George, who had been pacing up and down like a caged panther on the stage, berating everyone for their poor performances and conceding that Maggie and Hugo would have to go on that night, leapt off the stage and ran to them. "At last. Miranda! Where is she?"
"Where is she? Why, I thought you knew? She’s only gone and got herself married," Liz said with a giggle.
George felt as though his entire world had toppled like a house of cards on a blustery day. A chill wind was certainly sweeping through the entryway, he decided as he began to shiver.
"Married? Married? Who on earth—"
"It was ever such a lovely ceremony. He had her put on a gorgeous dress and jewels, and there was cake and champagne and—"
"I don't give a stuff about all that," he roared. "Who did she marry? I want his name! Then I want his bloody cullies!"
"Why, it’s the bloke wots been sending her flowers and flirting, of course," Becky replied. "The Earl of Oxnard. Came in a coach and four, so he did. Said he couldn’t live without her another night. Said since there was no other way he could have her, then he’d just have to get himself leg-shackled. He invited the two of us along as witnesses and off we went."
"Where did you go?" he demanded.
"Down to Surrey. Oxnard was the name of the town. The carriage brought us back this morning," Liz lied, not wanting to let on about their little holiday, and the very randy coachman who had turned out to be quite a stallion.
"Could you find the house again?"
Becky nodded. "I think so, but why—"
"Come with me!
"But we have a performance tonight—"
"Come with me now. I need to see Miranda! I can’t believe she wouldn’t leave a note, at least talk to me, to explain. To say goodbye!" He practically choked on the last words.
Liz shook her head pityingly, not wanting to repeat the words Miranda had said for fear of making George even more upset than he evidently already was.
Something was really badly wrong here. She had suspected all along. She only wished she had been more firm with Miranda when she had had the chance.
"No word, really, except she thanked you for being her friend."
"Friend!" he exploded.
Becky backed away from his wrath. As she stared up at him in confusion, for the first time ever she believed him capable of all she had heard, and more.
"Damn it, Becky, are you coming with me or not?" he barked as he saw her sidling down the aisle.
"But the play—"
"Milly can be Maria. You’re coming with me."
Liz protested, "But how can we do it? Miranda isn’t here! How the hell are any of us supposed to manage without her?"
George shook his head grimly. "How indeed."
He looked from one woman to the other, feeling as though his whole world, which had been so joyful just a short time before, was crumbling to pieces.
His brothers Jason and Simon now came to mind. Love, and loss. It had ever been the way with his life, a never ending pattern he just couldn't seem to break no matter what he tried to do to free himself from the shackles of his past.
George might not be able to do anything about his brothers after so many years, but he was not going to let Miranda go without a fight. She meant far too much to him, and he was sure she had reciprocated his feelings. He knew little about love, but if what they had shared together was anything to go by….
But then why would she have—
His mind reeled at the thought of her light going out of his life forever. Instinct told him there was something not right about all of this. Castlereagh was involved in some way, of that he was sure. So by God, he wouldn't rest until he found her and got to the bottom of it all.
"Let's go, now," he snapped at Becky. "We're going to find Miranda if it's the last thing I ever do in this lifetime."
Miranda lied through her teeth to both her assailants, though the words almost choked her. Once more summoning up her best impression of Georgina Jerome from the depths of her now darkening memories, she arched her back sinuously, bare breasts jutting upwards to tempt and betray, just as she had been deceived….
She was putting on the performance of her life, for her life, she thought with grim satisfaction as they fell for her act and paused in their torment of her long enough to free the cuffs from her ankles and wrists at last.
Summoning the last dregs of her nearly spent strength, Miranda leapt to her feet, seized the heavy wooden stool, and flung it with all her might, following it a split second later as it tumbled into the abyss.
The name George flew from her lips, both a prayer and a curse, as she soared and plunged, and the darkness finally claimed her.
The Rakehell Regency Romance Series
Book 18
BEGUILED ANEW
Sorcha MacMurrough
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SYNOPSIS
REVIEWS
COPYRIGHT
LIST OF CHARACTERS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
AFTERWARD
ALL TITLES BY AUTHOR
SYNOPSIS
The love story of Miranda Dane Lyons and George Davenant continues as George races against time to save the woman he loves from certain death. Miranda is determined to fight her way back to the man she loves, even though his secrets threaten any hope they may have of securing a happy future together.
