The Duke of Seduction, an all-new
historical romance from USA Today
bestselling author Darcy Burke is LIVE!
Lady Lavinia Gillingham prefers rocks and
dirt to marriage. Her passion is science, and she’s determined to marry if—and
only if—she finds a man who supports her interests and intellect. So far, she’s
managed to avoid attention on the Marriage Mart, but when the Duke of Seduction
pens anonymous letters singing her praises, she suddenly become the toast of
the ton and matrimony seems imminent.
William Beckett, Marquess of Northam
possesses the reputation of a rake, but is secretly a romantic. Spurned at
sixteen, he doesn’t expect to feel the sting of Cupid’s bow a second time, and
yet he’s able to woo the coldest of hearts with the anonymous words he
publishes. As the Duke of Seduction, he uses his skill to help Lavinia, never
anticipating she has no desire for assistance. While Lavinia is pursued by
several suitors, Beck is the one who is seduced when he learns that love can
strike twice…
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Excerpt:
The room wasn’t overly large, and it
was—seemingly—empty. It also wasn’t terribly well lit, with a low fire burning
in the grate and a pair of sconces flickering on the wall on either side of the
fireplace.
She was either beneath the desk or behind
the curtain. He couldn’t see the underside of the desk from the door. It wasn’t
a pedestal as Lord Evenrude’s had been.
Circling around, he saw no one hiding
there. That left the draperies on the window. He moved to the far wall and
instantly noted the slight lump behind the blue damask. Moving forward, he
reached for the fabric but hesitated before he pushed it aside. What if it
wasn’t her?
The fabric moved, and she bared her face.
“You found me.” Her dark gaze registered surprise. “Oh, it’s you!”
“It’s me.”
“Are you still looking for a place to
hide?”
“I am.”
She reached for his lapel and held the
drapery wide, pulling him into the darkness beside her. “He’ll be done counting
shortly. If he isn’t already.”
“I should probably hide somewhere else,” he
said, though he was loath to move. Ensconced in the dark with Lavinia, he was
acutely aware of her heat and the intoxicating scent of lilies and honeysuckle.
“Yes, I suppose you should.” She turned
toward him, and they were so close, her breasts brushed against his chest.
“Sorry,” she murmured.
God, he
wasn’t. He was only sorry he had to leave.
“Before you go, I wanted to thank you again
for the fossils.” She whispered, her breath tickling his neck as she spoke. “I
can’t stop looking at them. They’re absolutely extraordinary. I hope I have
reason to visit Devon one day so I can hunt for my own.”
“I hope you do too. Consider yourself
welcome at Waverly Court any time.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
He heard the smile in her voice and
resisted the urge to run his fingers over her mouth so he could feel the curve
of her lips. He really should go—
But first, he wanted to ask her something.
“Do you know the Duchess of Kendal?”
“Yes, but not well. Fanny’s sister is a
good friend of hers. Why?”
Why indeed. Beck wanted to enlist Lavinia’s
help to see if the Duchess might be able to help him learn who SW and DC might
be. However, if the Duchess had been part of a scandal, she might prefer to leave
those memories in the past. Furthermore, he wasn’t sure he should include
Lavinia in any of this.
And yet, he found he simply couldn’t
resist. “Do you know what happened with the Duchess when she was out in
Society—maybe sixteen years ago? The Duke mentioned something, and I was
curious. Because my sister was out at the same time.” He added the last because
he felt he had to share a reason for his inquiry. Still, he hated bringing
Helen up since he didn’t want to answer too many questions about her,
particularly regarding her fate.
“She was compromised. A gentleman—I can’t
remember who—wooed her. They were caught kissing, and he refused to marry her.
She was ruined. It was horrible because it wasn’t even her fault. It’s so
unfair. Men can kiss whomever they want, and women are blamed for any
indiscretion.”
“The key is to not get caught. It sounds as
though this gentleman was rather inept.”
“Are you saying it was his fault?” She
sounded surprised. “Most would argue they were at least both to blame.”
“Certainly she retains some culpability,
but a decent gentleman would ensure they could kiss and not get caught.”
“And how would they do that?” Something in
her tone changed. Her voice lowered, and it felt as though she’d moved just a
hair closer.
If he leaned just a tiny bit forward, he
was sure he’d feel her breasts again. God, how he wanted to. “They might hide
themselves behind a drapery in the library.”
“During hide-and-seek?”
Beck’s cock lengthened and grew stiff as
the air around them heated. “Probably not. In that case, someone is actually looking to find them.”
“And yet here we are.” Her voice had
changed again, going nearly breathless.
“Yes, here we are.”
“Are you going to, then?” she asked, her
breasts grazing his chest as she edged herself against him. “Kiss me.”
“By God, I think I am.”
“Oh, good.”
About Darcy:
Darcy Burke is the USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, emotional historical and
contemporary romance. Darcy wrote her first book at age 11, a happily ever
after about a swan addicted to magic and the female swan who loved him, with
exceedingly poor illustrations. Join her reader club at http://www.darcyburke.com/readerclub. A native Oregonian, Darcy lives on the
edge of wine country with her guitar-strumming husband, their two hilarious
kids who seem to have inherited the writing gene, two Bengal cats and a third
cat named after a fruit.
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