Ruth Urswick’s father is insane. The only place she can find sanctuary from him is a Covent Garden brothel, and the only person who can help her is a dangerously attractive stranger. Ruth learns much more than any virgin should rightfully know at Mother Brown’s, but is that really a bad thing?
Oliver Bridgman, Earl of Iveleigh, is haunted by the tragedy that cut short his military career and nearly killed him. When he meets Ruth, he finds the bravery and beauty he’s been searching for all his life, but she needs his help.
Desperately.
If Oliver wants to win Ruth, he has to defeat a crazy man and take her as she is, penniless and friendless.
Georgian England provides the rich and colorful setting for this sexy, romantic adventure. How can you resist?
Oliver and Ruth certainly can’t!
WICKED INTENTIONS
One woman's plight leads to a love of all time.
1-933874-20-1
http://tinyurl.com/eqkog
Oliver understood. “More patience. More waiting.” She nodded. “At least,” he added, in an effort to placate her, “you know in the end you’ll get there.”
“It could be too late,” she said. “I’ll be five and twenty soon. No one has seen me, no one knows me. I can’t be a debutante; I’m too old for that. And if no one knows me, I have far less chance of achieving anything!”
She trembled, near to tears again and Oliver, anxious to avoid another bout of crying and deeply concerned for her, hastened to reassure her. “I think you have an excellent chance. You are lovely, something out of the ordinary and you are fresh. Your appearance the other night didn’t go unnoticed. You won’t be passed by, my dear. You underestimate yourself.”
She smiled at the compliment. “I hope so. But the thought of more time spent quietly in the country appalls me. I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t be so ungrateful, but—“
Oliver stood up and came across the room to her, pulling her into his arms. “Just this once,” he said, more to assure himself than her, and he put his mouth to hers.
It was Ruth’s first adult kiss. She responded instantly, putting her arms around him, feeling his firm body, while his lips played softly on hers, inviting a response. She gave it, in full measure, innocence overcome by instinct.
This was what she wanted. Someone to call her own, someone who would treat her as an equal, someone kind and considerate. She hadn’t known that for years, but she knew it once and wanted it again. That was why she had accepted George’s proposal. Did Lord Iveleigh feel the same need she did? It blazed through her body the instant she opened her mouth to his. He held her close, ravaging her mouth, as though he was a dying man thirsting for water.
He drew gently away and stared at her. “See? That is why you mustn’t stay immured in the country, why you must get away from this place.”
Striding hastily across the room he left.
Ruth was left bewildered and once again, alone.
--
Lynne Connolly, The Return of the Gothic: Romance with a Dark Edge
JEWEL OF THE DRAGON, the first Department 57 book
Triskelion Author Page: http://lconnolly.notlong.com
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