A
Touch of Passion
The Disgraced Lords # 3
The Disgraced Lords # 3
By: Bronwen Evans
Releasing March 24th, 2015
Loveswept
Blurb
In the latest Disgraced Lords novel from
USA Today bestselling author Bronwen Evans, a vivacious thrill seeker clashes
with her dutiful defender—causing irresistible sparks to fly.
Independent
and high-spirited, Lady Portia Flagstaff has never been afraid to take a risk,
especially if it involves excitement and danger. But this time, being kidnapped
and sold into an Arab harem is the outcome of one risk too many. Now, in order
to regain her freedom, she has to rely on the deliciously packaged Grayson
Devlin, Viscount Blackwood, a man who despises her reckless ways—and stirs in
her a thirst for passion.
After
losing his mother and two siblings in a carriage accident years ago, Grayson
Devlin promised Portia’s dying brother that he’d always watch over his wayward
sister. But having to travel to Egypt to rescue the foolhardy girl has made his
blood boil. Grayson already has his hands full trying to clear his best friend
and fellow Libertine Scholar of a crime he didn’t commit. Worse still, his
dashing rescue has unleashed an unforeseen and undesired consequence: marriage.
Now it’s more than Portia he has to protect . . . it’s his battered heart.
Excerpt
All the while Portia was listening to the seasoned courtesans she
kept her eyes trained on Lord Blackwood, simultaneously praying he didn’t see
her and wishing that for once he did see her—as a woman.
She knew Grayson looked upon her as a replacement baby sister when she
definitely did not view him as a brother. She never pushed the issue, because
she was petrified of losing him from her life, but sometimes, watching from the
shadows as he flirted and seduced, he broke her heart.
He’d find her presence here scandalous, as would most of society, an
unmarried lady of two and twenty years unaccompanied at such a ball. Her five
brothers would be angry, but they understood how confining the ton was for
a woman of her intelligence. They encouraged her need for independence,
respected it. However, Grayson compared her to the one woman he held in the
highest regard, his dearly departed mother, and therefore he found Portia
wanting.
Grayson had a distinct view of women, probably because his mother
had died when he was young and he idealized her memory. Lady Blackwood had been
considered a sweet, dutiful paragon of virtue, and no woman could live up to
her reputation. Grayson’s women generally fell into two groups. There were
women, beautiful and sensual, often in certain sexually paid employment, whom
he wanted in his bed. Then there were the other women, who were demure and
respectable. Women he considered as potential marriage material. Unfortunately,
Portia fell into a third group, women whom he could not place in one of the
previous two categories.
She was aware that if her identity became known, she’d
be ruined. She’d thought her quest for knowledge was worth society’s scorn.
However, as the evening progressed, it appeared that this had to be her worst
venture yet.
“Oh, I say. Who’s the other handsome gent with Lord Blackwood?
Perhaps we can entice the two men to play for the evening.”
Her heart skipped a beat, for she knew without looking who stood
behind Lord Blackwood—her brother Robert. Where one went, the other followed. Dash it all.
If Robert caught her, there would be hell to pay. He might understand her
thirst for knowledge, but he’d not condone her being here, nor that she had
come alone.
“That’s Lord Flagstaff, and let me tell you, he has no problem
standing to attention.” The Cyprian glanced at her four companions. “I’m sure
the two of them can keep us well pleasured tonight.” At the murmured assent,
she added, “Are we all in agreement? We five shall entertain these two fine
gentlemen.”
“Let’s have ourselves a private party,” tittered another. “I would
die to be either of these gentlemen’s mistress.”
Portia’s
gaze narrowed thoughtfully. How on earth . . . five with two? She had so much
to learn. She’d come tonight purely as a voyeur; however, she had no intention
of watching her brother make love to a woman, and there was no way she could
watch Grayson with another woman. Her mother did say curiosity often led down a
path one did not wish to follow.
Author Info
Giveaway
Thank you for hosting A TOUCH OF PASSION
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