On These Silken Sheets
Sabrina Darby
To my amazing beta-reader sister…
and to my husband. I never wrote erotic romance before you.
Contents
Part I
Against the Wall
Chapter One
Some things never change, Carolina thought as she pressed up…
Chapter Two
Henry stepped into the noise of the ballroom in a…
Chapter Three
Carolina was grateful that her governess had forced her to…
Chapter Four
An hour later, Henry stepped into the dimly lit warren…
Chapter Five
The Hargreaves townhouse in Berkeley Square had been the home…
Chapter Six
Much later, Henry reluctantly withdrew from her body. She was…
Chapter Seven
Sometime in the morning, her maid entered the room and…
Chapter Eight
The Emerson house glittered like the crown jewels. And as…
Chapter Nine
Henry left her with Agathe, grateful that her aunt was…
Chapter Ten
Agathe examined her critically when Carolina finally returned to the…
Chapter Eleven
You never came,” Lady Islington complained, rapping her fan on…
Chapter Twelve
When he came to her that night, Carolina was waiting…
Chapter Thirteen
At the Huxley ball they met in the conservatory, and…
Chapter Fourteen
Carolina’s days and nights developed a pattern. Sometime in the…
Chapter Fifteen
One afternoon, Carolina went for a drive in the park…
Chapter Sixteen
Do you want him?” Henry asked, one long finger engulfed…
Chapter Seventeen
Something changed between them that night, and they were both…
Chapter Eighteen
Henry told himself he didn’t feel guilty. He did feel,…
Chapter Nineteen
They climbed a staircase and entered what in a respectable…
Chapter Twenty
She wasn’t at any of the balls the following evening.
Chapter Twenty-One
When Carolina woke up, hours later, Henry was gone. She…
Chapter Twenty-Two
Carolina clutched at the teacup. The delicate brew had managed…
Chapter Twenty-Three
That evening, watching Carolina dance with Oakley twice in a…
Chapter Twenty-Four
When the bright white light of morning burned across Henry’s…
Chapter Twenty-Five
Congratulations, Hargreaves,” Henry greeted Alistair an hour later at White’s.
Chapter Twenty-Six
If the devil was on his shoulder, the devil wanted…
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The day was hot for early June, but as the…
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Agathe insisted on still attending the ball at the Vadebakers’…
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Henry circled the ballroom. There was never a moment when…
Chapter Thirty
As she slipped from the ballroom, Carolina told herself she…
Chapter Thirty-One
Agathe is right. We can’t do this again,” Carolina whispered,…
Chapter Thirty-Two
It was still early when he arrived at the club.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Walking away from Henry was the hardest thing she had…
Chapter Thirty-Four
Gina’s naked buttocks faced him like two halves of a…
Chapter Thirty-Five
Jack had not wanted to let him in. But ten…
Chapter Thirty-Six
When he crushed his lips to hers, Carolina let him.
The library in Henry’s Yorkshire estate was not particularly large,…
Part II
The Education of Lord Oakley
Prologue
All of London, or at least the ton, has descended…
Chapter One
An atypical sneer curling his lips, Oakley recalled the stanza…
Chapter Two
What exactly is Harridan House?” Maggie Coswell asked in a…
Chapter Three
Through the window of the unmarked carriage, Maggie observed the…
Chapter Four
Oakley had never in his life imagined such decadence. Within…
Chapter Five
He wore one of those silly masks, merely a swath…
Chapter Six
For the first time in years, Oakley felt ruled by…
Chapter Seven
Maggie didn’t want to move. Her body ached in every…
Chapter Eight
Where were you, Mama?” the young voice demanded accusingly. In…
Chapter Nine
All the way home, a thought nagged at Oakley that…
Chapter Ten
Tell me all,” Diana insisted. Maggie shied away from her…
Chapter Eleven
Later that night, at a soiree in the respectable home…
Chapter Twelve
I want you to kiss every inch of me, my…
Chapter Thirteen
This was ridiculous, Oakley thought as he stroked himself to…
Chapter Fourteen
Come, my lord,” Sir Robert chided him. “Surely one of…
Chapter Fifteen
Maggie studied the Etruscan vase. She had never seen so…
Chapter Sixteen
So silly to be nervous, Maggie thought as she waited…
Chapter Seventeen
Hours later, Oakley slid from the nestled heat of her…
Chapter Eighteen
When he arrived the next evening, earlier than their arranged…
Chapter Nineteen
Oakley’s days split in two: the respectable, conscientious lord by…
Chapter Twenty
But who would ever arouse him as Amphitrite did?
