmother who begrudgingly raised her. Stripped of her inheritance due to her grandmother’s resentments, Melody discovers her name remains on the deed of one property—an obscure island off the Georgia coast that she shares with her cousin. But when he learns the island may contain a hidden pirate treasure, he’s determined to cheat her out of her share.

Ship’s mechanic Padric Murphy made a vow to his dying father—break the curse that has plagued their family for generations. To do so, he must return what was taken from Sharktooth Island decades earlier—a pair of rare gold pieces. His opportunity to right the wrong arrives when his new employer sets sail to explore the island.

After a series of unexplainable mishaps occur, endangering Padric and his boss’s beautiful cousin Melody, he fears his chance of breaking the curse may be ruined. But is the island’s greed thwarting his plans? Or the greed of someone else?

Island Mayhem by Elena Hill

Louise Krause stopped piloting to pursue nursing, but when money got too tight she was forced to give up her dreams and start ferrying around a playboy who managed to excel during the Great Depression. When a routine aerial tour turns south, Louise is unable to save the plane.

After crash landing, the cocky pilot is stranded. She longs to escape the uninhabited island, but her makeshift raft sinks, and she and her companions are in even worse trouble. Can Louise learn to trust the others in order to survive, or will the island’s curse and potential sabotage lead to her demise?

After the Storm by Deborah Sprinkle

Mercedes Baxter inherited two passions from her father—a love for Sharktooth Island, a spit of land in the middle of the ocean left to her in his will, and a dedication to the study of the flora and fauna on and around its rocky landscape.

For the last five years, since graduating from college, Mercy led a peaceful, simple life on the island with only her cat, Hawkeye, for company. Through grant money she obtained from a conservancy in Savannah, she could live on her island while studying and writing about the plants and animals there. Life was perfect.

But when a hurricane hits the island, Mercy’s life changes for good. Her high school sweetheart, Liam Stewart, shows up to help her with repairs, and ignites the flame that has never quite died away. And if that’s not enough, while assessing the damage to the island, they make a discovery that puts both their lives in danger.

A Heart Adrift by Laura Frantz

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1755 – Virginia

A Virginia chocolatier and a privateering sea captain collide once more after a failed love affair a decade before. Will a war and a cache of regrets keep them apart? Or will a new shared vision reunite them?

It is 1755, and the threat of war with France looms over colonial York, Virginia. Chocolatier Esmée Shaw is fighting her own battle of the heart. Having reached her twenty-eighth birthday, she is reconciled to life alone after a decade-old failed love affair from which she’s never quite recovered. But she longs to find something worthwhile to do with her life.

Captain Henri Lennox has returned to port after a lengthy absence, intent on completing the lighthouse in the dangerous Chesapeake Bay, a dream he once shared with Esmée. But when the colonial government asks him to lead a secret naval expedition against the French, his future is plunged into uncertainty.

Will a war and a cache of regrets keep them apart, or can their shared vision and dedication to the colonial cause heal the wounds of the past? Bestselling and award-winning author Laura Frantz whisks you away to a time fraught with peril–on the sea and in the heart–in this redemptive, romantic story.

A Heart for the Sailor by Terri Wangard

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1944 – Wisconsin

Working as a Winnie the Welder during World War II, Evelyn builds submarines. She’s good at her job, but men begrudge women taking jobs in heavy industry. She dreams of the day her sailor comes home and the life they’ll have, but does Jerry dream about her? When a typhoon threatens the US Fleet in the Pacific, Jerry and his shipmates aboard the Tabberer rush to the aid of their fellow sailors. The typhoon prompts a greater awareness of what he wants in life. First, though, they have to survive.

In Pieces by Rhonda Ortiz

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1793 – Massachusetts

Certain things ruin a girl’s reputation, and madness is one.

Beautiful and artistic, the only daughter of a prominent merchant, Molly Chase cannot help but attract the notice of Federalist Boston—especially its men. But she carries a painful secret: her father committed suicide and she found his body. Now nightmares plague her day and night, addling her mind and rendering her senseless. Molly needs a home, a nurse, and time to grieve and to find new purpose in life. But when she moves in with her friends, the Robbs, spiteful society gossips assume the worst. And when an imprudent decision leads to public scandal, Molly is tempted to take the easy way out: a marriage of convenience.

Merchant sailor Josiah Robb is as familiar to Molly as a brother—as dear and as exasperating. Yet she is no sister to him. He hopes to marry her before anyone else does, but sailing the high seas leaves no time for convincing Molly that he is more than her teasing childhood friend. Josiah wants a new job and a fresh start, and when he agrees to carry a confidential letter to President Washington, his life is forever changed.

