One Night of Sin (49 page)
She gazed into his hazy eyes, enjoying the glow and his sated look; for a long time, she simply stroked his golden hair in silence. He kissed her forehead after a while, and pulled her onto the side of him.
“Thank you,” he murmured softly as he cuddled her close.
“For that?” she purred. “You’re welcome, sir.”
“I meant for loving me.”
“Oh Alec, my angel man,” she whispered, leaning in to kiss his cheek as he caressed her shoulder. “Loving you is the easiest thing in the world.”
He met her devoted gaze with a smile like heaven and quiet joy shining in his eyes, the clear blue color of eternity.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
G
ambling was probably
the
favorite vice of the Regency period. Stories abound of great aristocrats and lesser mortals ruining themselves left and right at the tables. In fact, one Lord Foley was bankrupted during the Regency when his grandson gambled away the family fortune!
Though the “annual Brighton whist drive” is purely my own concoction, such an event could very well have existed; whist drives are commonly held as charity fund-raisers even today. Alec and the other players involved had to put up £10,000 in order to enter the whist drive. At the modern equivalent of about $500,000 U.S., such a sum would have qualified these high rollers as what Las Vegas casino men term “whales,” with the lure of a jackpot valued at approximately $22 million split between the winning pair. So, as you can see, Alec did pretty well for himself.
Regarding one of the settings of this book: the Althorpe. London-lovers will probably recognize it as being modeled on the hallowed grounds of Albany. By the way, if you are skeptical about the existence of heated running water for bathing tubs in 1817, see the Regency-era print of
The warm bath
on page 123 of Steven Parissien’s
Regency Style
(London: Phaidon Press, 1992). The painting shows a lady getting ready to take a bath in a luxurious built-in alcove bath with two spigots for hot and cold running water clearly visible. A great rarity and a luxury, no doubt, but a sybarite like our Lord Alec would have spared no expense on the most basic pleasures of life while he was winning and could afford them.
The Cossacks were a paramilitary, semidemocratic, strongly independent people who started out as bandits and mercenaries but evolved by the 1800s into the Czar’s elite cavalry units. Since the Czars couldn’t break the Cossacks, they hired them, granting them special rights and privileges not given to other groups within their domain, such as land grants and tax exemptions. In addition to terrorizing enemy armies, Cossack forces were often brought in to suppress peasant uprisings and urban disturbances.
As to Prince Kurkov’s plot to overthrow Czar Alexander I, just such a conspiracy was uncovered. The grandson of Catherine the Great, Alexander started out as the golden boy of Europe and the great hope of Russia, but he was more of a thinker than a man of action, and he steadily lost credibility for his high-strung nervous nature that resulted in wavering and indecisiveness. The army grew to despise him for ignoring his seasoned military advisers; the Czar preferred to decide himself how to direct his army, resulting in many unnecessary defeats.
For all bits of Russian dialogue in this book and advice on Russian names, I am indebted to up-and-coming romance author Sylvia Day, a former Russian linguist for U.S. Army Military Intelligence (
Bad Boys Ahoy,
Kensington Brave, February 2006).
In closing, I hope readers will rejoin the Knight family for the next installment in the series, featuring Lord Jack Knight. Previous books in this series, in order, include:
The Duke, Lord of Fire, Lord of Ice, Lady of Desire,
and
Devil Takes a Bride.
More information about each story is available at my website at
www.gaelenfoley.com
, along with various history articles about the Regency period. I want to thank all my readers for coming along with me on this imaginative journey. I hope you’ve had fun! I sure have. Until next time. . . .
With fondest wishes,
Praise for
Devil Takes a Bride
“With its wonderfully complicated, unforgettable characters, sharp wit, and a riveting plot rife with menacing danger and sizzling passion, Foley’s latest Knight Miscellany historical Regency is simply superb.”
—Booklist
“A truly sensual romance, possessing depth of plot and character.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Complex and engaging characters . . . Intense emotions and great depth of poignancy enthrall from beginning to end.”
—Romantic Times
Top Pick,
, winner of the KISS Hero Award
Praise for
Lady of Desire
“This tantalizing tale offers a glimpse of a world that historical romance authors rarely acknowledge—the slums and back alleys of London. Full of light humor, lively surprises, and tender moments.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A cast of characters you will adore, a lush and heated romance, great danger, poignancy, humor, and a climax that will have you holding your breath. Jacinda may be the lady of desire, but Ms. Foley is truly a queen of adventure.”
—Romantic Times
Top Pick,, winner of the KISS Hero Award
“Two worlds collide in this adventurous, suspenseful story . . . a dynamite read.”
—Rendezvous
“Immediately grasps your interest with its dynamic and mesmerizing hero and heroine. Excellently written, readers will once again have a frolicking good time with the unusual Knight family.”
—Old Book Barn Gazette
