He stepped back and bowed as a woman, a pug running at her heels, entered the Pump Room. The pug showed its teeth and growled, but its owner glanced at him with a flirtatious smile; not recognizing him for what he was, but seeing a man who excited her desire. Later, she might blush at her brazen invitation.
He was not interested. There was only one woman he wished to see here, and he had failed her.
And there she was, taller than most of the women in the room, and to him, the most beautiful; bright hazel eyes, cheekbones too sharp for fashion, glossy chestnut hair, pale skin which some might envy and others might consider a sign of ill health. Others were interested in her too, young bucks ogling her through quizzing glasses, people wondering who she was because there was something different and exotic about her, even though her dress was modest and her companions seemed to be middling sort of people. The aunt and uncle, returned from their enforced country visit; her parents, tired and anxious; and her sister hovered protectively around her.
Her father handed her a glass of water. She made a face, wrinkling her nose for comic effect, and her companions laughed, but with some anxiety, he could tell.
She walked, no, she strode—for the moment, she still had that grace and wondrous flow of movement their kind possessed—into a patch of sunlight that streamed through one of the tall glass doors and inspected her glass, as one might contemplate a fine wine, as the steam rose into the air.
She looked straight at him, smiling faintly, and raised the glass in a gallant, ironic toast.
BOOKS BY JANET MULLANY
THE RULES OF GENTILITY
A NOVEL
ISBN: 978-0-06-122983-1 (PAPERBACK)
“I consider the pursuit of bonnets and a husband fairly alike—I do not want to acquire an item that will wear out, or bore me after a brief acquaintance, and we must suit each other very well.”
So begins a most unusual and engaging novel about Miss Wellesley-Clegg, a young woman living in Regency London who struggles to find the perfect man—and the perfect bonnet.
“Mullany is clearly the witty, secret love child of Jane Austen and Lord Byron.”
—Kathryn Caskie, USA Today bestselling author
JANE AND THE DAMNED
A NOVEL
ISBN: 978-0-06-195830-4 (PAPERBACK)
When aspiring novelist Jane Austen becomes one of the Damned—the beautiful, sexy vampires of Georgian England—she regards her transformation to be a gift; she rejects the only cure available and discovers a world of freedom, love, and adventure as a vampire.
But as an immortal, Jane will have to decide whether eternal life is too high a price to pay for the loss of what means most to her as a mortal.
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acknowledgements
Thanks to my brother Martin for helping me come up with the original idea (and for the suggested titles of Austen Powers and Blood Bath); to May Chen for suggesting I try a paranormal starring Jane Austen, and for her firm, smart editorial hand; and to Lucienne Diver for her firm, smart agently hand.
Janet Mullany
Raised in England on a diet of Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen, JANET MULLANY has worked as an archaeologist, a classical music radio announcer, a performing arts administrator, a bookseller, and a proofreader and editor for a small press. Her first book, Dedication (2005), the only Signet Regency with two bondage scenes, was followed by the award-winning The Rules of Gentility, published by HarperCollins in 2007 and by Little Black Dress (Headline, UK) the following year. She has gone on to write more Regency chicklit for Little Black Dress and is at work on the next encounter between Jane Austen and the Damned. She lives near Washington, D.C., where she drinks a lot of tea and gives etiquette lessons to a cat.
Also by Janet Mullany
THE RULES OF GENTILITY
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author‧s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
JANE AND THE DAMNED. Copyright © 2010 by Janet Mullany.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © SEPTEMBER 2010 ISBN: 978-0-062-01395-8
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-06-195830-4
10 11 12 13 14
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