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Pride & Passion
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Pride & Passion
Charlotte Featherstone
THEY EACH HAVE THEIR SECRETS… Lucy Ashton had long ago given up her quest for true love. In the rarified society of Victorian England, Lucy plays the game – flirting, dancing and dabbling in the newly fashionable spiritualism. Even marrying when – and who – she’s supposed to. If the stuffy Duke of Sussex cannot spark the passion she craves, he can at least give her a family and a home of her own.But when her polite marriage reveals a caring and sensual man, Lucy wonders if she can indeed have it all. But Sussex is not the man the London ton sees. And Lucy has some ghosts of her own, as well. Thus, when a blackmail scheme turns to threats of danger, the newfound peace of their marriage is ruined. Passion has a price, Lucy learns. And not all ghosts stay buried.
Praise for the work of Charlotte Featherstone
SEDUCTION & SCANDAL
“One can become addicted to Featherstone’s sexually charged romances. The quick pace and wonderfully dark and dangerous heroes are what readers dream about. Secrets, passions and conflicts abound as readers are led through a labyrinth of plot twists, séances, supernatural revelations, visions and love scenes that take their breath away and leave them panting for more.”
—Romantic Times
½
“The secret scandal in Isabella’s past, the deadly rumours that surround Black, the tale of secret societies with a dash of the paranormal, a delicious sense of sensuality, and an unseen outside force attempting to ruin all chances of happiness between the lovers, all combine to make this book an incredible read … I literally could not put this book down. A very solid 5/5 stars and highly recommended.”
—The Romanceaholic
LUST
“This was the first time I have read a Charlotte Featherstone book; I can safely say that it will not be the last …”
—Forbidden Reviews
SINFUL
“Sinful is decadence at its best. I had no choice but to read it cover to cover – the story is just that good. Charlotte Featherstone is now on my list of authors to watch!”
—Joyfully Reviewed
“Pairing a tortured hero and a strong-minded heroine creates a dynamic conflict and off-the-charts sexual tension. Throw in lots of witty dialogue and a non-traditional happy ending, and you’ve got a keeper.”
—RT Book Reviews TOP PICK!
½
Don’t miss The Brethren Guardians series!
Seduction & Scandal August 2012
Pride & Passion September 2012
Temptation & Twilight October 2012
Pride & Passion
Charlotte Featherstone
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To all the readers who fell in love with Sussex—here’s your man! Hope his story doesn’t disappoint!
PROLOGUE
“BEYOND THE MIST, the darkness and shadow, he waits, reaching out through a veil of gossamer threads—’your future,’ he whispers, ‘your destiny.’”
Heart fluttering like a trapped bird, Lucy swallowed hard as she focused on the swaying piece of silver.
“He has been there all along, waiting for you. Now is the time to reach out to him, to pull him out of the depths and into the light.”
Slowly Lucy nodded, understanding the words, hoping with every beat of her heart and pulse of her blood that the mystic’s words were true.
Occultism, spiritualism, mysticism … whatever one chose to call it, one fact remained true—it was sweeping through Victorian England, a dark presence that resided over soirees and salons, spirit meetings and private clubs.
The dark arts were an invitation to evil. Or so many a mere mortal believed. But Lucy Ashton knew them to be a door to another world—a world of darkness and mystery, a realm where demons and angels—the fallen—roamed free, selling their secrets for the price of a soul in need.
As she sat surrounded by golden candelabra, coated with layers of dripping, drying wax, with nothing but the sound of the autumn wind howling and the crackling of a log being engulfed by flame, Lucy knew she was that soul. One who needed—deeply.
The woman who sat opposite her held a silver pendulum in her hand. She knew how to find what Lucy so desperately searched for.
“Your lover,” the woman said in a voice that seemed so far away the longer Lucy followed the swaying pendulum with unblinking eyes. “He will come—soon.’’
She dearly hoped so. Eight months it had been since she had last seen him—gone without a trace, taking with him any warmth, any feeling she possessed. The heady sensation of that warmth had been too brief—much too brief.
“You were right ‘ta come to me, m’ lady,” the woman whispered. “I can find ‘im. Bring ‘im to you. Keep watching,” she encouraged. “Follow the pendulum and let yer thoughts drift ‘ta him, the man who shall fix yer future.”
Lucy’s lids were heavy, and the flickering candlelight made shadows leap on the wall, a macabre dance. The mystic’s heavily wrinkled face grew shadowed, half of her cast in darkness, the other half yellowed in the candles’ glow.
“Yes, yes …” she murmured excitedly. “That’s the way, lass.”
The room narrowed and rippled; the absinthe Lucy had taken moments before the mystic produced the pendulum had found its way into her bloodstream, filling her veins with a strange sensation—one of heightened awareness meshed with a dreamy quality. Like floating on water, she thought as her body relaxed and sunk deep into the velvet chair. Watching that swaying pendulum, Lucy felt her spirit and inhibitions leave her.
“Where are ye now?”
As if in a trance, Lucy answered, “A room. It’s dark, with only bits of light filtering through gauze curtains.”
“Yes? Go on.”
“I am not alone,” Lucy whispered. “I can sense another.”
“Close yer eyes, and see ‘im with yer mind, luv.”
Obeying, Lucy allowed her lids to close fully. Immediately she saw herself, masked, her back pressed against the filmy gauze that separated her from the other person. Sliding her hand out, she slid her palm along the curtain, feeling an answering slide from the other side.
“He is there,” the mystic whispered. “The premonition of yer future.”
Yes …
She sensed the heat, the passion. Her body remembered it—him.
