Fiery Harlot Seduced by a Duke Read online

  A Fiery Harlot Seduced By A Duke

  (Steamy Historical Regency Romance)

  By AD James

  Copyright 2019: AD James

  Amazon License Notes

  Copyright Law: All rights reserved. This ebook is the work of AD James. No one is allowed to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work, or to make derivative works. The copyright holder is typically the work’s creator and publisher.

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  A Wayward Duke’s Bride

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Introduction

  A handsome Duke determined to escape a love less marriage..

  Robert Penrose the Duke of Cornwall is a handsome ex-military soldier with a muscular physique and an iron will to match. When a tragedy hits his family with the sudden death of his father, he is forced to leave the army.

  Unfortunately, his mother Lady Louise Cornwall has been left with a large gambling debt to pay off debtors. The only solution is for Robert to marry Lady Emily Mountford, a rich spoilt heiress. Her substantial dowry would clear the debt and elevate the Cornwall family’s fortunes.

  However, Robert is opposed to the union and pines for his first love - the army. His mother delivers an ultimatum – if he can’t pay off the debt himself, he must marry Lady Emily Mountford in thirty days!

  A beautiful harlot looking for love in the wrong places..

  Mary Kelly is an attractive brunette employed as a high-class courtesan to wealthy gentlemen in London. She hopes to escape her vice ridden life and return home to Ireland one day. Mary came to London two years ago as a respectable governess to a wealthy family in London.

  Unfortunately, the father of the young boy she tutored began to make amorous advances towards her. Although Mary made it clear his behaviour was not appropriate it continued. One night he came into her bedroom and attacked her against her will.

  When she threatened to tell his wife she was thrown onto the streets with no money or reference. To make ends meet Mary was forced to work as a harlot in the vice ridden docks near the river Thames.

  When they meet sparks fly..

  When Robert and Mary meet in the middle of a highwayman raid sparks fly. She is a beautiful courtesan wishing to escape her vice ridden life. He is a handsome Duke wishing to escape a love less marriage to a rich spoilt heiress.

  Can true love conquer the prejudice of class, scandal and vice?

  Chapter 1

  Mary Kelly shivered in the damp doorway of a squalid dock-side tavern by the river Thames in London. It was not a place she would usually ply for trade as a street-walker.

  Unfortunately, a sudden thunder storm had forced her inside the notorious drinking den, packed with hardened criminals, cursing sailors and greedy merchants.

  The attractive brunette from Ireland pulled her shabby shawl around her petite frame. She was cold and hungry, desperate to earn a few shillings to buy a crust of bread or pay for her rent in a seedy lodging house.

  She had spent most of the morning trying to pick up passing trade in the narrow alleyways and courts that inhabited the east end docks. Unfortunately, the constant rain showers had kept people away from the bustling quayside.

  Mary cursed her misfortune; it was only a year ago that the former Governess had arrived in London full of hope for the future.

  But that all changed the day she met the scoundrel that ruined her life. The memory of his leering face heaving over her naked body made her sick to the stomach.

  “What are you doing here?” A young blonde harlot pushed next to her in the cramped doorway. She was wearing a low cut corset that gave an amble view of her breasts. She made Mary feel shabby in her shapeless linen dress. The nubile young girl was a threat she could do without.

  “Go away.” Mary pushed the cocky girl aside with her elbow. “It’s none of your business.”

  “I’m making it my business.” The girl looked inside the tavern packed with marauding sailors looking for a good time. They had just disembarked from a packed cargo ship from Africa. “There are plenty of men for both of us.”

  “I was here first.” A flash of anger crossed Mary’s face. “They’re my customers not yours.” She pulled the girl’s hair back with a tight fist. “Go somewhere else!”

  “No I won’t.” The girl turned around and slapped her across the face. Mary stumbled onto the wet quayside in shock. “Go and fight for scraps of bread with the rats.”

  “You common little whore,” Mary screamed. She rushed forward and tried to catch the girl’s arm but she disappeared into the smoke filled tavern.

  Her corset-clad bodice soon drew the attention of a fat merchant drinking wine to excess in the dark corner of the candle lit room.

  Mary glanced over at a bawdy group of sailors singing and swinging tankards of ale by the counter. Mary tried to summon up the courage to walk inside the tavern and find a man interested in her wares.

  She wondered if Molly the formidable tavern owner had gone out. She didn’t take kindly to Harlots selling their wares on her premises.

  Fortunately her husband Harry was more relaxed about it. He often had a harlot himself behind Molly’s back. But Harry was no where in sight either.

  Molly’s brother Tommy waved over to her at the door. He was busy serving tankards of ale behind the counter to more sailors desperate for a drink.

  Mary got on well with Tommy; he was one of her clients. She knew he would turn a blind eye to her activities, as long as she was discreet about her trade.

