Ravished (The Rakehell Regency #12)

Ravished
Book 12 of The Rakehell Regency Romance Series
Sorcha MacMurrough

Rakish Matthew Dane is out on the Town for a bit of adventure and variety. Visiting a new brothel he has never tried before, he is presented with the most delectable woman he has ever seen, who is tied to the bed and blindfolded.

Thinking it is no more than an erotic game, Matthew and the alluring young woman share the ultimate bliss--until he takes off her blindfold, and discovers he has just made love to the last woman he ever expected to see in such a depraved place: his chaste young cousin Althea.

Kidnapped from her home, drugged with opium and sold, the orphaned Althea has no recollection of how she got there, and is terrified that whoever grabbed her will try to seize her again. All she knows is that she has always desired Matthew, and Fate seems to have presented her with all she could wish for in their passionate encounters.

Matthew is torn between his yearnings for Althea, with every touch and look leaving him craving more of her sensual sweetness, and his shock at what he has done. He is even more haunted by what might have happened if he had not come along in time to save her. Yet to seek her kidnappers is to put her at risk all over again.

Althea has been in love with Matthew for as long as she can remember. Tired of being treated like a victim or empty-headed Society belle, she wages a campaign to put behind her the traumatic ordeal which brought them together so unexpectedly.

Althea is willing to fight using every weapon in her arsenal to win Matthew's love, and stop her husband from seeking solace with the many women who wish to be his mistress, including cunning Matilda and manipulative Georgina Jerome.

When another young woman goes missing near her childhood home, Althea must risk all in a depraved and deadly game to save the kidnapped girl. Althea will stop at nothing to uncover the identity of the criminal mastermind who has engineered the ring of debauchery lurking under the pleasant facade of aristocratic society.Can Matthew save his one true love before it’s too late?

AN EXCERPT FROM RAVISHED:
Althea was indeed a virgin, but she was not naïve. There was no mistaking what was about to happen next. She tried one last gambit to get him to realize who she really was before it was too late. She had to stop the wildfire passion between them, and make him understand that she was not tied to the bed in this out of the way brothel by choice. “Matthew, please, you need to think what you’re doing. If this is what you really want.”
“Do you want me?” he asked, stroking down her neck, his hands all over her breasts, abdomen, and buttocks.
She had never lied to her cousin, and so even now in this moment of crisis she told him the absolute truth. “I’ve always wanted you, Matthew. You know that. From the first moment I saw you a fully grown man, so tall and broad and handsome, and so well, virile, I couldn’t help myself. I knew you would be magnificent. Naked as you are now, well. Words fails me. And the way you touch me? But we need to leave, we must hurry-”
“We have all the time in the world. You just said you wanted me, after all. And I most certainly want you.”

Rating: Extremely sensual
Setting: Regency England
Word Count: 82,000, approx 300 8.5 x 11" pages

Reviews:
“A remarkable blend of eroticism, mystery and suspense. It certainly gave me all kinds of goosebumps. Her heroes are always sexy, her villains really spine-tinglingly nasty. Another worthy addition to this fabulous series, and a super opportunity to catch up with your favourite Rakehells, who are all in top form.