But Miranda has secrets of her own, not least of which is her true identity as a wealthy heiress from the prominent Dane family, not a country girl down on her luck as George has assumed.
Miranda undertakes an epic struggle to recover from her horrendous ordeal at the hands of the Earl of Oxnard, and risk sharing her life and love with George.
As George and Miranda's love grows through the adversity they share, so too does their danger, as power-hungry plotters threaten to sweep aside the new King of England, George IV, and restore Napoleon to his former glory as master of all Europe.
Through George's love, Miranda transforms from girl to powerful woman bent on justice. In a bold winner-take-all move, Miranda dares to carry her mission right to the upper reaches of the shadowy halls of British power politics. There she will uncover the shocking truths about George and his family at last, and struggle to protect the people she loves most in the world from their nefarious plots.
George has searched for his missing brothers for over a decade. For him, the war against Napoleon will never be over until the tyrant is dead and his family restored. What kind of future can he offer Miranda, when to love her is to put her in constant peril?
For Oxnard and their other enemies will stop at nothing to separate the two, before all their plots are revealed….
An excerpt:
With a will of their own Miranda's fingers sought out bare flesh, tugging at George's cravat and the upper fastening of his shirt. At last his chest was undraped, a masterpiece of bone, muscle and sinew. She felt his flat nipples peak to life and her own thrust up avidly, desperate for
his caress.
By now her gown was fully parted and his strong fingers locked around her supple waist. With almost painful slowness his hands moved upwards. She awaited eagerly his touch upon her breasts. To her surprise they grasped her head instead, cradling it in his huge palms.
He lifted his lips slowly, his breath a hot searing caress on her scorching cheeks. "You know what’s going to happen if we continue this, my love," he asked softly, his eyes blazing.
She nodded wordlessly, sure she could not get a word past her throat, constricted as it was with the most acute desire.
"But do you also understand the consequences?"
She was about to utter a mildly sarcastic retort, but something in his tempestuous eyes arrested her.
"I'll tell you what this means, my love. If you come to me this night, Miranda, you’ll be mine forever. There will be no going back. Coming to my bed now will make you mine, body and soul. My wife in every sense of the word, my woman, partner, the other half of myself. A woman who in every sense is my better half, and the only woman who can ever complete me."
"Oh, George, I--"
He stroked the hair back from her face tenderly. "So if you’re just you owe me anything, Miranda, don’t do this. Just walk away now and we shall never look back. I shall always love you and be your friend no matter what. You don’t have to make love to me to assure you of that."
"No, I know that," she said, shaking her head. She stroked his cheek and traced his full lips with one tentative forefinger. "I know you love me. I think I’ve always loved you. I was a prize fool. You deceived me, tried to actually make me think you’re a far worse than you really are for reasons I can’t even begin to fathom. But still I love you. I want to be yours forever, George. Please, please make love to me now…"
REVIEWS
"A brave, bawdy book. Miranda, entrapped and tricked by her and her beloved George's enemies in Beguiled, rises to every challenge in Beguiled Anew, just like a true Rakehell consort. She fights back to save her beloved George and indeed all of the Rakehells from Castlereagh’s enmity, and England from French invasion. Anyone who loved Madness and Beguiled must read this book. Anyone who hasn’t read them doesn’t know what they’re missing!"
-Annabelle Stevens, Love's Sweet Song
"Beguiled Anew is full of surprises and suspense as George races against time to find Miranda before the most dire fate awaits her. Miranda must use all her cunning to save herself from the plot again George to keep him in thrall to the puppetmasters who have been running his life ever since the war against Napoleon began.
"As she begins to uncover the true extent of all that has been happening behind their backs, she must risk everything to save the man she has come to love above all else. The theatre sections are first-rate and the love scenes scorching. This is intelligent historical romance and suspense at its best.
