Praise
Known for her sexy, smart, and often scandalous romances, Campbell doesnt disappoint Her intelligent characters and their sensual cat-and-mouse games add to the mystery and poignant emotions
RT Book Reviews
An entrancing, evocative romance.
JoyfullyReviewed.com
Campbell immediately hooks readers, then deftly reels them in with a spellbinding love story fuelled by an addictive mixture of sharp wit, lush sensuality, and a wealth of well-delineated characters.
Booklist
No one does lovely, dark romance or lovely, dark heroes like Anna Campbell. I love her books,
Sarah MacLean, New York Times bestselling author
With its superbly nuanced characters, impeccably crafted historical setting, and graceful writing shot through with scintillating wit, Campbells latest lusciously sensual, flawlessly written historical Regency will have romance readers sighing happily with satisfaction.
Booklist on What a Duke Dares
ANNA CAMPBELL was the sort of kid who spent her childhood with her nose buried between the pages of a book. She decided when she was a child that she wanted to be a writer. When shes not writing passionate, intense stories featuring gorgeous Regency heroes and the women who are their destiny, Anna loves to travel, especially in the United Kingdom, and listen to all kinds of music. She has settled near the sea on the east coast of Australia, where shes losing her battle with an overgrown subtropical garden.
Anna loves to hear from her readers. You can contact her through her website at www.annacampbell.info.
Days of Rakes and Roses
Anna Campbell
www.millsandboon.co.uk
Table of Contents
Cover
Praise
About the Author
Title Page
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Copyright
Prologue
Fentonwyck, Derbyshire
July 1816
Ive waited my whole life to kiss you.
Good heavens!
Lady Lydia Rothermere hardly credited what she heard Simon Metcalf say, nor the urgency in his manner while he said it. When he grabbed her hand, the heat of his touch sizzled right to her toes, left her feeling jumpy and needy.
As he lured her a step closer to the hay barn, her voice emerged high and breathy with excitement. Youre utterly mad.
Not mad, merely desperate. Youve avoided me all summer. He gave her the dazzling smile that always made her yearning heart tumble against her ribs. Now Ive got you to myself, I intend to take full advantage.
A-advantage? Nervously she glanced around the empty stable yard, but nobody was present to observe Sir Reginald Metcalfs second son making inappropriate advances to the Duke of Sedgemoors daughter. His Grace was away in London and not due back until tonight. In his absence, the estate slumbered. The noon sunlight beat down on the cobbles with almost Mediterranean intensity.
Her senses reeled. Could this really be happening to her? Could Simon be staring at her as if she made the sun rise every day?
Shed been in love with Simon Metcalf since she was little when, as an impossibly grown-up eight-year-old, hed comforted her after she skinned her knee on the drive. Hed been a handsome boy, tall and strong, with golden hair and laughing blue eyes. Hed matured into a strikingly handsome man, something she was miserably reminded of whenever she saw her uninspiring features reflected in a looking glass.
Hopeless pining had transformed into humiliating torment this last year until shed turned seventeen and her fantasies had taken a disturbing direction. Shed spent her life praying for the boy from the neighboring estate to talk to her and smile at her and ask her to dance. Now her dreams, waking and sleeping, had become blatantly physical. Dreams of Simon touching and kissing her. Dreams that left her restless and unhappy and deeply ashamed. As a result, whenever shed seen Simon this summer, shed mumbled and blushed and generally behaved like a ninny. How she regretted that their easy friendship had deteriorated into awkward self-consciousness.
But now when she studied his vivid features, she read an intensity that trapped the breath in her throat. Even in her innocence, she knew that he meant to kiss her. A thrill shivered through her.
Come with me, he said with another daredevil smile, drawing her into the shadowy hay barn. Out of the sun, she should feel cooler, but her blood pumped so furiously, she felt likely to melt into a puddle of longing.
Just past the entrance, Lydia stumbled to a halt and blinked up at Simon in shy astonishment. Her grip tightened on the red rose hed presented to her when hed persuaded her to abandon her work in the stillroom. A thorn pricked her thumb, but she hardly noticed the sting amongst all the turbulent sensations assailing her.
Her fear momentarily outweighing Simons powerful attraction, she made another unconvincing attempt to pull free. If her father learned shed been alone with Simon, there would be the devil to pay. Horror of scandal had been drummed into her from the cradle. You know we cant.