A Lady's Taste For Temptation (Historical Regency Romance) Read online

  A Lady's Taste for Temptation

  A REGENCY ROMANCE NOVEL

  EMILY HONEYFIELD

  Copyright © 2020 by Emily Honeyfield

  All Rights Reserved.

  This book may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher.

  Table of Contents

  A Lady's Taste for Temptation

  Table of Contents

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  A Lady's Taste for Temptation

  Introduction

  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

  Epilogue

  A Seductive Lady Rescued From Flames

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

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  A Lady's Taste for Temptation

  Introduction

  Lady Emily Hambleton was determined to never love again. Her first husband had died in the Revolutionary war and she has been living a lonely life as a spinster ever since. Even though her father urged her to marry again, being a fiery and unconventional young Lady, she wanted it to be on her own terms. When she meets a seductive stranger, though, there's something she can't seem to command, her heart. Why does it have to beat so wildly every time Myles is close by?

  Myles Whitehall’ scheme to come to England, receive a large inheritance and take the money back to America, will not go as planned. When a shipwreck robs him of his memory, he will find himself off the coast of Cornwall instead. When he wakes up, the first thing he gets to see is the most beautiful and enigmatic woman he's ever met, standing over him. When he gets to know the quick-witted, sharp-mouthed spinster, he will want more...and more. What will he do when the woman he can’t have becomes the woman he can’t live without?

  Seduction, intrigue and desire lead to an explosive chemistry… When passion flares, these two intimate strangers will not be able to stay away from each other, as they have originally planned. Ultimately, they will realise that there is no fighting fate. Is their love and passion powerful enough? Will they eventually find a way to combine their different worlds?

  Chapter 1

  Lady Emily Hambleton was always spoiled for choice. She often spent more time choosing her outfits than she did actually wearing them. For as long as she could remember, living in a wealthy house, and having an even wealthier husband meant that she could wear a new dress several times a day, complete with jewellery that had never seen the light of day until it adorned her neck. She often made sure that everything matched, but she also tried to make sure that everything she wore outdid those around her.

  She wanted those who knew her to think that she was the most fashionable, wealthiest woman around. When people closed their eyes, she only wanted them to picture dazzling beauty, and stunning outfits. The dressmakers knew her by name, and the jewellers often chased her down the street, offering their wares. She used the purchases of new clothes and jewellery to distract herself from her inner most feelings. She often did not want to think of anything troubling, including her future.

  Once, for Lady Emily, or “Emmie”, as she allowed her closest friends to call her, her future had been certain. She had found a delightful husband in Lord Hambleton, a young man just slightly older than her 19 years of age, and she had planned a life for the two of them that was to outdo any of their friends.

  Lady Emily had not counted on a foreign war. She had not counted on the fact that Lord Hambleton would want to leave her to fight in the colonies, and she had not counted on the fact that she would never hear from him again.

  She couldn’t understand wanting to go to war on foreign soil. She didn’t want to understand why it was so important for him to leave the safety of Britain, go over the ocean, and fight to maintain a colony that didn’t seem to be worth keeping. Apparently, though, at the time, he felt like it was his duty, and he told her he would fulfil it, no matter what the price.

  She assumed he hadn’t thought the plan through to the end. She certainly had, and the longer she went without hearing from him, the more it became clear that Lady Emily’s plans and her future would have to change.

  She was stubborn, and she always made a plan in case the first one fell through. She had loved Lord Hambleton, but when his letters stopped coming, she knew she would have to marry again. And this time, she would marry someone who wasn’t so obsessed with duty that they would ruin every plan she had in her head.

  Lady Emily knew that choosing her next husband by herself would cause great ripples in the community. All the women around her were obedient to their husbands, or their fathers. They trusted their parents to know them best, and to choose their future grooms. They trusted their husbands to guide them in whatever path life would take them.

  Lady Emily was not going to trust anyone but her own heart and her own head. Her greatest fear was to be married to a boring man and spend her life in a stuffy drawing room with people whose greatest interest was what the weather was like. She wanted to be free; to explore the world, and to dip her toes in the sand of a beach without anyone telling her otherwise.