  She slipped inside the tavern and slowly approached the sailors. As they sang rude folk songs one of them man-handled a passing bar maid. The woman pushed the groping sailor back into his mates to the sound of loud laughter.

  Mary caught the eye of Tony, a tall sun tanned sailor with muscular arms. She put on a charming smile. “Are you looking for some love?” She put her hands on her hips in a suggestive manner.

  “Is that what you’re offering my blue eyed beauty?” He slipped his arm around her waist. “Shall I dip my wick with you?”

  “For a price.” Mary tried to push him away but he held her tight. “Don’t handle the goods until you can pay for them.”

  “Don’t be coy my love,” he sniggered. “Let’s take a closer look.” He looked down at her heaving bosom with a twinkle in his eye. “What do you think fellers is she worth a few shillings?”

  He roughly pulled her chin up. “Has she still got her own teeth I wonder?” Mary squirmed as his dirty fingers dug into her jaw. “She has.”

  “That’s a rare sight,” another sailor laughed. “Most of the harlots around here look like toothless old mares.”

  The comments got more obscene as each grope got more intimate. She wanted to run away, but where to? What other way could she make a living?

  Mary was resigned to her fate. She shut her eyes and prayed that the humiliation would end - be done with your foul insults.

  Chapter 2

 
“You must marry Lady Emily Mountford by the end of the season.’ Lady Louise Cornwall, a formidable matriarch dressed in a velvet green hat and a matching pelisse glared at her wayward son. “Or I’ll disown you.”

  “You will disown me?” Robert Penrose, the Duke of Cornwall repeated his mother’s command with disgust. “Because it was my father’s dying wish?” He let out a weary sigh. “You present an impossible proposition.”

  He ran his hand through a mass of dark curls as he gazed out of the family carriage window. His smouldering brown eyes lost in thought as they rode away from the solicitor’s office in London.

  Lady Louise refused to speak to him. She turned away and looked at the quaint busy shops their carriage passed in the centre of London. Robert dressed in a long dark coat, beige breeches and long black boots, could not stand the awkward silence any longer.

  “Mama do not be hostile towards me.” He gently touched her arm with a gloved hand. “You know I cannot stand the girl. She is a rich spoilt heiress, barely out of childhood. She enjoys poetry recitals and the ballet. We have nothing in common for goodness sake.”

  “You must know by now that marriage is not about love.” She brushed his hand away as the carriage raced past regent’s park. “It’s about elevating your position in society with capital, status and connections.”

  Robert could understand his mother’s bad mood. The reading of the last Will of her late husband, Ray Penrose, the Duke of Cornwall and a former magistrate, had come as a shock after his sudden death of a heart attack at the age of forty nine.

  Lady Louise Penrose, her eldest son, Mark Penrose and her youngest son Robert Penrose were the only members of the family to attend the short reading of the Will.

  Mark was very close to his father; he was the perfect eldest son. He had achieved great academic success at Eton College, did a short stint in the army as a commander and found a beautiful bride - Lady Sarah Wood-Fawkes from an affluent family of bankers.

  His happiness was complete when Sarah bore a male heir and another three sons.

  Robert in contrast had always been a disappointment to his father. He was a gambler and a womaniser. He was not as clever as his elder brother, but earned his respect as a war hero on the battlefields in Europe.

  There had always been a jealous rivalry between the brothers as they sat next to each other without word.

  They had lost touch since his marriage to Sarah Wood-Fawkes. Lady Louise did not attend the wedding. She didn’t approve of his marriage to Lady Sarah - there had been rumours that she was the ‘bastard’ daughter of an aristocrat.

  Mark was expecting a substantial windfall to come his way. He was not prepared for the announcement by the solicitor that all of the family’s capital had been used to pay off a large gambling debt.

  Robert put his eyes down in shame – was this his secret debt?

  Mark could not believe what he had heard. There had to be a cover up in the family. He glared at his mother expecting an explanation but she remained silent. The truth was she was just as shocked as everyone else by the omission.

  When Mark received no explanation from his mother he left the solicitor’s office in disgust. He promptly took his opulent carriage back to his wife’s estate in Dorset, never to be seen again.

  Lady Louise and Robert stared ahead in silence as their plush upholstered carriage raced back to the family’s small town house on the outskirts of London.

  “It’s time for you to settle down Robert.” His mother’s command brought him back to reality. “You are seven past twenty.”

  “That’s not old.”

  “Old enough to be married with a family.” She paused in reflection. “Like most of your friends.”

  “My friends from the club are not married.”

  “I’m not talking about the rakes and scoundrels you mix with,” she replied with an irritating frown. “I mean your respectable friends from Eton College.”

  “I know you don’t approve of the company I keep,” Robert remarked. “But I assure you twenty past seven is too young to settle down.”

  Robert felt as if his life was passing before him. He had so much more to do - new countries to explore, wild adventures to enjoy - amorous liaisons with women of ill repute.

