Drama and romance at the Duke Of Sherwyn’s snowbound country estate in the English countryside in December. Michael Brandon travels to introduce the woman he loves to family but is shocked when his missing brother, presumed dead for years, arrives at the country estate of the Duke Of Sherwyn where several people are stranded due to a severe snow storm. https://books2read.com/suziloveDS December Scandal, Book 3, Scandalous Siblings Series.
Michael Brandon travels to introduce the woman he loves to family but is shocked when his missing brother arrives. #mystery #FamilySaga #HistoricalRomance https://books2read.com/suziloveDS
Pleasure House Ball: Brenton, Lord Mallory, attends his first courtesan’s ball in ten years to appease his concerned friends, though he’d rather stay home and read to his motherless daughter. Though mortified that Brenton unmasks her at a scandalous ball, Lady Lillian Armstrong doesn’t regret their night together. Book 3 Irresistible Aristocrats books2read.com/suzilovePHB
Excerpt
‘Brent, why are you eager for me to risk a repeat of my miserable marriage?’ Lady Lillian asked. ‘When you’ve declared that you’ll never marry again.’
‘Because you’re a woman and I’m a man.’
Lillian’s eyes narrowed. ‘That’s a very biased view, and I thought you better than that.’
Brent groaned. ‘You’re right. It’s unfair to tell you to risk more unhappiness when I won’t.’
‘Everyone knows you’re avoiding your family because they push eligible ladies towards you. They want you to remarry and give your daughter a new mother.’
‘They’ve no right to interfere in our lives, mine or my daughter’s. We’re happy as we are, the two of us.’
‘Your wife hurt you, deeply, and so you’ve refused to even speak to the women your mother thinks suitable.’
‘I speak to you.’
‘Only because I visit you and drag you away from your house to go riding. I refuse to let you retreat from the world. You’re a wonderful man with a lot to give to another woman. To another wife.’
‘You’re the only lady that I can tolerate being near for more than ten minutes.’
‘And you’re the only man I’d select for a second husband, and you’re against marriage.’ She looked towards a group of men smoking at the far end of the verandah. ‘Hence my venture into the unknown tonight. The sedate balls are full of married men or old lechers, as all the exciting men are here instead.’ She pointed towards the cluster of five or six young men. ‘Perhaps one of them might be the boost I need to restore my faith in the male gender. A virile young man who knows about pleasurable sex.’
He scowled as he watched the young men laugh and slap each other on the back. ‘Those pups are too inexperienced to give a woman pleasure. At that age, it’s all over too quickly. You need someone who will leave you limp with pleasure.’ He shook his head and seemed to collect himself.
Lillian swallowed. She didn’t doubt that Brent knew many ways to make sex exciting and unforgettable, but there was no point imagining herself with him when she knew how studiously he avoided contact with women these days. Well, except for her and his cook.
‘Not all men are cruel,’ he was saying when she paid attention to his words rather than the way his trousers stretched across his groin when he had his hands on his hips and his coat tails pulled aside. ‘Some husbands value their wives and treat them like queens.’
She sighed. ‘A nice thought, Brent, but unless you can introduce me to one of those paragons of husbands, I’m reduced to finding my excitement with one of the gentlemen here tonight.’
PHB_Lord Mallory, attends first courtesan’s ball in years to appease concerned friends. http://books2read.com/suzilovePHB
Book Hooks: ‘Why are you eager for me to risk a repeat of my miserable marriage?’ Lady Lillian asked. #RegencyRomance #HistRom #ReadARegency #EroticRomance books2read.com/suzilovePHB
Pleasure House Ball Book 3 Irresistible Aristocrats. Love revealed at a courtesan’s ball. Brenton, Lord Mallory, attends his first courtesan’s ball in ten years to appease his concerned friends, though he’d rather stay home and read to his motherless daughters. books2read.com/suzilovePHB
Drama and romance at the duke’s snowbound British country estate. Michael Brandon travels to introduce the woman he loves to family but is shocked when his missing brother arrives. December Scandal Book 3 Scandalous Siblings https://books2read.com/suziloveDS
Excerpt:1844 Martin House, England.
Michael Brandon strolled after Cayle St. Martin, the Duke of Sherwyn, when the duke strode to the hallway to greet the latest group of travelers. They’d be, like him, grateful to accept the duke’s hospitality because they’d all become stranded after heavy snowfalls had led to rapidly rising water levels and an impassable local bridge.
He leaned on a wall and watched Mason, the efficient butler at Martin House, ease open the massive front door while three footmen braced their shoulders against the door to stop it blowing fully open. The house had already been full of family members gathered for Christmas, but with the addition of several groups of half-frozen travelers arriving every hour during the afternoon, the house’s walls must be groaning under the excess number of guests needing beds.
Several massive rooms in Martin House had been opened and warmed for the weary travelers who had descended on the duke and his family, but those large fires needed constant feeding with logs of wood. Therefore, Sherwyn couldn’t risk a barrage of snow and sleet blowing inside his house from the courtyard because, in such inclement weather, his footmen might not be able to collect more firewood for another week. Little wonder then that the duke hovered near the front entrance and supervised each subsequent arrival, his charming duchess by his side to add her won welcome.
