"Tell him I shall be in touch with his mistress shortly…and that she should notify me at once should her circumstances become any more…distressed."
"Aye, my lord." The much-chagrinned footman departed.
Ludovic glowered after the departing servant. Salime had never been in want since coming to London. He wondered what could be behind her request, but then abandoned both letter and the dilemma the moment another surprise came bursting into his library.
"Ned?" Ludovic leaped up to greet his best friend. "What the devil has brought you all the way from Yorkshire to Kent?"
"I have most portentous news, DeVere," Ned sputtered with excitement. "News I could hardly relay by messenger. So I came down myself."
"What kind of news? Out with it, Chambers," Ludovic commanded.
"Mayhap you should pour us a drink first."
Ludovic lifted a sardonic brow. "A drink? Not so urgent after all?"
"'Tis fortification you'll need for the shock you're about to receive."
"Shock? Me? You know I am not easily shocked, Ned." Ludovic paused with his hand on the brandy decanter and a slight frown marring his face. "Come to think of it, I'm damned if I can recall a single occasion that has wrought from me such a profound reaction as shock."
Ned flung himself into Ludovic's favorite chair. "There's a first for everything, DeVere. Now that drink?"
Ludovic sloshed amber liquid into two glasses, handing one to the would-be herald, who downed it in one draught. Ludovic quirked a brow.
"It was a devilish long ride," Ned explained.
"All to deliver this shocking report of yours?" Ludovic perched a hip on the corner of his mahogany desk.
"Yes! It's Lazarus all over again!"
"Lazarus? Am I to surmise that someone has been miraculously raised from the dead?"
"Actually, he might as well have been," Ned declared. "I can hardly countenance it after all this time."
"You are trying my patience, Ned."
"It's Simon. He's returned."
"Good God!" The glass slipped from Ludovic's hand to shatter at his feet. "You can't mean Sin is alive after all this time? He was pronounced killed in action six years ago."
"I mean exactly that!" Ned exclaimed. "He is indeed alive and may even be in London as we speak. I have the news straight from Baron Singleton. His ship was expected to arrive several days ago."
"Why am I only hearing of this now? I see the bloody Singleton regularly at Parliament."
"Probably because the good baron doesn't like you, DeVere. He believes you were an abominable influence on his son."
"Then he would be right." Ludovic smirked and then stared at the shattered glass at his feet.
"Looking a bit white there, my friend. This is known as shock."
"Admittedly, I am incredulous. How can this be? Where the devil has he been?"
"Interned as a prisoner of war, I am told."
"For six years? In all that time there were no exchanges?"
"Very few. The colonials refused to give up ours when they claimed their men were only released on the point of death. I daresay 'tis no exaggeration. I've seen a number of reports on the deplorable conditions of our prison hulks. It's said that the Colonial prisoners set fire to the Whitby, choosing to go down in flames, rather than die of starvation and disease." Ned shook his head. "What a hellish business war is."
"But still, if Sin was a prisoner, he should have been released nigh on a year ago when the treaty was signed."
"Apparently he was too ill to travel. Only made it as far as Bermuda before he was struck with the bloody flux or some such and required months of convalescence…poor sod."
"We must go to him, Ned. At once."
"He'll not be the same man," Ned voiced what they were both thinking.
"No." Ludovic shook his head. "Likely never again."
(END EXCERPT)
JEWEL OF THE EAST
(The Devil DeVere #5) by Victoria Vane
Book # 5 in the award-winning Devil DeVere series. May be read as a standalone.
Having once lived his life only for larks, laughter, and ladies of easy virtue, Captain Simon Singleton has returned from the war with the colonies a shambles of a man. Now free from six years of captivity, he's still fettered by irrational fears that confine him to a life of seclusion.
Once the crowning jewel of the most lavish brothel in London, the exotic Salime finds her reputation and livelihood destroyed by a bitter rival. With a closely guarded secret stripped away, Salime fears no man will ever desire her again. Seeking aid from one who once saved her life, Salime accepts a proposition to repay her debt by becoming a companion to his war-scarred friend.
