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Cleo wriggled back a little and he opened his arms to release her, half-thankful, half-regretful.
Then he realised she was simply putting enough space between them so he could kiss her. Who is seducing whom? he wondered. He bent his head and took the proffered lips. Just one kiss.
Her mouth, hot and soft under his, opened without him needing to coax. She was willing and yet, despite it all, shy. Quin took a firm grip on his willpower and kissed her with more gentleness than passion, his tongue sliding against hers, his palms flat on her back in the loosest of holds. She was trembling slightly, he realised, like a woman fighting emotion.
Quin raised his head. ‘Cleo?’ Her eyes were wide and dark and flooded with unshed tears. ‘Cleo—’
Several years ago I stood in the temple of Kom Ombo in Upper Egypt, fascinated by the graffiti left by French soldiers around 1800, very high up on the walls. I soon realised that the very tops of the monuments were all that Napoleon’s troops would have been able to see because the sand had covered many remains to within feet of the roof.
Today, knowing so much about Ancient Egypt, we still marvel at these monuments, but I began to wonder how they must have seemed to these men, right at the beginning of modern archaeology. The more I read about Napoleon’s savants, the group of scholars he left with his troops in Egypt to explore this mysterious civilisation, the more I admired them for their courage and endurance.
The Nile valley is so beautiful and so romantic that I knew I had to set a story there, and gradually the characters of Cleo and Quin began to take shape.
I hope you enjoy reading BEGUILED BY HER BETRAYER as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Beguiled by her Betrayer
Louise Allen
LOUISE ALLEN has been immersing herself in history, real and fictional, for as long as she can remember. She finds landscapes and places evoke powerful images of the past—Venice, Burgundy and the Greek islands are favourite atmospheric destinations. Louise lives on the North Norfolk coast, where she shares with her husband the cottage they have renovated. She spends her spare time gardening, researching family history or travelling in the UK and abroad in search of inspiration. Please visit Louise’s website—www.louiseallenregency.co.uk—for the latest news, or find her on Twitter @LouiseRegency and on Facebook.
Previous novels by the same author:
THE DANGEROUS MR RYDER*
THE OUTRAGEOUS LADY FELSHAM*
THE SHOCKING LORD STANDON*
THE DISGRACEFUL MR RAVENHURST*
THE NOTORIOUS MR HURST*
THE PIRATICAL MISS RAVENHURST*
PRACTICAL WIDOW TO PASSIONATE MISTRESS**
VICAR’S DAUGHTER TO VISCOUNT’S LADY**
INNOCENT COURTESAN TO ADVENTURER’S BRIDE**
RAVISHED BY THE RAKE†
SEDUCED BY THE SCOUNDREL†
MARRIED TO A STRANGER†
FORBIDDEN JEWEL OF INDIA††
TARNISHED AMONGST THE TON††
FROM RUIN TO RICHES
UNLACING LADY THEA
SCANDAL’S VIRGIN
* Those Scandalous Ravenhursts
** The Transformation of the Shelley Sisters
† Danger & Desire
††Linked by character
and as a Mills & Boon® special release:
REGENCY RUMOURS
and in the Silk & Scandal mini-series:
THE LORD AND THE WAYWARD LADY
THE OFFICER AND THE PROPER LADY
and in Mills & Boon® Historical Undone! eBooks:
DISROBED AND DISHONOURED
AUCTIONED VIRGIN TO SEDUCED BRIDE**
Did you know that some of these novels are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk
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