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Vixen In Velvet
Loretta Chase
A dangerous wager… A seductive nobleman…When Leonie Noirot first meets devastatingly handsome Simon Blair, the fourth Marquess of Lisburne, she literally falls into his strong arms!However, Leonie simply has no time for his wickedly charming lordship. The pretty redhead is obsessed with her business – turning the ladies of society into beautifully dressed swans. Until the bet…Logical Leonie has to agree; if Lisburne’s cousin, Lady Gladys, is not transformed, Leonie must spend two weeks at Lisburne’s pleasure…
She straightened and came around to face him, making a pretty flurry of white muslin and lace.
She was a dressmaker, he told himself. She knew how to wield clothes as a weapon. And it worked all too well, like a club to the head.
She gave him the enigmatic smile, so like the one Botticelli’s Venus wore. ‘A wager,’ she said.
‘Everybody else is doing it,’ he said. ‘Why shouldn’t we?’
“Because you’ll lose?” she said.
‘Oh, but I’m sure you’ll lose,’ he said. ‘And my mind is wandering over an interesting range of forfeits.’
‘Mine, too,’ she said. ‘Money means nothing to you, so I must use my powers of imagination.’
‘I had higher stakes in mind,’ he said. ‘Nothing so ordinary as money. Something significant.’
She set her hands on the edge of the desk and leaned back.
He couldn’t exactly see her calculating. She was too good at not showing what she was about. Yet he knew she was weighing and measuring, and so he calculated, too.
He sensed the moment when she’d worked out her answer. Yet she waited one moment. Another.
Playing with him, the vixen.
THE DRESSMAKERS SERIES
Silk is for Seduction
Scandal Wears Satin
Vixen in Velvet
LORETTA CHASE has worked in academe, retail and the visual arts, as well as on the streets—as a meter maid (aka traffic warden)—and in video, as a scriptwriter. She might have developed an excitingly chequered career had her spouse not nagged her into writing fiction. Her bestselling historical romances, set in the Regency and Romantic eras of the early nineteenth century, have won a number of awards, including the Romance Writers of America’s RITA
.
Website: www.LorettaChase.com (http://www.LorettaChase.com).
Vixen in Velvet
Loretta Chase
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
In memory of my mother
Acknowledgements (#uff4e9cd2-44a8-53a4-80ac-2549acf63e6e)
Thanks to:
May Chen: funny, wise and understanding editor, whose patience surpasseth all understanding;
Nancy Yost: brilliant, hard-working, witty and inspiring agent;
Isabella Bradford: kindred spirit and nerdy history co-enabler;
Paul and Carol: providers of the perfect writer’s refuge on Cape Cod;
Valerie Kerxhalli: advisor in French Colonial matters;
Williamsburg milliners, mantua makers and tailors: experts in historic dress, who continue to unlock the mysteries of clothing from the past;
Cynthia, Vivian and Kathy: sisters, cheerleaders, confidantes, friends;
Walter: spouse, producer, cinematographer and knight in shining armour,
Table of Contents
Cover (#u47646b9f-9e3a-5dbc-842a-b95b2257680f)
Excerpt (#ub78e2f7e-fa44-5b30-a304-b6af2b0d50fa)
About the Author (#ud63bba45-8039-597e-94ee-dba294500320)
Title Page (#u4834a586-b3dc-5d73-942f-0de60b78beae)
Dedication (#u4dae620d-2934-5bd7-b558-b308e02c5689)
Acknowledgements
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
Loretta Chase
A dangerous wager… A seductive nobleman…When Leonie Noirot first meets devastatingly handsome Simon Blair, the fourth Marquess of Lisburne, she literally falls into his strong arms!However, Leonie simply has no time for his wickedly charming lordship. The pretty redhead is obsessed with her business – turning the ladies of society into beautifully dressed swans. Until the bet…Logical Leonie has to agree; if Lisburne’s cousin, Lady Gladys, is not transformed, Leonie must spend two weeks at Lisburne’s pleasure…
She straightened and came around to face him, making a pretty flurry of white muslin and lace.
She was a dressmaker, he told himself. She knew how to wield clothes as a weapon. And it worked all too well, like a club to the head.
She gave him the enigmatic smile, so like the one Botticelli’s Venus wore. ‘A wager,’ she said.
‘Everybody else is doing it,’ he said. ‘Why shouldn’t we?’
“Because you’ll lose?” she said.
‘Oh, but I’m sure you’ll lose,’ he said. ‘And my mind is wandering over an interesting range of forfeits.’
‘Mine, too,’ she said. ‘Money means nothing to you, so I must use my powers of imagination.’
‘I had higher stakes in mind,’ he said. ‘Nothing so ordinary as money. Something significant.’
She set her hands on the edge of the desk and leaned back.
He couldn’t exactly see her calculating. She was too good at not showing what she was about. Yet he knew she was weighing and measuring, and so he calculated, too.
He sensed the moment when she’d worked out her answer. Yet she waited one moment. Another.
Playing with him, the vixen.
THE DRESSMAKERS SERIES
Silk is for Seduction
Scandal Wears Satin
Vixen in Velvet
LORETTA CHASE has worked in academe, retail and the visual arts, as well as on the streets—as a meter maid (aka traffic warden)—and in video, as a scriptwriter. She might have developed an excitingly chequered career had her spouse not nagged her into writing fiction. Her bestselling historical romances, set in the Regency and Romantic eras of the early nineteenth century, have won a number of awards, including the Romance Writers of America’s RITA
.
Website: www.LorettaChase.com (http://www.LorettaChase.com).
Vixen in Velvet
Loretta Chase
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
In memory of my mother
Acknowledgements (#uff4e9cd2-44a8-53a4-80ac-2549acf63e6e)
Thanks to:
May Chen: funny, wise and understanding editor, whose patience surpasseth all understanding;
Nancy Yost: brilliant, hard-working, witty and inspiring agent;
Isabella Bradford: kindred spirit and nerdy history co-enabler;
Paul and Carol: providers of the perfect writer’s refuge on Cape Cod;
Valerie Kerxhalli: advisor in French Colonial matters;
Williamsburg milliners, mantua makers and tailors: experts in historic dress, who continue to unlock the mysteries of clothing from the past;
Cynthia, Vivian and Kathy: sisters, cheerleaders, confidantes, friends;
Walter: spouse, producer, cinematographer and knight in shining armour,
Table of Contents
Cover (#u47646b9f-9e3a-5dbc-842a-b95b2257680f)
Excerpt (#ub78e2f7e-fa44-5b30-a304-b6af2b0d50fa)
About the Author (#ud63bba45-8039-597e-94ee-dba294500320)
Title Page (#u4834a586-b3dc-5d73-942f-0de60b78beae)
Dedication (#u4dae620d-2934-5bd7-b558-b308e02c5689)
Acknowledgements
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
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