In the wake of tragedy, these longtime friends discover a new intimacy. But slander, confusion, absence, and a wealthy, conniving bully stand between them. And with French spies on the loose, they not only have to rescue their reputations—they have to protect their lives.

The Petticoat Spy by Elva Cobb Martin

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1779 – West Virginia

A Charles Town belle and a blockade runner ignite fireworks in more ways than one during the American Revolution.

To Anna Grace Laurens, the war is like a distant bad dream, until her family’s Charles Town plantation is burned and her parents murdered by those loyal to the king. She flees on horseback and leaps into the Cooper River to escape her pursuers.

As John Cooper Vargas sails his sloop down the river, he spots a woman diving into the water. After firing on the Tory raiders chasing her, he rescues her and offers to take her with his parents to an island hideaway for the duration of the war. But she has other plans, including revenge for her parents’ deaths. She insists he drop her off in Charles Town, even with the British planning a massive attack by land and sea to retake the city, the Pearl of the South.

John employs his sailing skills for the patriots, risking capture and death, but he enjoys his skirmishes with the British navy blockade to bring goods from the islands to aid the cause. When Charles Town falls to the British, he docks his ship in a secret cove and joins Francis Marion’s militia. This decision lands him wounded on a harbor prison ship where more men die than on the battlefield.

Anna Grace braves the deprivations, first of a city barricaded against the British, and then one surrendered and ruled by fists of iron under the English flag and injustice. At great risk to her, she spies on the British officers garrisoned in her house, and seeks a way to rescue John before it’s too late. As both American and English armies gather near Yorktown, Virginia, for a pivotal battle, can John and Anna’s love for each other and their faith in God preserve them and help forge a new nation?

Waiting on Love by Tracie Peterson

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1872 – Great Lakes

She’s made big promises. It’ll take everything she’s got to keep them.

Crisscrossing the Great Lakes onboard her father’s freighter ship, the Mary Elise, Elise Wright has grown up cooking and caring for the crew. It is a life she loves. Unlike her estranged sister, Elise has turned down numerous opportunities for a “respectable life” with their wealthy relatives. And now, because of promises she made to her dying mother, she’s bound to the ship and her deeply grieving father more than ever.

Nick Clark is grateful to be hired on as the Mary Elise‘s first mate as he works to overcome his own guilt and others’ censure for a fatal decision he made captaining another ship. He feels protective of the Wrights and their generous natures, especially when a rough new sailor seems intent on causing serious trouble.

As the sailor’s misdeeds grow, tragedy swells up from another corner. Left to pick up the pieces of the commitments they’ve made to themselves and to each other, Nick and Elise will have to rely on their faith to see them through.

Undercurrent of Secrets by Rachel Scott McDaniel

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1920s – Traveling

Two women, a century apart, are bound by a haunting secret aboard a legendary steamboat.

Walk through Doors to the Past via a new series of historical stories of romance and adventure.

As wedding coordinator for the 100-year-old steamboat The Belle of Louisville, Devyn Asbury takes pride in seeing others’ dreams come true, even though her engagement had sunk like a diamond ring to the bottom of the Ohio River. When the Belle becomes a finalist in the Timeless Wedding Venue contest, Devyn endeavors to secure the prestigious title with hopes to reclaim some of her professional dreams. What she hadn’t planned on was Chase Jones showing up with a mysterious photo from the 1920s.
 
A century earlier, Hattie Louis is as untamable as the rivers that raised her. As the adopted daughter of a steamboat captain, her duties range from the entertainment to cook. When strange incidents occur aboard the boat, Hattie’s determined to discover the truth. Even if that means getting under First Mate Jack Marshall’s handsome skin.

The Barrister and the Letter of Marque

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1818 – England

As a barrister in 1818 London, William Snopes has witnessed firsthand the danger of only the wealthy having their voices heard, and he’s a strong advocate who defends the poorer classes against the powerful. That changes the day a struggling heiress, Lady Madeleine Jameson, arrives at his door.

In a last-ditch effort to save her faltering estate, Lady Jameson invested in a merchant brig, the Padget. The ship was granted a rare privilege by the king’s regent: a Letter of Marque authorizing the captain to seize the cargo of French traders operating illegally in the Indian Sea. Yet when the Padget returns to London, her crew is met by soldiers ready to take possession of their goods and arrest the captain for piracy. And the Letter–the sole proof his actions were legal–has mysteriously vanished.

Moved by the lady’s distress, intrigued by the Letter, and goaded by an opposing solicitor, Snopes takes the case. But as he delves deeper into the mystery, he learns that the forces arrayed against Lady Jameson, and now himself, are even more perilous than he’d imagined.