Michael and his party had been the first to beg assistance from Sherwyn this afternoon, as he’d known that Sherwyn had left London a week earlier and would already be in residence at his country home. There had been a flurry of social events in London over the past two weeks before the Ton left the city and retreated to their country estates to wait out the colder months. Though this extreme weather had caught everyone by surprise.
It was barely mid December and the nearby bridge usually served the locals well through that month and into the New Year. Water levels normally only rose and covered the bridge after the snowstorms of January. Michael and Cayle were long time friends and so he knew Cayle had loathed this house, his family seat, when his father and stepmother had been in residence, but now that Cayle was the duke, and a married man, he had decided to turn this house into a more welcoming family gathering place. Even with the influx of visitors, invited or not, the staff here were jolly and efficient, a rare combination in the serving ranks.
Why shouldn’t Lady Lillian take the chance of a night’s fun and freedom, hidden from high-society an out of reach of the duke’s continual criticisms? She’d lost enough of her life while married to a man who didn’t deserve either her patience or her fortitude. Starting tonight, she’d take control of herself and rebirth the confident and happy person that only appeared now when she was staying at her father’s country estate.
She’d been excited about this night for weeks and she’d no intention of running away before she’d explored and widened her experience, though only visually. Not even if Brenton threatened to expose her, or worse, visit her father and reveal where she’d been. Stiffening her spine, she took Brenton’s hand and, after muttering a quick apology to her cluster of admirers, led him straight to one of the balcony doors. She didn’t stop until they were in a darkened section of the balcony where no one could overhear their conversation.
She dropped his hand and turned to lean on the veranda rail and stared out at the garden. ‘What are you doing here?’ She spoke without turning to face him, both mortified and terrified that he’d discovered her here.
‘Michael dragged me here.’ He caught her wrist and tugged her around to face him. ‘Who is that woman you are with? Did she bring you here?’ He ran his hand through his hair, trying to calm himself and dampen down his anger. ‘Of course she brought you here. You wouldn’t have known to come to a place like this otherwise. Did she coerce you in some way?’
Lillian chuckled. ‘Do you truly believe me such an innocent that I don’t know the location of brothels or the estate houses that hold balls where the main guests are ladies of the night? I’m not that naïve, Brent. When I was a married woman, the other married ladies spoke constantly about the state of their marriages. Those conversations included such things as where their husbands, fathers, or brothers went to visit paid women, and what happened in those places.’ She snorted. ‘They’d no idea that my own marriage was so dismal that the only times my husband touched me in bed was those rare occasions when he remembered he was supposed to breed a son and so made an appointment for the next night to visit my bedchamber. Even during those ten dreadful minutes he spent with me, he never thought to explain what happened between a man and a woman, or about how children were conceived. My mother, the duchess, gave me a one sentence explanation on my wedding day of how to act with my husband and the need to create a child, but she unfortunately never gave me the information I needed about what physical intimacy entailed, so the first time my husband lifted the hem of my night dress, I panicked.’
Pleasure House ball Book 3 Irresistible Aristocrats books2read.com/suzilovePHB.
Lady Lillian Armstrong’s mind raced, scrabbling for an excuse for being here. Shock held her captive. Her best friend stood behind her and he’d recognized her, despite the pains she and Maggie had taken with their enormous masks and gowns purchased from the dressmaker who designed flamboyant gowns for courtesans. Lord Mallory, Brenton, was the last person she’d expect to meet at a ball for procuring a mistress.
Maggie, her companion and procurer of ball invitations, had assured her that the majority of gentlemen attending tonight would be vetted acquaintances of Lord Browning’s. Gentlemen on the lookout for a new mistress, young men eager to exchange their quarterly allowances for a brief affair with a rising star in courtesan circles, or men with aspirations of wealth who hoped to afford a full time mistress in the next year or two.
Brenton didn’t fit any of those categories, or perhaps she was mistaken and he lived an entirely different life than the one she saw. He’d barely ventured ten miles from his estate in the past five or six years and preferred evenings at home with his daughter to roaming London’s streets with his peers, gambling at clubs, or getting drunk and visiting brothels. She lifted her fan to her face and waved air across her heated cheeks, not wanting her male admirers to notice her distress. Maggie had promised that all conversations and connections were incognito, so Lillian wouldn’t be recognized as the duke’s disgraced daughter, giving her an opportunity to let the repressed side of Lillian to fly free.
The last thing she needed was a serious conversation with Brent, or to have him criticize or interfere in the outrageous night she and her companion had planned. Maggie’s twelve months of wearing depressing black and pretending to grieve for a man who’d been cruel and abusive had almost destroyed her, so she’d urged Lillian to avoid her mistakes. Advised Lillian to avoid spending months in seclusion and under censure from ignorant family members. Urged Lillian to do something rash and abnormal. Something to clear her mind and soul of the stink of her husband’s infidelity, uncontrolled spending, and irrational actions.
