by Aubrey Brown
Ravenous
Emma Westlake is engaged to a Duke, whom she does not want to marry. There are rumors circulating through the ton that the Duke is responsible for his wife’s death.
Feeling as if her life is in danger, Emma must flee to a castle near the sea to be a governess to two adoptive children. She is employed by a man who is eccentric. There are no mirrors in the home, and he is never about during daylight.
Gabriel Saxon-Worthington has no idea who this mystery woman is, save her name, Mercy, and the sudden impulse to sink his fangs into her.
They are both seduced by each other’s brand of secrecy and engage in an affair that could lead to a deadly end. Gabriel is a vampire with a lust for Mercy’s blood, but will they be able to find eternity together before the Duke discovers her, or will he remain Ravenous?!
Genre: Historical, Paranormal, Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 25,299 words
RAVENOUS
Aubrey Brown
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
RAVENOUS
Copyright © 2013 by Aubrey Brown
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-596-9
First E-book Publication: March 2013
Cover design by Christine Kirchoff
All cover art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
To my dear sister, Heather, and my wonderful friends, Charles and Gavin, your continued support and friendships mean the world to me.
RAVENOUS
AUBREY BROWN
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
London, England; 1820
Her briny tears mixed with that of the unforgiving wind and rain, as her broken heart beat heavily inside of her breast. Her delicate skin burned with sadness as her face was marred by a quickening bruise. The beast she stole from her father’s stable was quickly paced and hearty.
Emma Amelia Westlake was fleeing her childhood home for that of strangers’. She heard rumor and gossip about the man who lived in the enormous castle close by the sea. It was a day and a night’s ride away from the baron’s estate, on the edge of a great hill, just outside of London. She also heard from her maid that the man known as the “‘reclusive earl”’ needed a governess, and recent events had forced Emma to find her own living, or she may have very well found her end.
She was the daughter of an opportunistic baron, who was obsessed with titles and wealth. Her older brother passed just last year from influenza before he was to marry the neighboring duke’s oldest spinster daughter, leaving the estate with no heir. Emma’s mother passed away during childbirth with her youngest sibling who also died minutes after her mother, which left Emma an only child and to marry.
She was on the precipice of turning her majority, when her father told her she was to marry the duke, the father of the daughter whom her brother was supposed to wed. She thought it a joke at first, but her father was in earnest and had made a bargain with the duke.
Emma rode hard and fast through the last length of the woods to the great castle. As she approached the crumbling structure, she felt her heart shudder in her chest. Her head felt weak and woolly, her body wracked with shivers from the cold rain. Her horse stopped and wobbled with exhaustion at the gates. The poor beast was covered in white sweat. She slid off her saddle and took two steps before she fainted into oblivion.
* * * *
Six months earlier, before Emma’s wedding.
“Your brother had passed, Emma. We must provide an heir and make a match of your marriage. Since the duke is widowed, you will marry him in six months’ time. We must have a proper courtship and an engagement announcement,” her father stated.
She sat shock still in her seat. She was to marry the duke? He was old, and he was as wide as he was tall. And he was mean, if the rumors held true. There was also gossip that his first wife could not provide him a son, only his one daughter, and that she met a terrible end at the duke’s hands. Emma was suddenly frightened and panic-stricken.
“Father, you must not mean I am to marry the duke of Greensburg? He is older than you are, and he is cruel.”
“Where have you heard such fodder? That is gossip and vicious blather, and you will do as you’re ordered,” he finalized.
Emma was about to speak again when a caller came to their door. It was the duke.
As the months passed so did her resolve to not do as she was bade by her father. The longer she was in her intended’s company, the more she believed the tales. Emma saw the evil in his eyes, the hard resolve of his tenor. His grasp upon her hand was unkind, and Emma could not help herself, she began to save her pin money and devise a plan.
* * * *
Two months later, before Emma’s wedding.