Circumstance brings these two damaged souls together; but fate ignites a love story worthy of the Arabian Nights. (Mature content warning)
The Devil DeVere Series
Library Journal Best E-book Romance 2012
A Wild Night's Bride (#1- Ned and Phoebe's story)
The Virgin Huntress (#2- Hew and Vesta's Story)
The Devil You Know (#3- DeVere and Diana Part I)
The Devil's Match (#4 DeVere and Diana Part II)
A Devil's Touch (#4.5) DeVere and Diana vignette)
Jewel of the East (#5 Simon and Salime's Story)
PREQUEL VIGNETTES
Devil in the Making (DeVere's story)
The Trouble with Sin (Simon's story)
Ned's Folly (coming summer 2014)
Standalone Romances by Victoria Vane
The Sheik Retold
Treacherous Temptations
A Breach of Promise
Victoria's Titillating Tidbits
I am often asked where I find the inspiration for my characters. And while occasionally I model them after a particular person, most often they form as an amalgamation of several different people, as was the case with Simon Singleton. I knew Simon had to share some traits with his best friend DeVere, but I also wanted him to be a man apart and not under DeVere's shadow. The two historical figures that merged in my mind were the Irish poet Samuel Derrick, later the Master of Ceremonies at Bath, and another would-be poet, soldier, and renown Regency-era rake, Colonel George Hangar, 4th Baron Coleraine.
Derrick (once described by James Boswell as "a little blackguard pimping dog") was reputedly the true mastermind behind Harris's famous Directory of Covent Garden Ladies. Although the Ode to the Milkmaid of St. James is my own effort at lewd verse, most of the poetry quoted by Simon in the story may be attributed to Samuel Derrick.
It was also in reading about Hangar's colorful life that Freddie came into being, as one of Hangar's youthful misadventures was to elope and wed a gypsy girl who later ran off with a tinker! (Hangar never remarried!)
The Magdalen Charity was also a very real organization. First established in 1758 in Whitechapel "for the reception of penitent prostitutes", it's stated mission was: "to provide for women and girls on the streets a safe, desirable, and happy retreat from their wretched and distressful circumstances." The first Magdalen Charity House opened in a former hospital with fifty beds and accepted six penitents the first day. By 1760, it boasted 131 female residents. In 1765 Queen Charlotte became a patroness, and the charity expanded to larger quarters. By 1769 over 1,500 women had passed through its doors, with most staying a period of three years.
Works Cited
Compston, Herbert Fuller Bright. The Magdalen Hospital; the Story of a Great Charity,. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1917. Print.
Cruickshank, Dan, and Dan Cruickshank. London's Sinful Secret: The Bawdy History and Very Public Passions of London's Georgian Age. New York: St. Martin's, 2010. Print.
Nocturnal Revels: Or, The History of King's-Place, and Other Modern Nunneries. Containing Their Mysteries, Devotions, and Sacrifices. Comprising, Also, the Ancient and Present State of Promiscuous Gallantry: With the Portraits of the Most Celebrated Demireps and Courtezans of This Period: As Well as Sketches of Their Professional and O
ccasional Admirers. London: Printed for M. Goadby, 1779. Print.
Rubenhold, Hallie. The Covent Garden Ladies: Pimp General Jack & the Extraordinary Story of Harris's List. Stroud: Tempus, 2005. Print.
About Victoria Vane
Victoria Vane is an award-winning romance novelist and history junkie whose collective works of fiction range from wildly comedic romps to emotionally compelling and intensely erotic romance. Victoria also writes historical fiction as Emery Lee and is the founder of Goodreads Romantic Historical Fiction Lovers and the Romantic Historical Lovers book review blog. Look for Victoria's sexy new contemporary cowboy series coming in summer 2014.
CONTACT
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.victoriavane.com
The Devil DeVere Fan Site: http://thedevildevere.com
Blog: http://victoriavane.wordpress.com
Twitter: @authorvictoriav
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