Chandeliers, potted palms, sparkling champagne—all the standard trap pings of festivity aside, ballrooms were a gentleman’s office. They were the places a gentleman conducted the most important business transactions of his life: ensuring a place in society and arranging his marriage. Jack had alr...
“Here” being the annual Folkestone Starry Night Gala, his mother’s own ball, considered by the best of London society as the gateway to the first great events of the season.He respectfully disagreed.Jamie leaned on the stone balustrade of the Folkestone town house, a champagne flute precariously ...
On the nearing horizon, the flickering of torch lights illuminated a massive array of tents, a Bedouin village rising from the sands. The faint sounds of music and laughter beckoned welcomingly across the distance. He took another deep breath and closed his eyes in satisfaction. Beside him, Crisp...
It was the first thing Elise noticed when she arrived at the yard late in the morning. For the first time since her father’s death, she’d actually slept late. And look what happened. Her master builder was running around without his shirt on. Her mother would have shrieked it wasn’t ladylike to n...
He’d expected that hearing her admit to her secret would dampen his ardor considerably. Instead, it had heightened it. He didn’t hold with betrayal or covert activity and that was exactly what she’d engaged in, in the hopes of bringing down the organization. She’d pretende...
It also ensured Channing would come alone. Jocelyn and Nick were waiting for him when he arrived, already settled at a quiet table in a far corner where they wouldn’t be disturbed. They rose and embraced him. There was no question of their loyalty to one another. Channing ...
Benedict shoved off the desk and began to pace the room, his body filled with restless, frustrated energy. He knew why. He’d never really gotten over Sarah, no matter how hard he’d tried, and oh, how he’d tried. The gossips weren’t far wrong when they said he’d bedded over...
Phaedra climbed the steps to Bram’s rooms over the stable, humming a little tune under her breath. If today’s events had proven anything to her it was that she could not wait for ever. The threat of discovery had not deterred her. In fact, it had heightened her need to act. Exposure meant Bram wo...
They'd made love again on the table, this time without their clothes. Elena had been dressed in nothing but candlelight and elation. They'd finally gotten around to drinking the the delicate goblets Elena had set out earlier. They'd toasted his return and her the nagging fear of Alicante's coerci...
He had no doubt her show was for his benefit, a payback for usurping her authority this morning. But payback or not, it was garnering the wrong kind of attention from the wrong kind of men as they made their way across the crowded inn yard, and it made Grahame uneasy. Not every eye in the place b...