“The “Devil DeVere” series is a variation on the rake’s progress, or the rake’s reformation, except that is doesn’t start with said rake as the main character—a device that is amazingly clever on Vane’s part and allows her to circle in on DeVere without revealing too much at the outset. In the first two books DeVere is the puppet master, rearranging his friends’ lives. But in the background, readers catch hints that there’s more to him than the debauched reprobate they see. By the time we find out his story, we’re invested. The series is erotic and sexy, and sometimes you want to shake the characters until their teeth rattle, but it is absolutely marvelous. This one should be read with bonbons. And a fan!” – Marlene Harris for Library Journal
The Devil DeVere Series
A Wild Night's Bride ( #1)
The Virgin Huntress (#2)
The Devil You Know (#3)
The Devil's Match (#4)
A Devil's Touch (4.5)
Jewel of the East (#5)
The Devil You Know (The Devil DeVere #3) Copyright? 2015 Victoria Vane Editor: T. S. Chevrestt
Cover Art: www.romance-covers.com
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No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
PROLOGUE
Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, 1768
THE MELODIOUS STRAINS OF THE CORELLI AIR GREW FAINTER, the lamps swaying gently in the evening breeze sparser, and the tree-lined pathway narrower, while the stars glimmered in the clear night sky like diamonds against black velvet. It was all seemingly custom-ordered for the two couples who meandered the lesser-traveled Lovers’ Walk. While the first pair perambulated arm-in-arm, pausing upon occasion to steal a laughing kiss, the second lagged farther and farther behind until the young lady caused their progress to halt altogether. “Ouch! Pray stop,” she cried, clutching her companion’s arm.
“What is it, Caroline?” asked Ludovic, Lord DeVere.
“Only a minor nuisance. I’ve a pebble in my shoe.” The couple ahead, Sir Edward and Lady Annalee Chambers, immediately turned back.
“No, no.” Lady Caroline waved them onward with a smile. “Don’t trouble yourselves. Pray go on ahead. I just need to find a bench where I might remove my slipper. We’ll catch up with you directly.”
Lady Chambers looked to her husband with hesitation. “I don’t know… I would hate to be deemed a negligent chaperone.”
The two men exchanged a conspiratorial look.
“I promise she is in good hands with me, Annalee,” Lord DeVere reassured. “Why don’t we just meet up with you at the Ruins of Palmyra?”
Lady Chambers’ brows met in a frown until her husband whispered something reassuring in her ear. Her mouth formed a perfect O, and then she smiled. “Very well, then. Ned and I will walk slowly, but pray don’t be too far behind.”
Waiting until the Chambers disappeared into the darkness, the remaining couple cast a last furtive glance up and down the path to ensure their privacy before coming together in a fierce and impassioned embrace. Panting, clutching, and moaning between fervent kisses, the lovers backed deeper into the privacy of the trees, tugging at cravat and laces, tearing at clothes.
Her bodice loosened, DeVere freed Caroline’s breasts from their confinement and pulled a nipple eagerly into his mouth. She threw her head back with a cry and groped for the placket of her lover’s breeches. He raised his head from her half-bared bosom with a groan and halted her progress by encircling her delicate wrist in his iron grip.
“What a delightful wanton you are, but if you seek proof of my desire, I’ve already given you undeniable evidence. There’s no need to torture me further.”
“But I have a very special birthday gift for you, my darling.”
“Do you, indeed?” he asked, his interest growing in tandem with his erection.
She glanced down with a half-smile at the huge bulge in his breeches. “I want to feel your desire, Ludovic.” She ran her fingers leisurely up the length of him and brazenly cupped his straining cock through his breeches. “Oh my,” she voiced her delight as if she’d discovered an unexpected bounty.
Damn the vixen! ‘Oh my’ isn’t the half of it. He was already hard as a rock, and her boldness only pulled at his last shreds of restraint. He was actually trying to behave with circumspection…for a change.
“Yes,” she gushed. “A very special gift.”
“You play with fire, Caroline,” he warned. “You know we mustn’t take this much further.”