Involving Innocence
()
About this ebook
Nathaniel Bourne wants to marry into the aristocracy, the higher the better. He has made a fortune large enough to 'buy' Lady Innocence Manners but can it buy love?
This is not recommended to anyone under 18 as some intimate scenes are described.
Suzy Stewart Dubot
An Anglo/American who has lived in France for nearly 40 years, she began writing as soon as she retired. She moved to London in 2012 and spent more than a year there with family. The spring of 2014, she returned to France, Her laptop has never had any trouble following her.Before retiring, she worked at a variety of jobs. Some of the more interesting have been : Art and Crafts teacher, Bartender, Marketing Assistant for N° 1 World Yacht Charterers (Moorings), Beaux Arts Model, Secretary to the French Haflinger Association...With her daughters, she is a vegetarian and a supporter of animal rights! She is also an admirer of William Wilberforce.(If you should read her book 'The Viscount's Midsummer Mistress' you will see that she has devoted some paragraphs to the subject in Regency times.)PLEASE BE KIND ENOUGH TO LEAVE A REVIEW FOR ANY BOOK YOU READ (hers included).
Read more from Suzy Stewart Dubot
Moon Under Water Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Baron & the Clockmaker's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bed Times ~ Un Lit, Seuil des Temps Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Man on the Corner Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Confused Memories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gold Leaf Lover Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFictional Pain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVidal: A Story for Children Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSunshine Came Softly... Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPerfectly Plain Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Doctor Russell Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGraffiti Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRue Saint Honoré Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5DataDater Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPub Crawling with My Dog Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsManderley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBed Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Repentant Viscount Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cost of Sharp Edges Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Night Watch Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSquare Peg in a Round Hole Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hundredth Day at Sea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRepetitive Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFortune Cookies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnique Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQuartet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnscheduled Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFiction on Command Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFiction on Command, Volume II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Involving Innocence
Related ebooks
Involving Innocence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Christmas Surprise Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Taste of Honey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kate Chopin Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnmask My Heart (A Novella) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Awakening and other stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFreedom's Price (Keys of Promise Book #3) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Where Do We Go From Here? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLord Darkwood's Revenge Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Black From the Future: A Collection of Black Speculative Writing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Second Time's the Charm Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhere do we go from here?: Book 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Master of Silence: A Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScandalous Secret, Defiant Bride Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEven So Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Father's Gift Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsExposing Ellen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsToo Near, Yet Too Far: The Corwin-Chandler Trilogy Boxed Set Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Good Man: A Rags & Riches Billionaire Romance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Variable Winds at Jalna Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Unlikely Alliance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Wicked Liaison Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Her Christmas Homecoming (Rainbow Cove Christmas, #3) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForbidden Disclosure, A Billionaire in Disguise Series, Book 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBetrayed, Betrothed And Bedded Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKissing the Captain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Christmas Courtship Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love's Challenge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChasing Down Her Highness: Rocky Royal Romance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Royalty Romance For You
Bred By The King In Public: Dominant King Erotic History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Years to Sin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Have and to Hoax: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Marry and to Meddle: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Simply Sinful Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Love and to Loathe: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5To Swoon and to Spar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pride and Pleasure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bargain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cold-Hearted Rake: The Ravenels, Book 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dancing at Midnight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wild Irish Girl: Lady Sydney Morgan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScales and Sensibility Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King of Libertines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Simply Wicked Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Simply Sexual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil’s Submission Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5These Old Shades Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Darcy's Passion - A Sensual Pride and Prejudice Compromise: Pemberley Intimate, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Submitting to the Marquess Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Smallest Man: the most uplifting book of the year Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bound To Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Bit of Rough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Not To Bare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unlaced Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jane Austen Six Pack (Illustrated) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Simply Shameless Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Castaway in Cornwall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Involving Innocence
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Involving Innocence - Suzy Stewart Dubot
This is dedicated to all those people, family included, who have encouraged me to write. Amongst them are my friends :
Clarissa, Olga, Jeanne, Christine, Danie, Isabelle and Diana
A special thanks to Philippe Doux and his sheep and Lionel Polion for taking me to see them.
Involving Innocence
Copyright © 2011 by Suzy Stewart Dubot
––––––––
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
http://suzystewartdubotbooks.weebly.com
suzybazaarebooks.weebly.com
––––––––
License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Prologue
London - Summer, 1814
‘Was that it? A painful stab in the dark and then nothing...’
Innocence lay on her back looking up at the darkness. She squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to blot out the disappointing and rather degrading assault, and two tears found their way out of the corners of her eyes and slowly trickled down the sides of her face to behind her ears. Their cool progress distracted her for a brief instant from the thought that this was an example of what she might expect most nights of her life — because now she was a married woman.
Her husband was sleeping soundly next to her on his stomach. It had all happened remarkably quickly from the time that he had entered her bedroom until the time he had lifted himself from her and gone to sleep without further ado. She suspected that the wine, which he had consumed in ample amounts, had had its part of responsibility in the pathetic coupling, but, having been a virgin, she hadn’t really known what to expect. There had been no one to explain to her — but surely something better than that!
His large hand brushed her thigh as he shifted his position and then, like something with a mind of its own, the hand returned with more purpose to its movement. It came to rest on the soft skin of her thigh in a gently grasping motion and she heard him mutter, ‘my Lamb.’
It was too much to bear. In a slightly hysterical reaction, she laughed! Did he think he’d put his hand on a leg of lamb or was she merely a sacrifice? Why didn’t he go back to his own room instead of puffing alcoholic fumes at her?
‘Oh bother! If this was an example of the first night of the rest of her life with Nathaniel, she might have to take to drink too.’
Chapter 1
London – Spring, 1814 (three months earlier)
The man is persistent, if nothing else.
Frederick Manners fidgeted with the calling card as he spoke to his daughter. The bold black signature on the expensive ivory-coloured card shouted ‘nouveau riche.’
It is most annoying because I know for a fact that besides being persistent, he also happens to be extremely wealthy...
It had been the third morning in a row that the man had left his card.
Are we in such dire straits that you are forced to take a man’s wealth into account before receiving him, Papa?
Innocence asked.
She sat across from her father at luncheon. She was surely the fairest and certainly the most rewarding of all his achievements; the daughter who had come to him when he thought it no longer possible. If all else crumbled around them, he had to make sure that she stood on firm ground.
It was his duty as her father.
There was no indication at first glance that either suffered from a deficit of funds, but upon closer scrutiny, the modesty of their apparel and lack of ornamentation might hint at harder times. It was, in reality, worse than that. The dining room itself had long ago given up its delicate porcelain and crystal, while the silverware was now only plated. The other rooms in the house had slowly parted with paintings and other decorative knick-knacks to fend off the most pressing of debts. Her father had even been obliged to sell most of the lesser pieces of family