Diane Gaston - A Pregnant Courtesan For The Rake

Claiming the courtesan’s child...

It’s been more than three months, but Oliver Gregory still remembers the exquisite night he shared with a beautiful woman in Paris. Discovering her working at the discreet London gentlemen’s club he owns comes as a shock...even more so when he realizes she’s pregnant!

Oliver knows the pain of being an outcast and will do all in his power to ensure his child is not born illegitimate. Cecilia will return to his bed...as his wife!

Hidden amongst the masked revellers of an underground Regency gentlemen’s club, where decadence, daring and debauchery abound, the four owners of Vitium et Virtusare about to meet their match!

Welcome to...

The Society of Wicked Gentlemen

Read

A Convenient Bride for the Soldier

by Christine Merrill

September 2017

An Innocent Maid for the Duke

by Ann Lethbridge

October 2017

A Pregnant Courtesan for the Rake

by Diane Gaston

November 2017

And look for the concluding story

from Sophia James

A Secret Consequence for the Viscount

December 2017

Author Note

I’ve always considered myself very lucky to be among my fellow authors of Mills & Boon’s Historical Romance line. These ladies have been a fount of information, support and, on the rare times we can gather together, sheer fun. So I was thrilled to be invited to write a book for The Society of Wicked Gentlemen series. It was every bit as enjoyable as I thought it would be. We made a most efficient team—quick to answer each other’s questions and to collaborate on our stories.

Readers, enjoy The Society of Wicked Gentlemen! We loved telling their stories!

A Pregnant Courtesan for the Rake

Diane Gaston

www.millsandboon.co.uk

DIANE GASTON’s dream job was always to write romance novels. One day she dared to pursue that dream, and has never looked back. Her books have won Romance’s highest honours: the RITA® Award, the National Readers’ Choice Award, Holt Medallion, Golden Quill and Golden Heart®. She lives in Virginia, with her husband and three very ordinary house cats. Diane loves to hear from readers and friends. Visit her website at: dianegaston.com.

Books by Diane Gaston

Mills & Boon Historical Romance

The Society of Wicked Gentlemen

A Pregnant Courtesan for the Rake

The Scandalous Summerfields

Bound by Duty

Bound by One Scandalous Night

Bound by a Scandalous Secret

Bound by Their Secret Passion

The Masquerade Club

A Reputation for Notoriety

A Marriage of Notoriety

A Lady of Notoriety

Three Soldiers

Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady

Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Mistress

Valiant Soldier, Beautiful Enemy

Linked by Character

Regency Summer Scandals

‘Justine and the Noble Viscount’

A Not So Respectable Gentleman?

Mills & Boon Historical Undone! eBooks

The Unlacing of Miss Leigh

The Liberation of Miss Finch

Visit the Author Profile page

at millsandboon.co.ukfor more titles.

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To Christine, Ann and Sophia,

my fellow Society of Wicked Gentlemen authors.

It has been a pleasure!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Author Note

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

Paris—1816

‘He is dead?’

Cecilia Lockhart stood in the doorway of the shabby Paris room where her husband insisted she should be grateful to lodge. Sounds of babies crying, a man and woman quarrelling, and an old woman wailing could be heard from behind closed doors. The scent of cooking meat, urine and sweat filled her nostrils.

A captain of the 52nd Regiment of Foot stood stiffly in the hallway, unable—or unwilling—to look her in the eye.

‘Killed,’ he said. ‘By a Frenchman. In a duel.’ His tone was disapproving. Why not? Duelling was forbidden in the regiment. ‘He apparently had a great deal to drink.’

Of course he had. What day did Duncan not have a great deal to drink?

‘What happened?’ she asked. ‘Did he cheat at cards? Insult the French army?’ Why did she bother to ask? Cecilia did not care about the reason.

The captain stiffened. ‘The Frenchman apparently found Lieutenant Lockhart in bed with his wife.’

Oh.

Why that detail should have stung, she did not know. It was merely one more humiliation.

Another slap in the face.

She almost laughed at her little joke, but this stern, disapproving captain would never have understood.

‘What happens next?’ she asked.

‘We’ll bury him,’ the captain replied. ‘You may return home. Do you have enough money to make the trip?’ He asked the question without sympathy, perhaps worried he would have to take up a collection among his fellow officers on her behalf.

‘I need nothing.’ Not from these men anyway. ‘Do what you must, and thank you for informing me.’

He nodded and turned away. She closed the door and leaned her forehead against it. The baby cried. The old lady whined. The couple cursed each other. And the captain’s receding footsteps sounded on the wooden stairs.

But for Cecilia it was as if the sun had burst through a sky of dark clouds.

She was free. Her husband was gone, never to return.

Never to slam his fist into her flesh ever again, nor throw her against the wall. No more bruises to hide. No more pain.

She had little money, no friends—Duncan had seen to that—and no one in England who would welcome her home. In a moment she might panic at being alone in this foreign country, among people who, a few short months ago, would have considered her the enemy. But for now she felt as light as air.

Free.

Chapter One

Paris—August 1818

Oliver Gregory strolled along the River Seine as the first fingers of dawn painted the water in swirls of violet. The buildings of Paris, tinged a soft pink at this time of day, were even more beautiful than in the brightness of a noonday sun. London at dawn would seem a dark maze of streets and shops.

And Calcutta... Calcutta, the city of Oliver’s birth, defied description, except in words whispered in memory—Hindi words.

Oliver struggled to remember those steaming, fragrant, exotic days of his childhood and the smiling woman swathed in brightly coloured silks holding him in her arms and calling him her pyaare bete, her sweet boy.