Emma sat at her dressing table, watching with unseeing eyes as her maid dressed her hair. Her heart felt dead inside of her chest. The previous evening she tried to talk to her father about her impending wedding and her honest dislike of the duke. Her father rebuffed her and sent her to her room. She cried herself to sleep that night and awoke with lifeless eyes, along with an empty soul
. She knew in her spirit that her future husband was a cruel and vicious man. Her maid had spoken with some of his current servants and had been conveyed that he takes his maids by force and beats the children who live within his household.
Emma shivered with the thought of his brutality. Her maid saw her eyes and questioned her mistress. Emma began to feel impossible tears roll down her face as she spoke of her fears. Her maid looked sympathetic and asked her what she could sort out.
She had thought about her predicament for months, and had only one conclusion. She must run away and begin life anew in the working class. She felt a momentary pang, but she was a strong girl, she could live through anything, especially if it meant she did not have to marry the duke.
“I must run away, Lily,” Emma concluded.
“Oh, miss, must you?”
“Indeed, Lily. I cannot marry the man. He is evil, and I would rather live as a servant and be paid for my efforts than to bear his children year after year and suffer his cruelty.”
Her maid nodded her head but once and stated, “You will have to find employment far away from your father’s estate. You will have to disguise yourself, for you are very beautiful.”
Emma’s mind reeled. She never felt comparable to a great beauty. She had been the toast of her coming-out ball, but that had been one season ago, and she had received no proposals.
Seeming to guess Emma’s thoughts, Lily began again. “Miss, you must listen to what I have to say. I know about working with families, wives do not want beautiful, cultured girls in their employ. I hear many things through the other servants, and I will carefully find a possible post for you before your marriage.”
Emma felt grateful and nodded her head with tears streaking down her face.
One month passed with no word of possible employment far away from her father’s home. She was beginning to feel forlorn. The duke was becoming more forceful in his affections. He had seized her arm the other evening and attempted to walk her into a vacant room at a neighbor’s ball. Luckily, for Emma, another gentleman stopped his progress and engaged him in talk of investments. Being a crude subject for a lady with little knowledge, Emma could excuse herself.
She was able to breathe in a sigh of relief.
* * * *
Two nights before Emma’s wedding.
Emma sat in the parlor with her father and her fiancé. The men were finishing their port, and Emma felt her lip curl slightly at the sour smell emanating from her intended.
Her resolve to run away came into her mind twofold as she was unable to find a single employer matching her needs. Lily had been trying to help her secure employment, but none had arisen, and Emma felt desperate enough to speak with the duke this evening, and perceive if she could bargain her way out of the marriage.
The baron left the room for a moment to gather some papers needed for an investment. Emma sat still in her high-back chair as the duke looked upon her with lust in his eyes. She sat up a little straighter; she needed all of her strength.
“Your Grace, I thought perhaps we could speak upon our upcoming union?” she asked.
When the duke inclined his head, she continued on, “As you know, we are to be married in two days’ time. I must tell you that I am not entirely comfortable with the arrangement.” She stopped at the sudden glint in his eyes. He stood and paced slowly toward her.
Emma also stood and backed away until her spine hit the fireplace. He placed his hand upon her neck and leaned in deliberately.
He breathed into her ear, “You are mine, sweet Emma. From the first moment I saw you, I envisioned what your delectable body would look like after a sound beating. Molten with bruises in places I can only see, the excitement in your eyes as I take you and rip you apart from the inside out.”
Emma’s breath stopped short at his words. His hand upon her throat flexed slightly, so she could feel the pressure of his strength and the intent of his words. She tried to speak, but her voice was blocked by his big body pressed against her slight figure. His breath smelled foul, and his body odor brought tears to her eyes.
“You will marry me, Emma. You will give me sons, and you will endure what I have planned for you. I can already feel my prick inside of your cunt.”
Emma found the will to speak. “Your Grace…”
A stinging pain radiated across her face as his palm hit her cheek. “You will learn who your master is, girl, and you will keep your mouth shut!”
Her eye was on fire. She had never been hit before, and she at no time wanted to be hit again. She felt her whole face throb with pain, her head began to pound terribly, her throat ached, and her lungs were starved for air. A moment later her body was being shoved into a chair as she heard the door opening.