  Lady Emily thought that it was unfair that men could see the world, and for the most part, dictate their own marriages, but women were untrusted in this matter. She thought that the world should be more equal, which horrified those around her. Whenever she spoke on such matters, people blushed or hushed her.

  She thought that was horrific. She was not asking to wear trousers and ride front saddle. She had no intention of not receiving the respect her station deserved. She just wanted more freedom, or she was certain she might shrivel and eventually perish.

  Her father, of course, had other ideas, which tore at her heart. Lady Emily had chosen to live with her father, Sir Preston Smythe, when it became clear her husband was not coming back. She and her father got on well, and for the most part, they shared the same ideas and values.

  However, when it came to husbands, Sir Preston’s opinions differed dramatically from her own. It was because of his opinions that she was standing in front of her closet now, trying to choose a dress.

  She swore her father had nothing else to do but try to find a husband that she didn’t want to marry. Sir Preston had invited Lord Reginald Makepeace, a well-connected and wealthy Londoner to stay at their home as a long-term guest. It was obvious that Sir Preston had invited him there with the intention of offering Lady Emily’s hand in marriage.

  Lady Emily, however, barely knew him, and wasn’t particularly interested in getting to know someone who didn’t impress her right away. She also didn’t want to spend time in her own home trying to get to know someone that she probably wouldn’t have any interest in to begin with. She would have been open to the
idea of inviting him to supper or a ball, but a long-term stay was not an idea that appealed to her.

  She valued her father’s opinion, and that was the only reason she had simply shrugged her shoulders. She was not about to be rude or disobedient on the first day. However, she was not shy about making her opinions clear.

  “Emmie.” She looked up suddenly to see her friend, Catherine Ellwood, enter the bedroom. Lady Emily and Catherine had been friends for many years, and Catherine was the only other reason she had accepted Lord Reginald’s presence for so long.

  She told her father that if he wanted a guest there for that long, she would also have a guest. Sir Preston had agreed, and so Catherine had arrived by horse and carriage, with enough suitcases to make it seem like she was moving in for the rest of her days.

  “Catherine,” Lady Emily said, and put down the necklace she was looking at in order to go and hug her friend. The two women were of a similar age, but they were very different in many ways. Catherine wanted to marry, and she would marry anyone who was interested in her. At least, Lady Emily thought she would, based on what her friend had said. “How are you? How was your journey?”

  “It was a bit...bumpy,” Catherine said. “The recent rain has left the roads quite unpleasant, if I am honest.”

  “Oh, I am sorry,” Lady Emily said. “If I had known the conditions were so dreadful, I would have written to say you could arrive later in the week.”

  “I could not do that,” she said. “I had to be here for you, today. Isn’t today the day Lord Reginald arrives?”

  “He may also be experiencing the same situation,” Lady Emily said. “And from what my father has said, he is more interested in keeping his expensive things safe than he is in arriving on time.”

  “Emmie!” Catherine said, with a chuckle, as she sat on the bed. “That is unkind.”

  “I did not say that to his face, did I?” Lady Emily asked, with a smile.

  “I do not see why you are so opposed to a man that you have never met,” Catherine said. “I would be so blessed if I was given the opportunity.”

  “You will be given the opportunity,” Lady Emily assured her. “One day. But I am the one currently in this predicament, and having been married once before, I should be able to choose.”

  “Has your father said that you must marry him, no matter what?” Catherine asked.

  “No,” Lady Emily replied. “Not in so many words. But he has insisted this man is perfect for me. He says that he has made sure I will be perfectly happy. But I do not know how he can know that, when he disagrees with so many of my philosophies.”

  "Do you think your father would doom you to an unhappy marriage?” Catherine asked.

  “No,” Lady Emily said. “Not intentionally.”

  “And were you not happy with Lord Hambleton?” Catherine asked.

  “That was a different matter,” Lady Emily said. “And while I was perfectly happy with him, I did not choose him for myself.”

  Catherine sighed and sat down on Lady Emily’s bed. She traced the pattern of the quilt for a few moments before she spoke.

