Taming the Rake Read online

  TAMING THE RAKE

  Monica McCarty

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgments

  TAMING THE RAKE

  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

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  EPILOGUE

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Excerpt from THE UNTHINKABLE

  COMPLETE MONICA MCCARTY BOOKLIST

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Acknowledgments

  A huge thanks to Jami Alden and Bella Andre who were my critique partners at the time I wrote this novel about ten years ago. You guys were—and still are—the best. Jami, a huge thanks for reading this yet again (twice!) in recent months to help me get it ready for publication. Thanks also to Carrie at Seductive Musings for this gorgeous cover, Shona McCarthy for her extremely helpful copyediting, Anne Victory and Cyrstalle for their eagle-eyed “oops” detecting, Lisa Rogers for the ebook formatting, and the extremely generous (& knowledgeable) Isobel Carr for the print formatting. Another huge thanks—you are the best. Pretty soon I’m going to owe you my first-born (although he’s a teenager so you might not want him)!

  TAMING THE RAKE

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  TAMING THE RAKE Copyright © 2015 Buccaneer Press LLC

  Excerpt from THE UNTHINKABLE Copyright © 2015 Buccaneer Press LLC

  Cover Design: © Seductive Designs

  Photo copyright: Couple

  © Jimmy Thomas, RNC

  Photo copyright: Background:

  © Depositphotos.com mppriv

  Photo copyright: Swords:

  © Depositphotos.com Seamartini

  Photo copyright: Medallion:

  © Depositphotos.com AnnaPoguliaeva

  This is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organization, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

  All rights reserved. No part of this novel may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations for purposes of review.

  TAMING THE RAKE

  They are known as the Rake Slayers… Tired of the different standards applied to the men who flout society’s rules, three young ladies seek a little primitive justice and hatch a plan to bring a few of London’s most notorious rakes up to snuff before refusing them. But they soon learn exactly what it is that makes rakes so dangerous.

  Tasked with bringing down the most notorious rake of all, the always capable and efficient Lady Georgina “Gina” Beauclerk is determined to show the wicked Earl of Coventry just what she has to offer… by promptly turning his dissolute world on its ear. Instead she finds her own world spinning out of control. Because even after she has organized his household, rid his home of alcohol, and paid off his mistress, she can’t help but see that there is more to the handsome earl than first she realized.

  Forced into respectable society to escort his debuting sister, Coventry intends to find her a husband posthaste so he can return to the freedom and debauchery of his clubs. After the death of his unfaithful wife, the disillusioned Coventry has no intention of ever marrying again—especially not to an interfering busybody who won’t take “no” for an answer. No matter how much she tempts him.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Mayfair, Tuesday, 30 March, 1812

  They were a scurrilous bunch. Three highly marriageable young ladies thoroughly dissatisfied with their lot—a veritable tempest of ennui waiting to explode in rebellion. Gina gazed fondly at her two companions. Cecelia’s ink-black head was bent in apparent concentration over her tambour frame, and Claire, as fair-haired as her twin was dark, was fighting to keep her eyes open as she half read a salacious novel that had somehow escaped the watchful eyes of her mother. Gina shook her head. Looking at the three of them, who would have guessed what restless turmoil lurked below the deceptively placid surface?

  Cecelia tossed her needlework aside with disgust. “I’m bored,” she said, summing up the situation succinctly, if unimaginatively.

  Claire smiled softly, her eyes still clouded with the vestiges of the afternoon nap she’d taken in her chair. “How can you be bored, dearest?” she asked. “The season has only just begun.”

  Cecelia ignored her younger (by ten minutes) sister and stood up.

  “You could play the pianoforte,” Gina suggested.

  Cecelia put her hands on her hips, her mouth drawn in a tight line. “I always play the pianoforte.”

  “Then work on your watercolor,” Gina countered indifferently, knowing that when one of Cecelia’s moods hit, she was virtually impossible to placate.

  Cecelia gave her the evil eye.

  Gina laid down her own needlework in a nice, neat pile. “Very well then, what would you like to do? You haven’t alphabetized your offers in some time.”

  “Very funny.”

  “Do you really alphabetize?” Claire’s eyes rounded. She thought for a moment then nodded her head in apparent understanding. “I suppose it would be helpful as there are so many to consider. Father and mother are forever losing track of who has actually proposed. Perhaps you should advise them of your method?”

  Gina looked at Cecelia and shrugged as if to say, “What can you do?” Claire was hopeless when it came to sarcasm—or any kind of subtlety for that matter.

  “I’m tired of the same parties, the same drawing rooms, the same callers,” Cecelia lamented. “Nothing ever changes. Day in, day out, it’s all the same.”

  Gina shook her head. Cecelia was only giving voice to what they all felt. Nevertheless, Gina felt it was her duty to rein in Cecelia before she did or said something outrageous. “What did you expect? That you would return from rusticating all winter in Staffordshire to an entirely new crop of suitors? The beau monde is rather limited in its members, Cece. As the daughter of a marquess, there are only so many suitable men to choose from.” Gina grinned. “Though Prinny is rather appallingly fond of you: perhaps you could ask him to create a few more peers to expand your realm?”

  Cecelia shot her a look of mild disgust. She wasn’t too fond of her sobriquet, “The Queen of Broken Hearts.”

  “As the daughter of a duke, your choices are even more limited, Lady Georgina Beauclerk,” she said tartly. “I see your barely concealed grimace when you are partnered by the same men dance after dance. And you’ve had two seasons to choose to our one, so don’t pretend you don’t know to what I am speaking.”

  “It’s appalling,” Gina mocked. “The dusty shelf of spinsterhood looms ever closer.”

  “Jest all you want, but there is talk. Five proposals, five rejections over two years is ‘not the thing’ at all. I would think you would be aware of this today of all days.”

  Gina grimaced, properly chastised. Today was her twentieth birthday, though she was doing her best to ignore it. Cecelia was ri