Silk Is For Seduction

Silk Is For Seduction
Loretta Chase

Seduction was a game…Marcelline Noirot has one thing on her mind when she meets the Duke of Clevedon. It’s not his heartbreaking good looks, nor his smouldering charm. She’s after his wallet and…his bride-to-be.One of the most talented dressmakers in London, landing the Clevedon wedding dress would catapult Marcelline’s family business to fame and fortune. She’ll do whatever it takes and if that means using her feminine wiles on the Duke to get what she wants, then so be it. But losing her heart…that’s not part of the bargain.THE DRESSMAKERSSILK IS FOR SEDUCTION Book1SCANDAL WEARS SATIN Book 2VIXEN IN VELVET Book 3

He collected his wits. ‘What I don’t understand,’ he said, ‘is how anyone could pay attention to the opera when you were in the place.’

‘They’re French,’ she said. ‘They take art seriously.’

‘And you’re not French?’

She smiled. ‘That’s the question, it seems.’

‘French,’ he said. ‘You’re a brilliant mimic, but you’re French.’

‘You’re so sure,’ she said.

‘I’m merely a thickheaded Englishman, I know,’ he said. ‘But even I can tell French and English women apart. One might dress an Englishwoman in French fashion from head to toe and she’ll still look English. You…’

He trailed off, letting his gaze skim over her. Only consider her hair. It was as stylish as the precise coifs of other French-women…yet, no, not the same. She was…different.

‘You’re French, through and through,’ he said. ‘If I’m wrong, the stickpin is yours.’

‘And if you’re right?’ she said.

He thought quickly. ‘If I’m right, you’ll do me the honour of riding with me in the Bois de Boulogne tomorrow,’ he said.

‘That’s all?’ she said, in French this time.

‘It’s a great deal to me.’

She rose abruptly in a rustle of silk. Surprised—again—he was slow coming to his feet.

‘I need air,’ she said. ‘It grows warm in here.’

He opened the door to the corridor and she swept past him. He followed her out, his pulse racing.

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).

Silk is for Seduction

Loretta Chase

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

In Memory of Princess Irelynn

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (#ulink_9b4d29c6-4e92-5bec-a9f0-942ca2796718)

Thanks to:

The milliners and tailors of colonial Williamsburg’s margaret Hunter Shop, with special thanks to mantua-maker and mistress of the shop Janea Whitacre and tailor mark Hutter, for helping me with numerous details of the art of dress, and for so generously sharing their expertise and enthusiasm

Chris Woodyard, for her invaluable help with dolls and demolished houses and every other pesky question I could think to ask her

Susan Hollowy Scott for storms at sea, as well as her usual wit, wisdom and moral support

My husband Walter for his cinematic eye, unceasing supply of encouragement and inspiration, and numerous acts of undaunted courage

Cynthia, nancy, and Sherrie for what they always do

and, of course,

Trinny and Susannah

Table of Contents

Cover (#u5a3491e8-640a-5b69-b1b0-0b7781c14367)

Excerpt (#u4773eec9-e629-5340-a969-ada097fdd662)

About the Author (#u82c91f38-16dd-52fd-8385-f473a4f2c597)

Title Page (#u913b563d-8481-5df1-8ea2-b9708561e266)

Dedication (#u7ca02e0e-28fb-5a01-9ad9-90a80ce544ce)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (#u432d2d42-f848-5b1f-8c99-ecaaca4c422a)

Prologue (#u0aa82314-0d30-540b-8b35-2c7e85ccb146)

Chapter One (#u0eb1f8b7-8ed6-5862-be5f-086938c040d7)

Chapter Two (#u58273d66-77fd-5305-aee3-ea7d29f86d5d)

Chapter Three (#u5ed9ec0e-1220-5cd3-9bd3-054479ed29c5)

Chapter Four (#ua336579f-da0b-5268-b5f3-61652560dd9d)

Chapter Five (#u5c582b79-c257-5c25-b98f-f8506e528062)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)