  “It is not a request.” She tried to fight back angry tears. “But an ultimatum.”

  “I cannot believe my ears,” Robert protested. “I have barely left the army a few weeks hence and you’re already playing the matchmaker.”

  “Don’t you understand my vexation,” she replied in a tearful voice. “It’s what your father would have wanted.”

  “Do no vex yourself Mama.” He put a comforting arm around her. “Papa’s sudden death has been a great shock to the whole family.”

  Lady Louise sniffled into her handkerchief. “He is barely two weeks in his grave.” She dabbed her eyes. “And we are all quarrelling as a family again. Did you see Mark’s anger as he left the room? He thinks I was keeping a secret from him, but I wasn’t.”

  If only you knew Robert pondered. “It’s just a minor disagreement Mama, do not overset yourself.”

  “You don’t understand.” She tried to control her rising temper. “If only your father were here. He was good at bringing people together.”

  “He was a great man.”

  “I know you had your differences but he did care for you.” She wiped her nose with a handkerchief. “Now he’s gone from our lives for good.”

  “Gone but not forgotten.” He kissed her lightly on the cheek. “I am sure he would want me to choose my own wife.”

  “And that wife is Lady Jane,” she quietly suggested. “She is wealthy and well connected.”

  “I do not understand your urgent request in the matter,” Ross responded. “We have all those attributes in abundance.”

  “Not since your father died.” She let out a weary sigh. “Didn’t you hear the solicitor? We have no capital to sustain a reasonable living.” She looked back at Ross. “Everything has gone to pay for his gambling debts.”

  “Everything?” Robert began to feel guilty his father’s love of gambling was an unspoken vice in the family, one that he had picked up himself. “We must have some money?”

  “We are not destitute,” his mother said coyly. “Most of our wealth is tied up in our Grange Mount Estate in Cornwall and our town house in London.”

  “Isn’t that enough capital?” Young street urchins begging for food outside caught his eye, alongside harlots looking for a passing sailor or a merchant. “At least we have a roof over our heads and shall not starve.”

  “No we shall not starve.” She took on a vague expression. “But I’m not so sure about a roof over our heads.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You must be aware that your older brother Mark and his wife Sarah are the new owners of the estate.” A faint smirk crossed her face. “I’m sure they’ll be plenty of room for their ‘wild’ children to run about in.”

  “New owners.” Robert had a sinking feeling in his stomach. “We will have to leave are beloved home?”

  She stared into his face. “I can only pray that they will accommodate me.”

  “I understand your urgent proposition.” He paused in reflection. “If I get betrothed to Lady Emily Mountford, I get a new home to live in and a substantial inheritance.”

  “She does have an extensive estate in Derbyshire.” She saw a small smile play on his lips. “You will be set up for life.”

  “For life!” The smile fell from his face. “That’s a long time to be with a child bride.”

  “Sixteen is old enough for a lady to be married.”

  “Is she really a lady?”

  “Of course she is,” his mother said sharply. “How dare you cast doubts on her character.”

  “Wasn’t she betrothed to Lord Wicken before he broke it off?”

  “It’s all lies by the idle gossip mongers of high society.” She sat up in a forthright manner. “My son would n
ot be betrothed to a woman whose virtue was not intact.”

  “Mama.” Robert drew an audible gasp. He may be a seasoned officer, but he found his mother’s direct speech shocking. “It was Papa that heard the rumours.”

  “Then you will know that Lady Emily broke off the engagement.”

  “But why?’

  “It does not matter why,” she replied in a stern voice. “Just be grateful that a family as highly esteemed as Lady Emily’s has shown an interest in you.”

  Chapter 3

  Mary’s humiliation continued under the groping hands of the sailors in the packed tavern. “Will these insults ever end,” she whispered as she tried to free herself from the bulging tattooed arms of her captive.

  “What do you think lads? Is this filly worth a try?” Tony closely assessed her face as if she were up for auction. “Not as fresh looking close up.”

  Mary felt a rage build up inside. How much longer could she endure their abusive jeers?

  “Keep yer money for a younger tart,” an older sailor said, prodding her body. “You’re wasting your time with her.”

  Tony quickly released Mary from his arms. “Maybe you’re right.”

  “Go away then.” She banged his hand away from her face. “Its men like you that make women old.”

  “Feisty little filly, I’m getting excited.” Tony let out a dirty laugh. “Maybe I should give her a chance.” He pulled out a few shillings and stretched out his hand. Before Mary took it he threw the money onto the wooden floor. “How desperate are yer girl?”

  Mary stared down at the money – how desperate was she? She looked over to the open door. How she wished she could walk away and live like a proper lady.

  But she wasn’t a lady; she was a common little harlot no one cared about.

  Hunger pangs gripped her stomach her whole body ached for food. There was a quiet hush from the sailors as she pondered what to do.

  Do I eat or starve?