I was the invisible ward, shuttled through London's gaslit ballrooms by guardians who barely glanced my way. Years of polite smiles and empty dances left me hollow, starving for a touch that saw me whole.
Then he cornered me in the shadowed library alcove, his breath hot against my ear. This devilish charmer with eyes like midnight sin, the one every whisper condemned as my downfall. His fingers traced my corseted waist, promising ravishment I swore I didn't want. But God, how my body betrayed me, arching into his grip.
We danced the forbidden edge-candle-flickered gowns brushing too near in crowded halls, his hand low on my back steering me toward ruin. Stolen moments exploded into frenzy on rumpled library rugs, our sweat-slicked bodies heaving, his mouth claiming every gasp I tried to stifle. Dubious surrender, they call it. Reckless yielding, I confess. He devours with velvet threats, murmuring how he'll ruin me sweetly if I beg first. And damn me, the plea rises unbidden.
He's vulnerability wrapped in predation, the man who cracks my isolation yet threatens to shatter everything else. My reputation, a whisper from dust. My fragile independence, stolen in a heartbeat. Family loyalties, twisted beyond repair. My guarded heart, laid bare to devastation.
I fight the pull, defiant in denial. But in candlelit shadows pulsing with our unspoken hungers, I wonder-can I let him ravish me without it consuming my world?
A full-length Regency historical erotic romance featuring a neglected innocent and a predatory rake.