Chapter Twenty-One
There he was. Across the room, standing amongst a group…
Chapter Twenty-Two
His ardor stoked to a boiling point, Oakley left the…
Chapter Twenty-Three
She’d refused him. No explanation, nothing. She merely asked him…
Chapter Twenty-Four
New undergarments will not cure my mood,” Maggie warned direly,…
Chapter Twenty-Five
When Maggie ran into Lord Oakley again, at an even…
Chapter Twenty-Six
He’d planned well. The small flat was in an out-of-the-way…
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Your brother won’t be sent to Venezuela, then?” Maggie asked,…
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I’m having a dinner party,” Diana announced the moment she…
Chapter Twenty-Nine
From the street, Diana’s townhouse glowed with candlelight, and for…
Chapter Thirty
The following day, Oakley called on her as if his…
Chapter Thirty-One
Oakley stopped thinking and simply followed his instincts. He knew…
Chapter Thirty-Two
It was perverse, Oakley knew, but his mother’s words made…
Chapter Thirty-Three
Sitting on the stairs of his house, fully dressed for…
Chapter Thirty-Four
Five days after she sent Oakley the note, Maggie believed…
Chap
ter Thirty-Five
Harridan House remained unchanged, Madame Rouge’s boudoir as well.
Part III
Roses Are Rouge
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Really, Jas, you should come up to London more often,”…
Chapter Three
They walked in silence back to the boxes. She was…
Chapter Four
We had a bet,” Daniel revealed, when Jason appeared again…
Chapter Five
Diana was still in bed and nursing her cup of…
Chapter Six
Jason sent the flowers early in the morning, knowing it…
Chapter Seven
After the flowers, Diana knew he would call. But Lord…
Chapter Eight
Why should one experience have left her feeling so changed?
Chapter Nine
Earnestina had decided, at the very last minute, that she…
Chapter Ten
That’s a very nice brandy.” Jason held up his glass…
Chapter Eleven
Earnestina and Lord Ashburton were perched in the race stand,…
Chapter Twelve
The day was hot, the crowds large, noisy and raucous.
Chapter Thirteen
In the early evening, Jason walked up the steps of…
Chapter Fourteen
It was as if Jason had merely been a figment…
Chapter Fifteen
Rotterdean was a pleasant little village that had grown up…
Chapter Sixteen
There was a card assembly at Tilt’s, and even though…
Chapter Seventeen
Jason walked away from her because it was the only…
Chapter Eighteen
She found Earnestina still sitting at the card table, as…
Chapter Nineteen
Jason saw her the next day in the Steine, sitting…
Chapter Twenty
Over the next week, there was not another moment that…
Chapter Twenty-One
The following day, they made a party of it to…
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was dark—midnight dark—and he hadn’t stripped down to his…
Chapter Twenty-Three
Swimming naked?” Diana laughed. Jason was willing to tell her…
Chapter Twenty-Four
Nothing was negligible, Diana decided later that evening as she…
Chapter Twenty-Five
Despite the long day, despite the hours of dancing, sleep…
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jason could not forget the image of Diana standing on…
Chapter Twenty-Seven
When the maid brought her the card bearing his name,…
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Later that evening, hours later, when the house felt stifling…
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jason was kissing her. Diana knew it intellectually, although she…
Chapter Thirty
The brawl had happened rather fast and now that it…
Chapter Thirty-One
I’ m sorry, Diana.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Jason returned to Brighton. He was no longer angry. How…
Chapter Thirty-Three
Out of the not particularly companionable silence, Mary finally spoke.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Diana accepted Maggie’s invitation to join her and Oakley for…
Chapter Thirty-Five
Perhaps we should take advantage of this and enjoy a…
Chapter Thirty-Six
Jason was in Bath because his mother was in Bath…
