Justin “Sin” Vaughn, Earl of Sinclair, needs to marry an heiress, and he needs to marry one now. But the sudden, anonymous publication of salacious memoirs rumored to be his obliterates his chances. With polite society convinced he is a murderer, he has only one choice: find the person behind his supposed memoirs and get his revenge.
Callie never expected Lord Sinclair to discover she wrote Confessions of a Sinful Earl. Or to abduct her and demand restitution in the form of her own hand in marriage. She definitely did not expect to find him so difficult to resist…
Sin is about to teach the beautiful, perfidious Lady Callie a lesson in ruthlessness. One scorching-hot kiss at a time.
Chapter One
How dare the Duke of W. and my wife betray me? My confrontation with His Grace had done nothing to allay my furious need for vengeance. Nor could it stop the darkness in my soul. The solution I arrived upon was a final one, dear reader. It was death.
~from Confessions of a Sinful Earl
London, 1885
Lady Calliope Manning, sister to the Duke of Westmorland, social darling, and one cunning, vicious harridan, was about to learn that when a man had nothing left to lose, he was bloody well dangerous.
She was also about to learn that her efforts in chasing off all his future marital prospects had been for naught.
And that telling the world the Earl of Sinclair had killed the previous Duke of Westmorland and his former countess both came with ramifications. Dire ones.
Sin waited in the shadows as Lady Calliope left her publisher’s office and moved toward her waiting carriage. She was so accustomed to running wild all over Town and doing whatever she pleased, she did not even bother to cast a glance around her. If she had, mayhap she would have seen him watching.
Mayhap she would have known how much trouble she would soon find herself mired in. Or, at least, she may have had an inkling. But because the self-absorbed chit had never had to worry a day in her life about how she would afford her silk Worth gowns fresh from Paris or her lavish balls or live with a roof over her damned head that was not leaking, she never looked.
She never saw him coming.
Nor did she appear to take note that her driver had been replaced with a man he trusted. A man who had been paid with what little funds Sin had remaining at his disposal to drive them to the country. Her driver would have come to by now, suffering from the very devil of a headache in a nearby alleyway thanks to Brinton’s left hook.
Sin strode forward, timing his every action with utmost care. One false step, one precipitous move, and all his plans—and indeed, his only chance at saving himself—would be dashed. She was nearly within the carriage now, her back to him, foot on the step. Sin caught her waist in his hands, his grip firm, and shoved her inside.
She made a startled cry as she heaved forward in a mess of skirts and petticoats, sprawling over the Moroccan leather squabs. Sin joined her in the carriage and slammed the door, then knocked on the roof. He sat on the bench opposite her as the conveyance swung into motion.
Just in time for her to scramble around, terror on her pretty, treacherous face. The fear was chased quite neatly by recognition. Her lips parted on a gasp.
“Lord Sinclair? What the devil do you think you are doing in my carriage?” she demanded.
“I am abducting you,” he told her with a sangfroid that was owed partly to the whisky he had swallowed to fortify him just prior to this mission of desperation. And partly to his desire to make the alarm return to her features.
She scoffed. “You cannot abduct me, my lord.”
So much for her alarm. But there was plenty of time to draw blood. The journey ahead was long.
Sin held up his hands, gesturing to the interior of the carriage. “Observe, Lady Calliope.”
She raised a dark, elegant brow. “All I see before me is an interloper in my carriage. What are you doing here, Lord Sinclair? Do you not have an innocent to debauch? Some opium to eat? Another murder to plot?”
He was going to enjoy destroying this despicable creature.
Sin gave her his most feral smile. “You have been paying attention to my reputation, my lady. I am all aflutter.”
“I hardly pay you any attention at all.” She frowned at him, her dark eyes flashing with defiant fire. “You are beneath my notice.”
Lying witch.
“Indeed, Lady Calliope?” He reached into his coat and calmly extracted the blade he had secreted there for just this purpose. For her. He tested the point at the tip with his thumb, watching her.
Her gaze had fallen to the blade. Beneath her hat, which had been knocked askew when he had shoved her into the carriage, her skin paled.
“Why do you have a weapon?” she asked.
“Perhaps I am plotting your murder,” he suggested, slowly running his thumb down the length of the blade. “Since I have already killed your brother.”
She stiffened. “If you think to do me harm, my lord—”
“Has no one informed you it is poor form to threaten the fellow with the knife?” he interrupted. “Tut, tut, Lady Calliope.”
“I daresay no one has ever wielded a knife in my presence,” she snapped. “What is this about, Lord Sinclair? I have other calls to make today, and you are wasting my time with your nonsense.”
How she deluded herself.
“There will be no other calls.” He stroked his thumb back down the blade, this time with too much force.
He knew a quick sting in the fleshy pad, followed by the wetness of his blood. What irony. The first blood he had drawn was his own.
“You cut yourself,” she gasped. “You are bleeding everywhere.”
So he had, and so he was.