  “But what if you do not marry him?” she asked. “And then you end up as a spinster? That is my worst fear. If I do not get an offer of marriage soon.”

  “I will not end up as a spinster,” Lady Emily said. “That is a fate for women who do not think for themselves. I will find someone, but I am certain that I must choose him myself.”

  Catherine felt as if her friend had not heard her fears, but she allowed Lady Emily to keep speaking anyway. She was used to it, at this point.

  “Besides,” Lady Emily said. “Part of the reason he has chosen this man is because he is wealthy, and I do not see why that matters. I am wealthy, my father is still very wealthy, and neither of us need any more money to live very comfortably.”

  “Some people believe that more money is always needed,” Catherine replied.

  “Why?” Lady Emily asked. “When you spend your life in a boring drawing room, with no reason to spend the money that you have, because you are inside every day?”

  “What do you want to do with it?” Catherine said. “If you were allowed to do anything with your fortune?”

  “I would travel,” Lady Emily replied. “I would see all the places I have read about in books. I would see Rome, and Greece, and the pyramids of Egypt I would see the world, dip my toes in foreign sands. And while I was in each place, I would stay as long as I liked before moving on. No one would dictate my schedule or make me attend a supper where I was not interested in the company.”

  “Oh my,” Catherine replied. “You truly have everything worked out.”

  “Of course,” Lady Emily said. “And if someone would bother to listen to me for half a moment, I would tell them this and not have to choose a dress for a hunt.”

  Catherine looked upon her friend’s vast closet.

  “Have you chosen one yet?” she asked. “Because I am particular to the green one.”

  “The green one does not strike me,” Lady Emily replied, with a sigh. “I had it made nearly a month ago, and I have not found the occasion to wear it yet. Perhaps I will simply give it to those who are less fortunate”

  “Would you wear the blue one today?” Catherine asked. “It is also quite striking.”

  Lady Emily considered this for a while, and then reached for a purple one. She quite fancied the idea of dressing in the colour of royalty. Purple was a very expensive dress colour, and very few of the attendees on the hunt could afford to wear it.

  “Oh my,” Catherine said, when Lady Emily pulled it out of her closet. “That is striking.”

  “Thank you,” Lady Emily said. “What shall you wear?”

  “I am not sure I will join the hunt,” Catherine admitted.

  Lady Emily raised an eyebrow at her. “Why not?” she demanded.

  “Well…” Catherine chose her words carefully. “When I told my parents the agenda for the first week of my stay, they advised me to not join the hunt.”

  “Why would they say that?” Lady Emily asked. “And more importantly, why would that matter?”

  “They fear that it is unladylike,” Catherine said.

  Lady Emily gave a very unladylike laugh at that. “Do you want to go?” she asked, and Catherine nodded meekly. “Then you should go.”

  “I do not wish to disobey my parents,” Catherine replied.

  Lady Emily shook her head. “You would not be disobeying them in the slightest,” she said. “Because you will tell them that on the hunt, you acted ladylike and graceful. Besides, you never know who may join us.”

  “Has you father invited others?” Catherine perked up at the idea of meeting her future husband.

  “I think so,” Lady Emily said. “To be honest, I paid little attention to what he said when he was speaking about such things.”

  “You are so bold, Emmie,” Catherine replied. “You are an inspiration."

  “I appreciate the kind words,” Lady Emily said. “An inspiration is not the word my father would use, if he knew I was not listening.”

  “You always do so well with conversation,” Catherine said. “Even when you are not listening. You have something to say on every topic. I am certain this new suitor, whoever he is, will be interested in marrying you if you are interested in marrying him.”

  “Perhaps,” Lady Emily replied, as she sorted through her jewellery box. “But it doesn’t matter, because I have made up my mind that I am not interested in marrying him already.”

  “You have to at least try!” Catherine said.

  “Why?” Lady Emily asked. “I will be polite about it, but…”

  “Emmie,” Catherine’s eyes became wide. “In this day and age, we have seen so many women become spinsters I would trade anything to be in your position, for I have no title and you know our fortune is not...promised.”

  “But I have a title,” Lady Emily replied. “And wealth. So, I have to concern myself with other matters.”
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