The Perfect Mistress

Informationen zum Autor Betina Krahn Klappentext The Perfect Mistress is the perfect follow-up to The Last Bachelor. This time the heroine is a courtesan's daughter who wants the unthinkable: to get married... The daughter of an exquisite London courtesan, beautiful and blunt Gabrielle La Coeur is determined to make a different life for herself -- staid, respectable... married. Pierce St. James is an openly libertine viscount, who intends to stay single and free of the hypocrisy of Victorian society. For Gabrielle, there is only one way out of the life her mother has planned for her -- she must become the virginal "mistress" of London's most notorious rake.London / April 1883   “You’re in for it now, my girl.”   The majordomo’s whisper resonated in the quiet hallway as he reached for the polished door handle.   One of the massive double doors swung back, and the low drone of voices and the scent of perfume rolled from the opening. Gabrielle LeCoeur stiffened and cast a dread-filled look at the stone-faced houseman. He narrowed his eyes and gave her a nudge that propelled her through the opening into her mother’s boudoir. The latch clicked softly behind her and she was left alone to face her fate … Gabrielle in the lioness’s den.   The large chamber was filled with the soft glow of evening light, grandly baroque furnishings, and the pervasive aura of woman at her most sensory and elemental. Every curve of the polished mahogany and drape of silk damascene … every hue, from delicate mauve to rich burgundy … and every texture, from lush velvet to glittering gilt, was contrived to recall the chamber’s owner and prime occupant, Rosalind LeCoeur. The lighting and furnishings were carefully arranged to direct every eye, from every possible perspective, to her. Gabrielle’s gaze traveled along one of those cannily composed lines of sight toward her mother. She groaned silently.   There sat Rosalind on a round silk divan flanked by sprays of imported spring flowers. She was surrounded by three other women, each attired in a floral silk dress with an elaborate bustle and an extravagant “picture” hat.   “I take it you have recovered from your little ‘upset,’ ” her mother said, waving her into a chair with a superbly manicured hand. The remark was more an order than an observation.   As Gabrielle complied, four pairs of experienced feminine eyes scrutinized every drape and furl of her gown and every curve and line of her body beneath it. She perched stiffly on the edge of the high-backed parlor chair placed strategically before them. She hadn’t known they would be here: her mother’s bosom friends. It boded ill.   “Really, Gabrielle, getting sick in front of him … very nearly on him!” Her mother rose and stared at her with consternation. “How could you behave so toward a gentleman who has come to seek your hand?”   It wasn’t the sort of question that required an answer. Gabrielle bit her tongue to keep from declaring that her hand had not been mentioned—though a number of her other parts had been quite thoroughly discussed. It wasn’t her fault she had gotten sick, she thought mutinously; the overheated wretch had smelled of garlic and that putrid ambergris. And if he had kept his tongue to himself during that interminable kiss, she might have managed without almost giving up her din—   “You not only failed to captivate the count, you may have put him off altogether,” her mother said, pacing back and forth, turning so quickly that her tea gown billowed about her. “A man of his station would never find such a green and unpredictable girl appealing. And after all my efforts on your behalf—that expensive schooling and travel, those endless lessons and countless brushes of culture. What good are they if you do not display them to advantage?… What have you to say for yourself, young lady?”   What did she have to say? She hadn’t wanted to b...

Product details

• Authors: Betina Krahn
• Publisher: Bantam Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.09.1995
• EAN: 9780553565232
• ISBN: 978-0-553-56523-2
• No. of pages: 450
• Dimensions: 110 mm x 175 mm x 40 mm
• Series: Mistress; Mistress
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Romance, FICTION / Romance / General