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From the Back Cover

Can there ever be real love between a powerful lord and the actress he took as a mistress?

A year ago, Hester Green's fascination with Lord Worcester led her to accept his proposition to be his hts of the bedrooether, he ossip betrothal to a duke's daughter That is too h it wrenches her insides to do so

Drake, the Marquess of Worcester, has no intention of bending to his er spread ru his intended And he has zero intention to allow it to daeh of But Hester ht her—and out of his life He'll find ways to keep her close, though the wo to be more of a rebel and less of the meek mistress she once was

CHAPTER ONE

London, 1818

Hester Green sat across from Drake as the housekeeper served their o, his brown hair gleaht, not as short as fashion demanded But then, the Marquess of Worcester cared little for any demands that came his way In truth, he usually had his way His bone structure conferred an al stubble shadowing his rugged jaw

A flutter arrowed through her at theher hands over his masculine face A hand, that had once showed calluses and scratchiness from work, but not for a year In this period, she’d lived the life of a lady without being one

He consumed another bite of food, and she followed the usto at the fare Gusto was another word that defined the marquess—in every respect

His brandy-coloured eyes lifted to her, intent and liquid His eyes had called to her even before she learned his naht shifted their hue, the sun made it more intense, fierier, just like the man himself With the candles on the table, they acquired a dark shade yet still liquid In the throes of passion, they stormed even darker

“Your cook did an excellent job today,” he coed when he lost himself in the primal desires to which he introduced her That hen he ended her innocence and reared her sheer lust for him A lust that had lurked in her core from the first minute she’d set her eyes on him

“My cook ell chosen,” she answered, as he saw to hiring the staff

Though nothing, absolutely nothing, here was hers Not the discreet but elegant house; not the furniture or the decoration; not her clothing, and certainly not his heart … never his heart

This perception lanced acute pain through her Nobleed the very view that in her circle woht-skirts Those wo what they hadn’t offered in the first place And Hester had joined the crowd Not because penury loomed—her family owned a tidy theatre co the impossibly severe attraction she felt for him

One corner of that carnal mouth lifted huht You never did it before” And he drank his ith the same relish he ate his food, or drove her to maddened sensuality

No, taking the initiative wasn’t so mistresses did, she learned fast They sat in their leased houses, with clothes that weren’t theirs, paifts, and waited They waited for the men who paid for their lives, paid for their finery, paid for the exclusive privilege of calling on thees for their mistresses to ready themselves, avail their bodies for them Men those women provided for Provided entertain social-lives, boring e beds

And that’s what Hester had done for the past year Wait, provide, and yield

They finished the meal she'd asked the cook to prepare with special attention They stood from the table, and Hester couldn't help but stare at hiht and almost as broad Every time her eyes measured hi Everywhere! His solid legs, his bunched arms, his wall of a chest All of hi warriors that plundered these lands so long ago She was of petite build, and he dwarfed her standing… or lying The siot her ready for him instantly

Both headed for the drawing-roo his brandy and her tea to dispel the sensations his height invariably produced in her

She turned with his glass in hand nearly to collide with hiistered every nuance of his ht as his head lowered to hers Then the irises darkened

“If you called lass and placed it back on the sideboard behind her

And sure as day followed night, he brought up the role he'd appointed for her in this pantomime The mistress that waited, provided, and yielded for the lord, for the man who paid her way Until men like hi, ht their old-news mistresses had to leave The leased houses, the lovely dresses, they had to leave with nothing but the thing they'd given those endered in them, their bastards

“And I need you” Drake rasped as she felt his large hands cup her buttocks to pull her to him The scent of hi

m, earth and man had the power to deflect her attention fro was about And when she clashed with his rock-hard erection, the deflection almost turned into surrender

“No, I—” She blurted as her palms rested on his massive chest