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  In the end, Christian himself pointed out, “As both the oldest and the most senior peer in the group, my path to finding the perfect wife was always destined to be the least straightforward.”

  They all looked at him, trying to see past the comment, all sensing that it hid some deeper meaning. Whatever it was, none of them could fathom it.

  Predictably, it was Charles who put their collective riposte into words. He fixed Christian with a wide-eyed look. “Whoever said falling in love was straightforward?”

  Christian returned to London two days later. As he often did, he sought refuge at the Bastion Club. It was midafternoon when he climbed the stairs to the club’s library. Closing the door, he crossed to the tantalus, poured himself a brandy, then settled in one of the comfortable armchairs by the hearth. And sipped. And thought.

  There was no other member staying at the club; he was the last one unwed, with no lady waiting at home, at the huge house in Grosvenor Square.

  He thought back to Gervase’s wedding, to their gathering there, revisited the others’ words, the advice they’d jokingly offered him; he smiled as he recalled, but then Charles’s last words replayed in his mind and his smile faded.

  Charles and the others had misinterpreted his earlier comment. He hadn’t suggested that him falling in love would not be straightforward—he’d stated that for him, finding the perfect wife was not destined to be straightforward. As it wasn’t, for one very simple reason.

  Whoever said falling in love was straightforward?

  In that, he could prove Charles wrong. For him, falling in love had been the easiest, most straightforward and natural thing in the world. As he recalled. What, in his case, made matters anything but straightforward was the difficulty he faced in marrying the lady in question.

  Not least because she was already wed.

  Closing his eyes, he let his head fall back against the chair. A parade of memories flickered past his mind’s eye—all the things that had happened, all the things he couldn’t change.

  In the distance, he heard the front doorbell peal; one part of his mind tracked Gasthorpe’s footsteps as he went to answer the door…but then the past dragged him back, wrapped him in soft arms and the wreathing scent of jasmine.

  He was recalled to the present by a tap on the door, followed by Gasthorpe.

  Christian opened his eyes.

  The majordomo closed the door, then faced him. “A lady has called, my lord, asking to see you. She gave no name, but offered this note.”

  Christian beckoned. As Gasthorpe neared, he idly wondered who in all the ton wished to converse with him, and about what—and how any lady had known to run him to earth there. His staff in Grosvenor Square knew better than to reveal his whereabouts, not to just anyone. He lifted the folded parchment from Gasthorpe’s silver salver.

  The sight of the script rocked him.

  For a moment, he simply stared, then reaction rushed through him, jerking him free of all lethargy with a resounding mental slap.

  His fingers shifted, fingertips tracing his name, not the one from long ago but the title he’d since acquired.

  Even before he unfolded the note, the scent of jasmine reached him.

  No figment of imagination or memory.

  He fumbled, nearly dropped the note. His fingertips burned.

  Drawing in a deep breath, slowing his movements, steadying them and himself, he smoothed out the note.

  He read the few lines within.

  Then he leaned back in the chair, his gaze rising, fixing unseeing on the hearth.

  He didn’t know what he felt; emotions careened through him, a jumble of reactions impossible to dissect. He breathed deeply, pulling air past the constriction in his chest; gradually a cool tension, an inward steeling, flowed through him.

  Fate moved in inscrutable, damnably mysterious ways.

  Gasthorpe cleared his throat. “My lord?”

  Christian heard himself say over the pounding in his chest, “I’ll join the lady in a moment, Gasthorpe. Tell her to wait.”

  About the Author

  New York Times bestselling author STEPHANIE LAURENS began writing as an escape from the dry world of professional science, a hobby that quickly became a career. Her novels set in Regency England have captivated readers around the globe, making her one of the romance world’s most beloved and popular authors.

  Readers can contact Stephanie via e-mail at [email protected].

  For information on all of Stephanie’s books, including updates on novels yet to come, visit Stephanie’s website at www.stephanielaurens.com.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

  Enter the World of Stephanie Laurens

  Secrets of a Perfect Night

  The Fall of Rogue Gerrard

  It Happened One Night

  It Happened One Season

  The Lady Risks All

  Lost and Found

  A Return Engagement

  Rose in Bloom

  Scandalous Lord Dere

  The Seduction of Sebastian Trantor

  Royal Bridesmaids

  Royal Weddings

  The Cynster Novels

  Devil's Bride

  A Rake's Vow

  Scandal's Bride

  A Rogue's Proposal

  A Secret Love

  The Taste of Innocence

  All About Love

  All About Passion

  The Promise in a Kiss

  On a Wild Night

  On a Wicked Dawn

  Hero, Come Back

  The Perfect Lover

  The Ideal Bride

  Temptation and Surrender

  The Truth About Love

  What Price Love?

  In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster

  Capture of the Earl of Glencrae

  The Wedding Planner

  The Taming of Ryder Cavanaugh

  Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue

  And Then She Fell

  The Bastion Novels

  Prequel: Captain Jack's Woman

  The Lady Chosen

  A Gentleman's Honor

  A Lady of His Own

  A Fine Passion

  The Edge of Desire

  Beyond Seduction

  Mastered by Love

  To Distraction

  The Black Cobra Novels

  The Untamed Bride

  The Elusive Bride

  The Brazen Bride

  The Reckless Bride

  The Case Book of Barnaby Adair

  Where the Heart Leads

  The Masterful Mr. Montague

  Loving Rose

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  BEYOND SEDUCTION. Copyright © 2007 by Savdek Management Proprietory Ltd. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  EPub Edition © July 2007 ISBN: 9780061739033

  Version 10042013

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