1800s A Young Lady Riding and Carriage Driving, England. #Riding #Regency #Victorian #Cartoon From: 1860 Mr. Sponge’s Sporting Tour by Robert Smith Surtees. via Google Books (PD-100)
Scenting Scandal: Lady Laura Jamison: “For the sake of propriety, I was ensuring your garments were intact.” #HistoricalMystery #VictorianRomance #RomCom https://books2read.com/suziloveSS
Continue reading →Busks shaped and reinforced the centre front of stays, or corsets. They were made from whalebone, wood, and bone, and were often inscribed with names, dates, and symbols of love because they were positioned close to the heart. The corsets worn in Jane Austen’s later years and by women in Bridgerton times often had busks to stiffen the corset and support the breasts.
The Duke of St. Martin asks Lady Rebecca Jamison, “Who protects you from the current set of fire-breathing dragons?” #HistoricalRomance #Mystery https://books2read.com/suziloveES
“And who protects you from the current set of fire-breathing dragons?”
She raised her chin. “I’ve outgrown such childishness.”
She lowered herself to the closest settee, a demonstration of ladylike maturity and a reprieve for her trembling knees.
“Pity.” His forehead furrowed into a pained frown. “Ah.
That’s why you wore a disguise. And why you came so late at night.”
She nodded. “The consortium watches our house and tracks our movements. In order to speak with you alone, I was forced to dress like this and sneak out the servant’s entrance in the dark. Although luckily, the syndicate’s inner circle doesn’t want me dead. Not yet.
“Wonderful!” He glared at her. “Your blithe not yet offers such comfort to my nerves.”
She glared back. “Oooh! I cannot explain if you interrupt with your sarcastic jabs.”
He dipped his head, and then waved a hand. “I apologize for my uncertain temperament this evening. Please, tell me about Peggy, and what she did at your Women’s Society.”
“She writes — No, she wrote the letters for women who wish to invest in stock ventures. We were trying to keep their identities, and their objectives, a secret.”
“Why? Because they’re women? Because jobbers stood for them in the Exchange?”
She raised a brow. “For someone only recently returned to London, you appear exceedingly well acquainted with the inside activities at the Exchange.”
He shrugged. “I’ve spent every spare moment since my return settling the family’s finances. Naturally, I’ve looked in at the Foreign Funds Room a time or two. Nobody in my position can afford to let bank balances sit idle, despite some labeling it as trade.”
“I’m impressed, Cayle. You detested accounts when your father wanted you to learn.”
Once more he shrugged, yet his show of nonchalance appeared overdone. “Perhaps it was more of not liking the methods of the educator, rather than the subject being taught.”
She shuddered at her recollection of the late duke’s disciplinary methods. “But you’re correct,” she said, pushing away images of birch rods twanging on bare flesh. “Some in our prudish society frown upon a gentleman of your caliber frequenting auction rooms. But, for a woman, it’d be an outrage.”
His eyes fixed upon her, all signs of his earlier fatigue vanished. “I can well imagine.”
“Though legally nothing prevents a woman from owning shares,” she said, assessing his concentration by the tense way he held his long, muscled body. “Visiting members are vetted at the door. Bank managers and jobbers pay eight guineas a year to enter the main Exchange room, yet self-righteous men evict females.”
“So, is it your gender that sees you under threat?”
“Not merely our gender. When the consortium heard we invested in secret, and often did very well, at first they became alarmed. Then, they became angry. Very angry indeed.”
“I can well imagine men abhorring being bested by a female.”
19th Century Mid Dance Card or Aide de Memoire. Jeweled and enameled gold dance card with concealed timepiece. Lid with a blue enamel with rose-cut diamonds floral wreath, opening to compartment with watch dial, pencil, and notebook. via Sotheby’s Auctions. sothebys.com
1860 New Hebrides, Pacific Ocean.
Nothing had prepared Lady Katharine Montgomery for the jumble of feelings overwhelming her when Alex worshipped her body, first with words and later with his hands and mouth. For years around this house, she’d been forced to appear dowdy, unintelligent, and totally self-effacing to never anger her father, or draw his wrath. Now, though, every degrading restriction was lifted from her mind, body, and life.
Her father was dead. Yesterday, she’d buried her hatred for the despicable man who’d given her life during the quarter hour it took to stand at his grave and, along with all the other hypocrites present, pretend to mourn as they buried his mortal remains. He’d cheated traders, beaten plantation workers, and horse-whipped her within an inch of her life. She and all the other mourners hoped he’d rot in hell.
Last night, she’d felt free to liberate the passionate nature she’d kept buried for six and twenty years for fear of her father’s explosive wrath. But one night with Lord Alexander St. John had changed everything. One night with a lover who was gentle and caring had her aching for more, more of Alex and more of life with him.
1860 New Hebrides (Vanuatu), South Pacific. Regretfully, Lord Alexander St. John spoke directly to Lady Katharine Montgomery at her father's dinner table. #HistoricalRomance #HistoricalMystery #Vanuatu. … Share on X
Fascinated with historical fashion? Treat yourself to a nonfiction Box Set on corsets, including Bridgerton and Jane Austen years. Corsets Box Set History Notes Book 22. This Box Set combines corset books 14-21 to give a complete picture of the progression of corset styles from 1700 through to the 1900s, including Jane Austen’s lifetime. These books show how body wraps, stays, and corsets were worn through the centuries to create a variety of fashionable silhouettes through various historical eras. Corsets flattened breasts and accentuated rounded hips or pushed up breasts and showed off the bust line depending on the fashions of the time and the desired silhouette. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook22
1860 New Hebrides, Pacific Ocean.
Katie woke sluggishly, unable to pinpoint what felt different. Outside, it was still dark and she guessed it was a couple of hours before the tropical dawn. Already the heat was oppressive and sweat dotted her body, the bed linen a crumpled tangle on the floor. She usually awoke with a jolt, fearful of what the day might bring and uncertain if she’d be alive to see tomorrow’s dawn. But today she felt alive. Even her body felt different, sort of enjoyable lassitude, but with a few puzzling tender areas.
She flinched and barely smothered her scream when a heavily muscled arm draped across her bare waist and languidly pulled her backwards. Memory flooded her. Alex was tugging her, gently but persistently, towards him again. Her inner struggle between mind and body lasted only a fleeting minute as she permitted her naked body to be lifted and draped across his, breast to breast, thighs meeting and his aroused flesh, hot and hard, enticing her once more.
‘Alex…’
Gentle fingers against her lips silenced her. ‘Shush, Katie. Shush!’
‘But we have an agreement.’
‘I promise to abide by your ridiculous rules, but we still have many hours before full tide and I want to love you, again and again. I need this! We both do. This may be all the time we have to be together for a long while.’