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Diana slept poorly and then lay in bed late in…
Chapter Thirty-Eight
That evening, lounging in Oakley’s study after dinner, Jason wished…
Chapter Thirty-Nine
He needed to speak to her, to get her alone,…
Part IV
A Maid for the Taking
Chapter One
She was watching him again. The woman said she didn’t…
Chapter Two
George!” Robert didn’t need to look to know it was…
Chapter Three
Good evening, my lady,” Lucy greeted Diana, Lady Blount, as…
Chapter Four
Robert left Molineaux’s house late in the evening, slightly drunk…
Chapter Five
It was not Lucy’s first kiss, but when upon entering…
Chapter Six
Robert stayed within her until he hardened and grew. That…
Chapter Seven
With Sir Robert gone, Lucy once more put on her…
Chapter Eight
Could he have achieved a greater contrast if he had…
Chapter Nine
As far as Lucy knew, Sir Robert did not have…
Chapter Ten
Walking through Mr. Clarke’s warehouse, viewing the bolts of silk, the…
Chapter Eleven
Lucy was in Madame Rouge’s dressing room, mending a small…
Chapter Twelve
Sleepily, Lucy peered at him. The morning light peeked through…
Chapter Thirteen
The bedroom was dim—dimmer than usual. Lucy hardly expected Lady…
Chapter Fourteen
Maneuvering his curricle through the busy streets on his way…
Chapter Fifteen
He kept her in his house for two days. They…
Chapter Sixteen
The following day, Robert’s secretary informed him that rooms had…
Chapter Seventeen
Robert felt like a thief letting himself in to the…
Chapter Eighteen
Lucy dreaded seeing her sister. She paid a boy on…
Chapter Nineteen
Robert sent flowers to Miss Clarke. As Clarissa had said,…
Chapter Twenty
It took Lucy a good portion of the morning to…
Chapter Twenty-One
For two weeks Lucy had been his mistress. Two very…
Chapter Twenty-Two
There was something distasteful about leaving Lucy’s bed in order…
Chapter Twenty-Three
Penny Partridge’s sitting room was pink and white with lace…
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dammit!” Lucy cried out, as she stuck her scalp with…
Chapter Twenty-Five
The weeks flew by, lulling Lucy into a sense of…
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lucy put the conversation off for three days, but when…
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The necklace was exquisite. Lucy had seen jewels glittering off…
Chapter Twenty-Eight
By the end of February, Lucy knew it was time…
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lucy went the next day to tell Mary. But even…
Chapter Thirty
It was ridiculous how unburdened he felt. No more searching…
Chapter Thirty-One
She had nothing to wear. She was getting married in…
Chapter Thirty-Two
The three weeks that passed played tricks with Lucy’s sense…
Part V
Epilogue
About the Author
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
PART I
Against the Wall
Chapter One
Some things never change, Carolina thought as she pressed up against the wall of the library, obscured by shadows and long, voluminous draperies. She might be eighteen, in London, and at her first ball ever, but she was still stuck in the ignoble position of watching Henry Bosworth make love to another woman merely ten feet from where she hid.
He was older, of course. The mouth that now k
issed the unknown woman’s neck was that of a man and no longer a youth. And just as she had six years ago, watching his well-formed hands clutching a round bottom through layers of clothing, she imagined those hands on her.
A pause in the lady’s moans drew Carolina’s gaze upward. With a silent gasp, she flattened herself further against the unyielding wall.
Bosworth stared straight at her, a small smile curving his lips. Though the light in the room was dim, she knew his eyes would be green, that murky green that reminded her of marshes and ancient deities.
He murmured something to the woman in his arms and the lady laughed, her bejeweled fingers tsking at him, even as she broke away. He followed her to the door, kissing her yet again, and then closed it behind her.