Slow down, Sean mentally ordered as she drove him to distraction, threatening to shatter his resolve. Wanting to make this night perfect, he struggled to center himself, tried to pull back, pressing his mouth to the delicious curve where her neck met her shoulder in an effort to find calm. But the rising need raged out of his control. It had always been this way between them, and he knew it always would be, and he thought perhaps he should be thankful for that…and then he ceased thinking at all.
The world slipped away, leaving nothing but sensation and the passion that raged between them, powerful, fierce, and violent.
And he touched her as she'd wanted.
A slide of fingers, a slick caress, and she was arching helplessly against him. "Here?" he whispered. "Or…here?"
"Oh, there!" she cried as he found a spot so exquisite a skittering of heat flashed through her. "Now, Sean," she breathed, arching again. "Take me now."
She was shimmering, she was throbbing, and he was moving over her, nudging her entrance. Wrapping her legs around him instinctively, she sucked in a breath as he slipped inside her. A tiny burst of pain went as quickly as it had arrived, leaving her astonished at the wonder of being filled, of being possessed, of being utterly one with the man she loved.
He was hers, and she was his, and nothing had ever been so right.
And then he moved in her, and nothing had ever been so sublime.
She raised her hips, straining to be closer to him, and together they sought a rhythm. Together they were lost, together they found oblivion, together they soared. They caught cries of pleasure in each other's mouths and, washed in candlelight, stayed locked together while the world slid back into place.
And it was perfect.
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If you'd like to learn more about the real people, places, and events in The Art of Temptation, read on for my Author's Note...
BONUS MATERIAL
Author's Note
Books by Lauren Royal
Regency Chase Family Tree
Excerpt from AMETHYST
Contest
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Jewels of Historical Romance
Contact Information
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Dear Readers,
During the Regency, a female artist like Corinna might have had her picture accepted for the Summer Exhibition—but it's a sad truth that she probably never would have been elected to the Royal Academy of Arts. In 1768, the founding membership did include two women, Angelica Kauffmann and Mary Moser. However, ladies weren't admitted to the Royal Academy schools until 1861, and the next female Academician, Dame Laura Knight, wasn't elected until 1936.
Although we think of art from Corinna's era as classic, it was the contemporary art of its time, and the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition is the largest contemporary art show in the world. Held every year since 1769, the Exhibition is and always has been the place to see a wide range of new work by both established and unknown living artists. Admission cost one shilling in the nineteenth century, and the exhibit has been extraordinarily popular all along. Attendance grew from 60,000 in 1780 to 390,000 by 1879. In 2006, the show drew over 150,000 visitors (including me and my family!), and more than 1,200 works were included.
The Summer Exhibition Selection Committee members who attended Lady A's reception were the actual committee members in 1817, with the exception of Thomas Phillips. I removed him to make room for the fictional John Hamilton. I do apologize to Mr. Phillips, but I had to choose someone, and he was the man with the least biographical information to draw on.
It's been said that the modern novel was born in 1740, when Samuel Richardson wrote Pamela or Virtue and Reward. A tale of frustrated sexuality, it sparked controversy that created a thirst for more of the same. As a result, reading Gothic and romance fiction became a decades-long craze. Or maybe it still is a craze…as a romance reader, what do you think?
In about 1790, an Englishman named William Lane saw an opportunity and established Minerva Press. For a number of years, Lane dominated the novel publishing industry. Over half the popular books were printed by Minerva Press, and Lane reportedly made a fortune. According to the poet Samuel Rogers, Lane was often seen tooling around London in a splendid carriage, attended by footmen with cockades and gold-headed canes. All of the lines from books that Corinna recalls in The Art of Temptation are real quotes from Minerva Press novels that Corinna could have purchased in 1817.
Most of the homes in my books are inspired by real places. I modeled Lincolnshire House on Devonshire House, which was designed by William Kent and served as the London residence of the Dukes of Devonshire for nearly two hundred years. Because I wanted Lord Lincolnshire to live in Berkeley Square, I turned this house around—in reality, the house fronted on Piccadilly Street and its gardens backed up to the square. Devonshire House is no longer standing, but before it was demolished in the 1920s,