-Evelyn Trimborn, Italian Interlude
"George Davenant and Miranda Dane Lyons secure their happily ever after in Beguiled Anew amid a rollercoaster of action and suspense as Miranda transforms from innocent young woman to tigress. Outraged at all that has befallen her and her beloved, she joins forces with the Radical Rakehells to vanquish George's enemies once and for all.
"This is a briskly-paced, sensual romance with many twists and turns which features a superb couple whose love lights up the pages of this shockingly clever and sensual historical romance. This is a superb finale to the powerful Rakehell Regency series as well, one worth waiting for. "
-Jacinta Carey, The Starbuck Saga
BEGUILED ANEW
A Rakehell Regency Romance Novel
Sorcha MacMurrough
HerStory Books
DEDICATION
To my family, with love and thanks as always.
And to my readers, for always cheering me on.
Copyright 2011 by the author
All rights reserved.
Published by HerStory Books
http://HerStoryBooks.com
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Happy Reading!
"When young people are too rigidly sequestered from [the world], their lively and romantic imaginations paint it to them as a paradise of which they have been beguiled; but when they are shown it properly, and in due time, they see it such as it really is, equally shared by pain and pleasure, hope and disappointment."
Fanny Burney, Evelina, letter 3 (1778).
LIST OF CHARACTERS
George Davenant, owner of The Three Bells pub and brothel, and The New Rose Theatre
Miranda Dane Lyons, sister of Matthew Dane and Juliet Dane Howard. Miranda has just arrived in Town for her Season
Georgina Jerome, a worldly woman and mischief-maker
Alistair Grant, a Rakehell, a prominent barrister in London
Viola, his wife and a friend of George's
Sebastian Morrison, Viola's brother, George's best friend
Daniel, George's theatre assistant
Liz, Becky, Milly, Maggie, actresses
Hugo and Bart, actors at the theatre
The Earl of Oxnard, one of Miranda's ardent admirers
Antony Herriot, a Rakehell doctor, runs the free clinic for women in Bethnal Green
Philip Marshall, a Rakehell, works with Alistair Grant the barrister
Jasmine Marshall, his wife
(for their story, see The Mistaken Miss)
Lawrence Howard, a Rakehell, a tea trader recently back from India
Juliet Dane Lyons Howard, his wife, Miranda's sister
(For their story, see Experience)
Matthew Dane, Miranda's brother, a Rakehell
Althea, his wife
(For their story, see Ravished)
Lady Pemberton, Society hostess and aunt to Miranda, Juliet and Matthew
George Edwards, a government spy
Lord Sidmouth, Home Office Minister
Viscount Castlereagh, Foreign Office Minister
Other characters and Rakehells mentioned in passing
The Prince Regent (Prinny), now George IV of England
The Duke of Ellesmere, Thomas Eltham, a Rakehell, lives at Eltham Castle
The Duchess of Ellesmere, Charlotte Eltham, nee Castlemaine, his wife
(for their story, see The Missed Match)
Randall Avenel, a Rakehell, the Earl of Hazelmere
Isolde Avenel, his wife
(for their story, see Innocence and Innocence Afire)
Michael Avenel, a Rakehell, Randall’s eldest brother
Bryony Avenel, his wife
(for their story, see The Model Master)
Clifford Stone, a Rakehell, owner of Stone Court
Vanessa Stone, nee Hawkesworth, his wife, a great scholar
(for their story, see The Mad Mistress)
Jonathan Deveril, a Rakehell, vicar of Brimley and Eltham
Pamela Deveril, nee Ashton, his wife
(for their story, see The Miss Matched)
Sarah Deveril Davenport, Jonathan’s youngest sister
Alexander Deveril Davenport, her husband, a Rakehell
(for their story, see The Matchless Miss)
Dr. Blake Sanderson, a Rakehell, a doctor in London and Somerset
Arabella Neville Sanderson, his wife
(for their story, see Guardian of the Heart)
Martin Jerome, Blake’s cousin, an honorary Rakehell
Eswara Paignton Jerome, his wife, a healer from India who works with Blake
(for their story, see The Model Mistress)<
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The Rakehell Regency Romance Series Boxed Set 6 Page 59