Weekend Writing Warriors ~ 02/07/21 Only A Mistress Will Do ~ A Most Dishonorable Thing

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week I’m continuing snippets from my newly released Only A Mistress Will Do, Book 3 of the House of Pleasure series. I’ve recently gotten the rights back to this book and am thrilled to say it is currently available on Amazon. I hope for it to be on Smashwords,         B & N, iTunes, and Kobo soon.

NEW BLURB:

Friendless and destitute, Miss Violet Carlton has no choice but to seek work in London’s most notorious brothel, The House of Pleasure. She steels herself for her ultimate ruin at the hands of her first customer, only to be offered a reprieve in the form of a position as the gentleman’s mistress—in name only. Grateful for his benevolence, Violet agrees to the proposition and enjoys the life of a pampered courtesan—until her dashing rescuer puts her heart in jeopardy. Violet’s growing desire for the gentleman must be squashed when she discovers he belongs to another woman.

Tristan, Lord Trevor enters the House of Pleasure bent on a final night of carousing before donning the leg-shackle of marriage. To his shock, he recognizes the woman in his bed as a lady of the ton and resolves to save her from life in a brothel. After whisking her away under his protection, Tris endeavors to find her a husband, to secure her future and stem his own intense longing for the beautiful woman. With growing anguish Tris fears he can never make Violet his own for the impediment of his coming marriage pales in comparison to the secret he must hide from her or risk her loathing him for the rest of their lives.

This snippet moves ahead to the chapter where Violet has met her customer, a handsome, virile gentleman with lust in his eyes. The scene begins exactly where we left off from last week’s. Violet and “Lord John” are in bed and the gentleman is questioning her.

EXCERPT:

“No one at all you might turn to?”

Madame Vestry had questioned her thoroughly about her connections.

“My brother was killed in a duel over a year ago. What money and possessions I had left, I lived on until last week when there was no more.”

He searched her face as if trying to catch her out in a lie. “Your brother was killed in a duel? Then he was obviously a gentleman–have you no family or friends who might take pity on you?”

“Our family had dwindled in our generation, though there may yet be a cousin in the colonies, but here in England it was just Jamie and Kit and I. After my brother died, the way he died, most of our friends shunned me.”

“Jamie and Kit?”

And now a little more of the scene :

Resigned, she stared at the glowing embers in the grate. What was that shame compared to this? “James Carlton. In his cups one night, our cousin insulted a nobleman’s family and was challenged to a duel. Jamie agreed to be his second although I begged him not to, but he said he had to look after Kit.”

With a grim-set mouth that alarmed her, Lord John studied her face.

“Our cousin was killed in the duel and Jamie—” She still hated admitting this to anyone, but forced the words out. “Jamie then attacked the nobleman and was killed himself.”

Harshly, he seized her legs through the sheet and pinned her with an intense stare. “Do you know who the nobleman was? Who killed your brother?”

“No, my lord.” She dug in her heels, trying to shrink away from him.  “The men who brought his body home wouldn’t tell me anything. Except what he had done was a most dishonorable thing.”

He slid off the bed, and to her amazement, padded over to the heap of his clothing and began dressing, all the while cursing lightly under his breath.

 

Only A Mistress Will Do is now available on Amazon.

And Feb. 15 thru Feb. 22 I’ll be on a blog tour with Only A Mistress Will Do through Hot Damn Book Tours. If you would like to host me on your blog, please contact Hot Damn Book Tours to arrange a day. I’d love to be a guest on your blog!

And don’t forget to check out the rest of the Warriors here. There’s some fantastic snippets to be read.

The House of Pleasure series

by Jenna Jaxon