The
Rakehell’s Seduction
Seduction #2
By
Lauren Smith
Genre: Historical/Regency Romance
Release Date: February 6, 2017
Synopsis
HE’S MADE A DANGEROUS
WAGER
Ambrose Worthing is no
gentleman. He’s a proud cold-hearted rake who’s determined to stay a bachelor
forever. He enjoys bedding a different woman every night without the risk of
falling in love. When he hears about a wager over the seduction and ruination
of the daughter of his father’s best friend, he knows he must intervene.
Committing himself to the bet, he agrees to seduce Lady Alexandra Rockford—for
her own good. He never expected the lady in question to be a beautiful, fiery
creature who has passions of her own that call to his guarded heart.
SHE’S VOWED NEVER TO
FALL IN LOVE AGAIN
Alexandra Rockford has
sworn off men, her heart still broken from the false promises of a childhood
sweetheart who left her to marry an heiress. When she stumbles into Ambrose
outside of a country ball, she knows the rake his trouble. His smile, his
touch, his forbidden kiss are all too tempting but being with him would ruin
her. Determined to enjoy herself without falling in love, Alex can’t help but
let her defenses down with the too charming rake. But when she discovers
Ambrose is seducing her to win a bet, it will take everything Ambrose has to
prove to her that he is worthy to love her.
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Excerpt
Ambrose Worthing
was attending a country dance.
The notion was
laughable. He, a glorified rakehell with a distaste for country life, was
currently entrapped in a bloody assembly room that could pass for a barn on
better days. In fact, as he glanced around the room, he decided it most
certainly resembled a farmyard at the moment, with the gaggle of society mamas
squawking like geese, their turbans festooned with tall ostrich plumes.
He groaned when
he saw them scrutinizing him, whispering behind their fans, their eyes dancing
over his form as they assessed his marital suitability. From the clever smiles
he glimpsed, he knew they were ready to throw their innocent daughters at his
feet.
Like bloody
hell. He was not about to find himself accidentally “compromising” any of the
young ladies here tonight. He’d come here tonight to find one particular young
woman to seduce her, to win a bet he’d made in London the previous week, and
hopefully save her. He was not about to let the gathering of society mamas
intimidate him into dancing with their daughters, even if they rivaled the
great ancient Mongolian Golden Horde led by Genghis Khan. Many a rake had
fallen under their wiles, surfacing months later to find themselves stuck with
a shy chit of a girl as a wife and an obnoxious mother-in-law.
At twenty-nine
years old, he’d managed to weather many attempts by his friends and relatives
to see him settled. If those who loved him could not bring him to the altar, no
silly chits from the country would have any success either. He was a permanent
bachelor, and he liked it. Marriage was not made for men like him. To be tied
down with one woman for the rest of his life and suffer the trappings of home
and hearth when he could be exploring the world and living? Heavens no, he
would not give up his freedom for anything.
A few daring
matchmaking mamas separated from the crowd and walked in his direction.
Damnation, even the need for a master of ceremonies to perform introductions
wouldn’t stop these women.
Ambrose spun on
his heel, desperate to avoid conversation. If he had to listen to one more
story about how well their daughters played the pianofortes or how accomplished
they were at needlepoint, he’d run from the assembly hall screaming.
He had met
almost everyone present at the dance and had no desire to continue any of the
acquaintances. He was only here because of the wager placed in a betting book
at White’s. A damned fool named Gerald Langley had put down in the books that
anyone who plucked the fruit of this girl’s vine would receive five thousand
pounds from him. Langley was a brute with little in the way of good sense and
far too much coin. Ambrose had no idea why Langley had it in for the Earl of
Rockford’s daughter, but he did. After reading the bet, Ambrose had penned his
name to the challenge and notified Langley he had accepted the wager.
For once in his
life he was trying to do the right thing by a woman. It was a bit ironic,
though, that saving the woman required compromising her. But the Earl of
Rockford and his father had been friends, and Ambrose felt he owed it to
Rockford to win the wager and keep the lady safe from true scoundrels. No other
man would take the care with her that he would and see to it that her first
time with a man was a pleasurable experience.
He had one month
to seduce Rockford’s daughter and provide proof of this seduction in London. As
the lady in question had never been to London, there was much speculation among
the men at his club whether she was a diamond of the first water or a dowdy creature.
The betting book listed her age as twenty-two, young enough not to be an ape
leader, a nasty term for women nearing spinsterhood.
Apparently
Rockford wasn’t one for traditions. Any father wishing to ensure his daughter’s
future would have brought her to London at seventeen or eighteen, had her
presented to the queen, and then made the round of balls to hunt for a husband.
Yet Rockford had
not done any of that. He’d kept his daughter in the country, living a quiet
life. An unplucked fruit to tempt the worst sort of men in White’s to bet upon
the taking of her maidenhead for their own amusement.
Normally Ambrose
had little desire to compete in wagers, especially ones which involved the
corruption of innocents. It was not out of some moral principle, but rather a
dislike of virgins. They tended to fall in love and cling to the man who took
their innocence. But after witnessing the sort of men discussing whether to
take the bet that night, Ambrose decided he would do this innocent lady a
favor. He’d penned his name in the books, taking up the wager, and sent a
letter to Rockford, renewing their acquaintance.
A letter from
Rockford arrived only a few days later, inviting Ambrose to this ball and to
spend a few weeks at Rockford’s home as a guest. It was the perfect opportunity
for Ambrose to cozy up to the man’s daughter and see what sort of creature he
would soon be bedding.
If only he knew
what the lady looked like. In the chaotic din full of dancing and music, he
could not find a single young lady among the crush that he was willing to bed.
It wasn’t that the young ladies weren’t attractive. They were, but none were to
his taste. Innocent young ladies had never appealed to him. If his friend
Gareth Fairfax had been there, Gareth would have been laughing at him. Gareth
was stuck in his own hell—the poor fool was happily married. Married! Ambrose
couldn’t think of anything more terrifying than being stuck with one woman for
the rest of his life. Helen was a darling creature and perfectly suited to Gareth,
and Ambrose supposed it would be not too terrible to share a bed with a woman
like her. But still, to be leg-shackled?
I would rather
die in a thousand unspeakable ways than stand in a bloody church and tie myself
to one woman for the rest of my days.
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Lauren Smith is
an Oklahoma attorney by day, author by night for Grand Central Publishing, who
pens adventurous and edgy romance stories by the light of her smart phone
flashlight app. She knew she was destined to be a romance writer when she
attempted to re-write the entire Titanic movie just to save Jack from drowning.
Connecting with readers by writing emotionally moving, realistic and sexy
romances no matter what time period is her passion. She’s won multiple awards
in several romance subgenres including: New England Reader’s Choice Awards,
Greater Detroit BookSeller’s Best Awards, Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award
Quarter-Finalist and a Semi-Finalist for the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award.
To connect with Lauren, visit her at http://www.laurensmithbooks.com/ or
twitter at https://twitter.com/LSmithAuthor.
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