Wickedly Ever After

by Michelle Marcos

Published 30 June 2009
After discovering her fiance in the arms of a parlour maid, Lady Athena McAlister comes to a frightful realization: most men prefer the company of their mistresses to their wives. How can she, and other brides-to-be, become both wife and mistress to a man? In her quest for knowledge, she begs her wealthy grandfather for money to start a finishing school for marriageable young ladies. There she and her friends discreetly invite London's most notorious rakes to educate them on the art of seducing a man. Marshall Hawkesworth's sister has become far too knowledgeable about the ways of sex, and he suspects that her new finishing school is to blame. Marshall poses as a lecturer on several topics, including sensual kissing, and he soon finds Lady Athena to be a most apt pupil. But before he has her school shut down for good, he's determined to give her a few private lessons she won't soon forget.

Destitute and alone, Mina Halliday ventured into a notorious bordello and offered the only talents at her disposal - her writing skill and her scandalous imagination. Mina's erotic letters have enticed London's wealthiest noblemen to the Pleasure Emporium, but her real goal is to find the person responsible for her father's ruin. Even if that means defying the orders of Chief Constable Salter Lambrick, a man who makes her feel like a wanton seductress instead of a plain-faced wallflower.The only clue Salter has to a government official's murder is the naughty invitation found in the victim's pocket, leading him to the most intriguing woman he has ever met. Mina may be an innocent in a den of lust, but Salter detects the sensuality beneath her surface. And uncovering the truth about the woman who stirs his deepest desires will be his most dangerous adventure yet...