“It is a minor scratch,” he said, unconcerned. “It will stop. This knife is very sharp, Lady Calliope. I would hate to have to use it upon your tender flesh, to cut you.”
“You are attempting to frighten me,” she countered, her eyes narrowing. “I do not know what you want or why, but surely you must realize this is madness and it needs to end at once.” She rapped at the ceiling then. “Lewis! Stop this carriage.”
He laughed, the sound bitter. “Do you truly think I would be stupid enough to abduct you with your own driver?”
Confusion stole over her expressive face.
It was a pity he hated her so much, because Lady Calliope Manning was one of the most stunning women he had ever beheld. Stunning and deceitful and reckless. He would crush her before this war she had begun was over between them.
“What have you done with Lewis?” she asked, fear making her voice tremble.
All her bravado leached away.
Good. Perhaps she was beginning to realize the gravity of her situation.
“Mayhap I killed him, like the others,” he growled. “Like my wife. Your brother. That is what you think, is it not, my lady? That is what you wrote for all the world to read and believe, pretending to be me.”
She went paler still. “I do not know what you are speaking of.”
“The false memoirs you have been writing and publishing in regular, despicable little serials,” he elaborated, bringing his cut thumb to his mouth and sucking the blood clean. Copper flooded his tongue. “Confessions of a Sinful Earl, I believe you titled the deceitful tripe. Not terribly clever of you, but then, your sole intention was to make certain everyone had no question in their minds that your vicious fictions were about me, is that not right?”
“I read the memoirs along with the rest of London, but I am not the author, my lord,” she denied.
He had known she would not confess her sins easily. He was prepared to refute her claims. He had been waiting. Watching. Preparing. Lord knew he had nothing else to do since all the doors in London had been closed to him.
“And yet, I just caught you paying your weekly call to the offices of J.M. White and Sons, the same publisher of Confessions,” he countered.
“J.M. White and Sons publishes pamphlets for the Lady’s Suffrage
Society.” Her response was quick. “That is the reason I pay calls there regularly.”
He smiled. “An excellent excuse for your trips, is it not? But how do you explain the manuscripts in your bedchamber at Westmorland House, Lady Calliope?”
Her eyes widened. And an expression stole over her face then, one he imagined mirrored that of a wild beast staring down its hunter. “How would you know what is in my chamber?”
His smile deepened, along with his triumph. “Because I was there. I saw it myself.”
But his triumph was short-lived. Because in the next breath, the virago launched herself at him.
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Other books by Scarlett Scott
Don’t miss Scarlett’s other romances!
(Listed by Series)
Complete Book List
HISTORICAL ROMANCE
Heart’s Temptation
A Mad Passion (Book One)
Rebel Love (Book Two)
Reckless Need (Book Three)
Sweet Scandal (Book Four)
Restless Rake (Book Five)
Darling Duke (Book Six)
The Night Before Scandal (Book Seven)
Wicked Husbands
Her Errant Earl (Book One)
Her Lovestruck Lord (Book Two)
Her Reformed Rake (Book Three)
Her Deceptive Duke (Book Four)
Her Missing Marquess (Book Five)
Her Virtuous Viscount (Book Six)
League of Dukes
Nobody’s Duke (Book One)
Heartless Duke (Book Two)
Dangerous Duke (Book Three)
Shameless Duke (Book Four)
Scandalous Duke (Book Five)
Fearless Duke (Book Six)
Notorious Ladies of London
Lady Ruthless (Book One)
Lady Wallflower (Book Two)
Lady Reckless (Book Three)
Lady Wicked (Book Four)
Lady Lawless (Book Five)
The Wicked Winters
Wicked in Winter (Book One)
Wedded in Winter (Book Two)
Wanton in Winter (Book Three)
Wishes in Winter (Book 3.5)
Willful in Winter (Book Four)
Wagered in Winter (Book Five)
Wild in Winter (Book Six)
Wooed in Winter (Book Seven)
Winter’s Wallflower (Book Eight)
Winter’s Woman (Book Nine)
Winter’s Whispers (Book Ten)
Winter’s Waltz (Book Eleven)
Winter’s Widow (Book Twelve)
Winter’s Warrior (Book Thirteen)
Stand-alone Novella
Lord of Pirates
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Love’s Second Chance
Reprieve (Book One)
Perfect Persuasion (Book Two)
Win My Love (Book Three)
Coastal Heat
Loved Up (Book One)
About the Author
About the Author
USA Today and Amazon bestselling author Scarlett Scott writes steamy Victorian and Regency romance with strong, intelligent heroines and sexy alpha heroes. She lives in Pennsylvania with her Canadian husband, adorable identical twins, and one TV-loving dog.
A self-professed literary junkie and nerd, she loves reading anything, but especially romance novels, poetry, and Middle English verse. Catch up with her on her website http://www.scarlettscottauthor.com/. Hearing from readers never fails to make her day.
Scarlett’s complete book list and information about upcoming releases can be found at http://www.scarlettscottauthor.com/.
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Heart’s Temptation Series Books 4-6 Page 82