She was limp with confusion and paralyzed with fear. Her father entered, and the two men began to go through the paperwork without a thought to her presence.
After a time when she composed herself, she asked to be excused and quit the room. Her maid came upon her distressed mistress in her room and broke down in sobs with Emma.
“What am I to do, Lily? We have yet to find a permanent position for me, and I cannot marry that man. What we thought was the truth about him is true. He wishes to enslave me and to beat me. He was cruel and he nearly squeezed the life from my lungs. My father walked in and noticed nothing. I have tried everything, Lily,” Emma sobbed.
Seeing her mistress in anguish, Lily spoke, “Miss, I have heard a rumor only this day about an earl that has inherited two children, which need guidance. I hesitated to tell you of the position, because it is a report I heard from a maid in the Hinesburg home.”
Emma’s heart began to beat with excitement. This may be the answer to her prayers.
“However, miss, I heard he is reclusive, and that he is mad, you know, not quite right in his head. No one has seen him walk around during the day, and he is up all night. He has minimal servants, and the castle he lives in is old and in ill repair. The residence is a day and a night’s ride from here.”
Emma weighed her options. In her experience, rumors had been unfounded. However, talk of the duke was in truth. Being in misery, Emma asked, “He is looking for a governess for some adopted children?” At her maid’s nod, she went on, “And he is not married?”
“He has never been seen with a wife, miss. However, do you really feel as if you can flee this place and become a governess?”
“He struck me this evening and spoke of bruising my body and receiving pleasure from it.”
Thoughts flew through her head as she readied for bed. She would have to take a chance and dash to the earl’s castle and hope she gained employment.
She was the daughter of a baron, engaged to a duke, and she was ready to flee in hopes she could secure employment as a governess to an earl, who may very well be mad. Perhaps Emma was the insane one; however, she could not take the chance. She needed to try. She was to marry the duke the day after next. She would plan and pack tomorrow in secret. She could claim a headache and “rest” for her wedding. Emma was having many real headaches of late, sometimes crushing and debilitating. An actual sickness was beginning to form behind her eyes, and her stomach turned as she vomited into her chamber pot.
Emma did stay in bed the whole of the next day. Her headache was a reality. However, she moved about, gingerly, packing meager belongings into a bag. Most of her dresses were black and brown, suitable for mourning. Her brother’s death still pinched her breast and brought tears to her eyes. They were close during childhood. Being without their mother and having a heartless father made them rely on each other.
Finished with her task, she placed the dark sack underneath her bed and sat in a chair. She looked around the room and exhaled. She was escaping this evening. Emma had not told Lily, for she did not want the maid to have any real knowledge that she had fled to the castle. However, she could see genuine tears in her friend’s eyes.
That very evening after eating what her stomach could handle, she went to
her room and waited for midnight. As the sun fell, and the moon rose, Emma’s heart and mind began to race. When the hour was upon her to leave, she crept through the hallway and out the servant’s entrance. She ran for the stable and picked one of her father’s best horses.
It had been some time since she had saddled her own horse. It took her but a few moments, and then she was riding into the night at a fast pace.
Chapter Two
He felt a presence at the gate before his butler came into view. The lord of the house threw a flame that sent candles flickering.
“George, there is a visitor at the gate. I feel the presence of a girl.”
Just as suddenly as he said it, he felt her heart slow and her mind close off.
The earl stood suddenly and said, “Are James and Rose in bed?”
At his butler’s nod, he disappeared into the night and landed at the girl’s side. Her body wracked with shivers, and her heart was out of rhythm. He looked to the base of her pale throat and saw blood run swiftly through her veins. Her heart was attempting to keep pace with her lungs. With a curse, he swiftly transported them into the castle, sending his thoughts forward to set fire to the hearth.
He kept her in his arms as he removed her dress, leaving her in a corset, shift, and stockings. He looked at the brown dress and saw that it was of simple design. However, the material was soft and supple and made with quality. This girl was not of the working class. Curious, he tried to see into her mind and found it was blocked. Confused, he felt his power wrap around his body as he probed deeply. Still he could not see into her thoughts.