Charlotte Featherstone
THEY EACH HAVE THEIR SECRETS… Lucy Ashton had long ago given up her quest for true love. In the rarified society of Victorian England, Lucy plays the game – flirting, dancing and dabbling in the newly fashionable spiritualism. Even marrying when – and who – she’s supposed to. If the stuffy Duke of Sussex cannot spark the passion she craves, he can at least give her a family and a home of her own.But when her polite marriage reveals a caring and sensual man, Lucy wonders if she can indeed have it all. But Sussex is not the man the London ton sees. And Lucy has some ghosts of her own, as well. Thus, when a blackmail scheme turns to threats of danger, the newfound peace of their marriage is ruined. Passion has a price, Lucy learns. And not all ghosts stay buried.
Praise for the work of Charlotte Featherstone
SEDUCTION & SCANDAL
“One can become addicted to Featherstone’s sexually charged romances. The quick pace and wonderfully dark and dangerous heroes are what readers dream about. Secrets, passions and conflicts abound as readers are led through a labyrinth of plot twists, séances, supernatural revelations, visions and love scenes that take their breath away and leave them panting for more.”
—Romantic Times
½
“The secret scandal in Isabella’s past, the deadly rumours that surround Black, the tale of secret societies with a dash of the paranormal, a delicious sense of sensuality, and an unseen outside force attempting to ruin all chances of happiness between the lovers, all combine to make this book an incredible read … I literally could not put this book down. A very solid 5/5 stars and highly recommended.”
—The Romanceaholic
LUST
“This was the first time I have read a Charlotte Featherstone book; I can safely say that it will not be the last …”
—Forbidden Reviews
SINFUL
“Sinful is decadence at its best. I had no choice but to read it cover to cover – the story is just that good. Charlotte Featherstone is now on my list of authors to watch!”
—Joyfully Reviewed
“Pairing a tortured hero and a strong-minded heroine creates a dynamic conflict and off-the-charts sexual tension. Throw in lots of witty dialogue and a non-traditional happy ending, and you’ve got a keeper.”
—RT Book Reviews TOP PICK!
½
Don’t miss The Brethren Guardians series!
Seduction & Scandal August 2012
Pride & Passion September 2012
Temptation & Twilight October 2012
Pride & Passion
Charlotte Featherstone
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To all the readers who fell in love with Sussex—here’s your man! Hope his story doesn’t disappoint!
PROLOGUE
“BEYOND THE MIST, the darkness and shadow, he waits, reaching out through a veil of gossamer threads—’your future,’ he whispers, ‘your destiny.’”
Heart fluttering like a trapped bird, Lucy swallowed hard as she focused on the swaying piece of silver.
“He has been there all along, waiting for you. Now is the time to reach out to him, to pull him out of the depths and into the light.”
Slowly Lucy nodded, understanding the words, hoping with every beat of her heart and pulse of her blood that the mystic’s words were true.
Occultism, spiritualism, mysticism … whatever one chose to call it, one fact remained true—it was sweeping through Victorian England, a dark presence that resided over soirees and salons, spirit meetings and private clubs.
The dark arts were an invitation to evil. Or so many a mere mortal believed. But Lucy Ashton knew them to be a door to another world—a world of darkness and mystery, a realm where demons and angels—the fallen—roamed free, selling their secrets for the price of a soul in need.
As she sat surrounded by golden candelabra, coated with layers of dripping, drying wax, with nothing but the sound of the autumn wind howling and the crackling of a log being engulfed by flame, Lucy knew she was that soul. One who needed—deeply.
The woman who sat opposite her held a silver pendulum in her hand. She knew how to find what Lucy so desperately searched for.
“Your lover,” the woman said in a voice that seemed so far away the longer Lucy followed the swaying pendulum with unblinking eyes. “He will come—soon.’’
She dearly hoped so. Eight months it had been since she had last seen him—gone without a trace, taking with him any warmth, any feeling she possessed. The heady sensation of that warmth had been too brief—much too brief.
“You were right ‘ta come to me, m’ lady,” the woman whispered. “I can find ‘im. Bring ‘im to you. Keep watching,” she encouraged. “Follow the pendulum and let yer thoughts drift ‘ta him, the man who shall fix yer future.”
Lucy’s lids were heavy, and the flickering candlelight made shadows leap on the wall, a macabre dance. The mystic’s heavily wrinkled face grew shadowed, half of her cast in darkness, the other half yellowed in the candles’ glow.
“Yes, yes …” she murmured excitedly. “That’s the way, lass.”
The room narrowed and rippled; the absinthe Lucy had taken moments before the mystic produced the pendulum had found its way into her bloodstream, filling her veins with a strange sensation—one of heightened awareness meshed with a dreamy quality. Like floating on water, she thought as her body relaxed and sunk deep into the velvet chair. Watching that swaying pendulum, Lucy felt her spirit and inhibitions leave her.
“Where are ye now?”
As if in a trance, Lucy answered, “A room. It’s dark, with only bits of light filtering through gauze curtains.”
“Yes? Go on.”
“I am not alone,” Lucy whispered. “I can sense another.”
“Close yer eyes, and see ‘im with yer mind, luv.”
Obeying, Lucy allowed her lids to close fully. Immediately she saw herself, masked, her back pressed against the filmy gauze that separated her from the other person. Sliding her hand out, she slid her palm along the curtain, feeling an answering slide from the other side.
“He is there,” the mystic whispered. “The premonition of yer future.”
Yes …
She sensed the heat, the passion. Her body remembered it—him.
