Jacquie DAlessandro - Confessions at Midnight

"Good evening, my lady."

She turned and realized that even if she hadn't known his voice, she would have known his eyes. They gazed at her through a black mask that covered the entire upper half of his face with the same heated intensity that stole the air from her lungs every time he looked at her. She'd have known his mouth as well. Not only because it was perfectly formed, the bottom lip slightly fuller than the upper, but because of how one corner tilted upward, skewing all that perfection with a hint of lopsidedness that shouldn't have been attractive, but was. Annoyingly so.

Her gaze skimmed over his all-black highwayman costume. He looked tall and dark and dangerousas if he were prepared to abscond with whatever might take his fancy and the consequences be damned. A thrill she couldn't name raced through her. "Rather than good evening, shouldn't you say, 'Stand and deliver'?"

By Jacquie D'Alessandro

Confessions at Midnight

Sleepless at Midnight

Never A Lady

Not Quite A Gentleman

Love and the Single Heiress

Who Will Take This Man?

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

AVON BOOKS

An Imprint of HarrperCollinsPublishers

10 East 53rd Street

New York, New York 10022-5299

Copyright 2008 by Jacquie D'Alessandro

Excerpts from Confessions at Midnight copyright 2008 by Jacquie D'Alessandro;

Priceless copyright 1998 by Christina Dodd;

The Perfect Wife copyright 1996, 2008 by Victoria Alexander;

The Seduction of an Unknown Lady 2008 by Sandra Kleinschmit

ISBN: 978-0-06-123139-1

www.avonromance.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address Avon Books, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

First Avon Books paperback printing: January 2008

Avon Trademark Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. and in Other Countries, Marca

Registrada, Hecho en U.S.A.

HarperCollins is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.

Printed in the U.S.A.

This book is dedicated with my deepest respect and gratitude to all those who have served and are currently serving in our Armed Forces. Thank you for the sacrifices you and your families make to keep our nation free and safe. I'd especially like to thank my dad, World War II veteran James Johnson, for not only serving in the Army but also for instilling in me a profound love of our country. And thanks also to my mom, Kay Johnson, not only for being a wonderful mother, but for marrying that handsome former soldier.

And, as always, to my fantastic husband, Joe, for being The Most Patient Man on Earth, and my terrific son, Christopher, aka Patience Junior. Jegamesh, boys. I love you!

I would like to thank the following people for their invaluable help and support:

My editor, Erika Tsang, and all the wonderful people at Avon Books/HarperCollins for their kindness, cheer-leading, and helping make my dreams come true, including Liate Stehlik, Carrie Feron, Debbie Stier, Pam Spengler-Jaffee, Buzzy Porter, Brian Grogan, Mike Spradlin, Adrienne Di Pietro, Mark Gustafson, Rhonda Rose, Carla Parker, and Tom Egner.

My agent, Damaris Rowland, for her faith and wisdom, as well as Steven Axelrod and Lori Antonson.

Jenni Grizzle and Wendy Etherington for being such great buds.

Thanks also to the wonderful Sue Grimshaw of BGI for her generosity and support and Kathy Baker, bookseller extraordinaire. If bookselling were an Olympic event, you two ladies would bring home the gold! And as always to Kay and Jim Johnson; Kathy and Dick Guse; Lea and Art D' Alessandro; and Michelle, Steve, and Lindsey Grossman.

A cyber hug to my Looney Loopies Connie Brockway, Marsha Canham, Virginia Henley, Jill Gregory, Sandy Hingston, Julia London, Kathleen Givens, Sherri Browning, and Julie Ortolon, and also to the Temptresses the Blaze Babes.

My terrific book club buddies Susie Aspinwall, Sandy Izaguirre, Melanie Long, and Melissa Winsor for their kindness, friendship, and support.

A very special thank you to the members of Georgia Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America.

And finally, thank you to all the wonderful readers who have taken the time to write to me. I love hearing from you!

His hand slipped beneath my gown to slowly glide up my leg. The muted sounds of the party came through the library door, andIknew we risked being discovered. ButIsimply did not care

Memoirs of a Mistress by An Anonymous Lady

"When we chose this book to read, I had no idea it would be so explicit," murmured Carolyn Turner, Viscountess Wingate.

She clutched her slim, leather-boundand much perusedvolume of Memoirs of a Mistress and glanced around her drawing room at her three guests, who, along with her, comprised the Ladies Literary Society of London. All three faces, she noted, bore scarlet blushes identical to the one scorching her own cheeks. Quite understandable, as one of her guests was only newly married and the other two were virginal innocents.

Virginal, yes. Innocentsno longer, thanks to the Memoirs.

Of course, in spite of having been married for seven years, she herself still had never dreamed of, let alone experienced, half the things described in the scandalous book that had recently taken Society by storm. Before her beloved Edward's untimely death three years ago, she'd believed they shared every conceivable pleasure with each other.

Based on her reading of the Memoirs, apparently not.

Her sister Sarah, the new Marchioness Langston by virtue of her recent marriage, cleared her throat. "Well, the entire point of forming our little Ladies Literary Society was to forsake the classics for more forbidden fare."

"True," said Lady Julianne Bradley, whose normally porcelain complexion now resembled a fiery sunset, "but there is forbidden, then there is this." She held up her own copy of the book and Carolyn noted that many of the pages appeared decidedly dog-eared. Julianne leaned forward, and although they were alone in the room, she lowered her voice. "If Mother ever discovered I'd read such shocking things, she'd" Julianne briefly squeezed her eyes shut. "Oh, I cannot even imagine it."

"She'd fly into the boughs as she always does," chimed in Lady Emily Stapleford with her usual forthrightness. "She'd demand her hartshorn, then, once recovered, I wager she'd confiscate your copy in order to read it for herself." Emily grinned at Julianne over the rim of her teacup. "In which case you'd not only be confined to your bedchamber for the remainder of your natural days, but you'd never get your book back. So make certain she doesn't find out."

Julianne's color deepened, and she quickly added another sugar lump to her tea. "As I've absolutely nothing to which I can compare anything I've read in the