SEDUCED
“Celia, you don’t know what you’re doing,” he began to say, but she interrupted.
“I know enough.” She tilted back her head to look up at him, a movement he felt more than saw. “But I shall leave if you don’t want me to stay.”
“Celia,” he rasped, clinging to his sanity and honor with great difficulty, “I must tell you—”
“I know who you are,” she whispered. “I’ve known for some time, Anthony.”
His name fell like an absolution on his ears. She knew. There were still reasons why he shouldn’t do this—many, many reasons—but they fell aside under the weight of those words and the others she had said: I want you.
Slowly, reverently, he bent his head and brushed his lips against hers, once, twice. She stood quietly, her face raised to his, her hand still on his chest. He trailed one hand down the back of her neck, a feathery touch that made her lips part in a silent gasp against his. He deepened the kiss just a little, wanting to savor every moment, every bit of her….
Books by Caroline Linden
WHAT A WOMAN NEEDS*
WHAT A GENTLEMAN WANTS*
WHAT A ROGUE DESIRES*
A RAKE’S GUIDE TO SEDUCTION*
A VIEW TO A KISS
FOR YOUR ARMS ONLY
YOU ONLY LOVE ONCE
ONE NIGHT IN LONDON
BLAME IT ON BATH
THE WAY TO A DUKE’S HEART
LOVE AND OTHER SCANDALS
IT TAKES A SCANDAL
LOVE IN THE TIME OF SCANDAL
SIX DEGREES OF SCANDAL
*Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation
A Rake’s Guide To Seduction
CAROLINE LINDEN
KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.
For Ruth and Lucas:
I miss you both.
Contents
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
About the Author
Chapter One
Anthony Hamilton was born scandalous, and his reputation did not improve as he grew.
He was the only son of the earl of Lynley, but it was almost a proven fact that he was not Lynley’s own child. Lady Lynley, a much younger woman than her husband, had not borne a child in the first ten years of her marriage and then, out of the blue, gave birth to a strapping, handsome lad who didn’t look a thing like Lord Lynley, nor any of the Hamiltons for that matter. Lynley had not repudiated his wife or the child, but the fact that Lady Lynley and her son spent most of their time away from Lynley Court seemed proof of…something.
Mr. Hamilton had been a thoroughly wild boy as well. He was asked to leave no fewer than three schools—mostly for fighting, but once for cheating a professor at cards. He had finished his education at Oxford in record time, then set himself up in London to begin a life that could only be called, in hushed tones, depraved and immoral. That was when he had stopped using his courtesy title as well; he no longer allowed people to call him Viscount Langford, as befitted the Lynley heir, but insisted on being plain Mr. Hamilton. That, combined with his regular appearances at high-stakes gaming tables and the steady stream of wealthy widows and matrons he kept company with, painted him blacker than black, utterly irredeemable, and absolutely, deliciously fascinating to the ton.
There was the time he wagered everything he owned, including the clothing he was wearing at the time, at the hazard table and somehow walked away with a small fortune. There was his infamous but vague wager with Lady Nicols—no one quite seemed to know the precise details—that ended with Lady Nicols handing him her priceless rubies in the midst of a ball at Carleton House. There was the time Sir Henry Milton accused him of siring the child Lady Milton carried at the time; Mr. Hamilton simply smiled, murmured a few words in Sir Henry’s ear, and within an hour the two men were sharing a bottle of wine, looking for all the world as if they were bosom friends. He was rumored to be on the verge of being taken to the Fleet one night, and as rich as Croesus the next. He was a complete contradiction, and he only inflamed the gossips’ interest by being utterly discreet. For such a wicked man, he was remarkably guarded.
Celia Reece had heard all the stories about him. Despite her mother’s admonitions, Celia had developed a fondness for gossip in her first Season in London, and all the best bits seemed to involve him in one way or another. Although Anthony Hamilton might not be—quite—the most scandalous person in London, he was the most scandalous person she knew, and as such she found his exploits hugely entertaining.
He had been friends with her brother David for as long as Celia could remember and had often come to Ainsley Park, the Reece family estate, for school holidays. As he had grown more and more disreputable, he had stopped visiting—Celia suspected her mother had banned him from coming—but she still remembered him fondly, almost as an extra brother. He had tied her fishing lines and helped launch her kites, and it gave her no end of amusement that he was now so wicked, young ladies were afraid to walk past him alone.
Naturally, his reputation meant that she was never to speak to him again. Celia’s mother, Rosalind, had drummed it into her daughter’s head that proper young ladies did not associate with wicked gentlemen. Celia had restrained herself from pointing out that her own brother was every bit as wild as Mr. Hamilton, but she had obeyed her mother for the most part. She was having a grand time in her first Season and didn’t want to do anything to spoil it, particularly not anything that would get her sent back to Ainsley Park in disgrace for associating with wicked gentlemen.
Fortunately, there were so many other gentlemen to choose from. As the daughter and now sister of the duke of Exeter, Celia was a very eligible young lady. The earl of Carrick sent her lilies every week. Sir Henry Avenall sent her roses. The duke of Ware had asked her to dance more than once, Viscount Graves had taken her driving in the Park, and Lord Andrew Bertram