What did the Bridgerton ladies and Jane Austen use to carry her personal items? Ridicule, Reticule, Or Handbag? Call them what you like: purses, bags, handbags, reticules, ridicules, clutches, or pocket replacements. They all did the same job and they changed greatly with the prevailing fashions of time. books2read.com/suziloveReticules
Definition Of A Reticule; Bag or purse, often with a drawstring to pull closed and usually made of cloth or covered cardboard and often decorated with beading or embroidery. A reticule, or purse, or handbag, was usually carried by a woman during the Regency period to carry all their daily necessities. Earlier, women used pockets that tied at the waistline and were hidden in the folds of their skirts. Empire style, or early 1800s, high-waisted dresses made it impossible to either sewn in a pocket or to tie on a pocket, so women began carrying small, decorated bags called Reticules, or ridicules, which generally pulled close at the top with a drawstring. These Reticules, or bags, were the forerunners of our modern day purses.
The term ‘ridicule’ derived from the Latin ‘ridiculum’ and first used in France during the 17th century and meant subjecting something or someone to mockery. As women’s tiny bags were mocked, or ridiculed, for being a useless fashion accessory carried outside when they were first used in the late 1700s, it’s likely this is how the name ‘ridicule’ started. The later term ‘reticule’ derived from the Latin reticulum, meaning ‘netted bag’ and was applied when bags became larger and often made from netting. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, they were also known as indispensables as they carried all the personal items a lady needed upon her person every day. They were easily made by ladies, easy to carry and became an indispensable fashion accessory.
In the early nineteenth century, reticules started to look like future handbags as they were often made from rigid card or molded mâché or card into a variety of shapes. Early bags were circular and with a drawstring but as women wanted their reticules to look individual they could be made with two halves and a hinged metal closure or with concertina sides. Materials varied from silk, cotton and string and shapes were round, hexagonal or lozenge shapes with shell shaped bags becoming very popular during the Regency and Romantic Eras.
1800s magazines were written for well bred women who could read, so they gave plenty of ideas for how ladies could make and embellish reticules for their own use and as pretty gifts. Needlework was highly encouraged as a pastime for a lady so bags were frequently embroidered or decorated with beading. By the 1820s, reticules became more like our modern handbags using soft leather gathered at the top or hard leather with a rigid fastener and metal chain for carrying.
Fashion Must Haves In Jane Austen’s Times: Reticules, Spencers, Redingotes. History Notes Series Books 3, 4, and 5.
Reticule Or Bag: Purse, often with a drawstring to pull closed and usually made of cloth or covered cardboard and often decorated with beading or embroidery. Carried by a woman during the Regency period to carry all their daily necessities. in the place of pockets.
Spencer: Short jacket, cropped at the waist, worn over a dress, or gown. Delicate and regency dresses provided so little protection from the cold, so over garments were essential for warmth, modesty and good health.
Pelisse Or redingote Or Walking Dress: Coat worn over clothing of both sexes for warmth and protection from the elements.
Leaning in, Lord Mallory whispered in Lady Lillian’s ear. “Well, well. I certainly didn’t expect to find you in attendance at a scandalous ball.”
1820 Blackstone House, Twenty miles south of London. Brenton, Earl Mallory, secreted himself behind a life-sized statue of a naked man. Hiding from the two hundred guests spilling through the rooms Lord Browning had opened for the Pleasure House Ball. Clearly he’d suffered a moment of insanity when he’d yielded to his friend’s pleas to accompany him to this ball. ‘For God’s sake, Michael, why are we wasting our time here? I’ve no intention of engaging a mistress and….’
Brent shook his head. ‘Must be imagining things. I know only one person who wears that perfume and she mixes it herself. That woman is a lady and a duke’s daughter and certainly wouldn’t be attending a courtesan’s ball.’
‘Good God! You don’t mean−’
Pleasure House ball Book 3 Irresistible Aristocrats books2read.com/suzilovePHB. Lord Mallory, attends his first courtesan’s ball in ten years to appease his concerned friends, though he’d rather stay home and read to his motherless daughters.
Leaning in, Lord Mallory whispered in Lady Lillian’s ear. “Well, well. I certainly didn’t expect to find you in attendance at a scandalous ball.”
1820 Blackstone House, Twenty miles south of London. Brenton, Earl Mallory, secreted himself behind a life-sized statue of a naked man. Hiding from the two hundred guests spilling through the rooms Lord Browning had opened for the Pleasure House Ball. Clearly he’d suffered a moment of insanity when he’d yielded to his friend’s pleas to accompany him to this ball. ‘For God’s sake, Michael, why are we wasting our time here? I’ve no intention of engaging a mistress and….’
Brent shook his head. ‘Must be imagining things. I know only one person who wears that perfume and she mixes it herself. That woman is a lady and a duke’s daughter and certainly wouldn’t be attending a courtesan’s ball.’
‘Good God! You don’t mean−’
Pleasure House ball Book 3 Irresistible Aristocrats books2read.com/suzilovePHB. Lord Mallory, attends his first courtesan’s ball in ten years to appease his concerned friends, though he’d rather stay home and read to his motherless daughters.
