Dark Angel / Lord Carew's Bride Read online

  Dear Reader,

  Over the next two years Dell will be publishing ten of my older, out-of-print books in five two-in-one volumes. Many of you for a number of years have been asking me where you can find these books, and I have been unable to offer very helpful answers. Until now!

  The problem was choice. How did I pick just ten of the fifty or so books that are just begging to be republished? I listened to you. Those of you who have read those old books have your favorites, and some titles pop up over and over again. Other readers like the books with connected characters, since series are very popular at the moment.

  We are starting with both categories of readers in mind. Dark Angel and Lord Carew’s Bride are the first two of five connected books—the other three will be out soon. Lord Carew has always been a particular reader favorite. And both books have the same villain, Lionel, whom readers love to hate. But please note that the answer is still going to be no—I am not going to redeem him in a story of his own. Some villains are just too villainous!

  I hope you will enjoy (re)reading these two books and will come back soon for the next two. For more detail and a publishing schedule, see my web site at www.marybalogh.com.

  Mary Balogh

  PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS

  OF MARY BALOGH

  SEDUCING AN ANGEL

  “With her inimitable, brilliantly nuanced sense of characterization, elegantly sensual style, and droll wit, best-seller Balogh continues to set the standard to which all other Regency historical writers aspire while delivering another addictively readable addition to her Huxtable family series.”

  —Booklist

  “One of [Balogh’s] best books to date.”

  —A Romance Review

  AT LAST COMES LOVE

  “Sparkling with sharp wit, lively repartee, and delicious sensuality, the emotionally rewarding At Last Comes Love metes out both justice and compassion; totally satisfying.”

  —Library Journal

  “At Last Comes Love is the epitome of what any great romance should be This novel will leave you crying, laughing, cheering, and ready to fight for two characters that any reader will most definitely fall in love with!”

  —Coffee Time Romance

  THEN COMES SEDUCTION

  “Exquisite sexual chemistry permeates this charmingly complex story.”

  —Library Journal

  “Balogh delivers another smartly fashioned love story that will dazzle readers with its captivating combination of nuanced characters, exquisitely sensual romance, and elegant wit.”

  —Booklist

  “Mary Balogh succeeds shockingly well.”

  —Rock Hill Herald

  FIRST COMES MARRIAGE

  “Intriguing and romantic … Readers are rewarded with passages they’ll be tempted to dog-ear so they can read them over and over.”

  —McAllen Monitor

  “Wonderful characterization [and a] riveting plot … I highly recommend you read First Comes Marriage.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  “Peppered with brilliant banter, laced with laughter … and tingling with sexual tension, this story of two seemingly mismatched people struggling to make their marriage work tugs at a few heartstrings and skillfully paves the way for the stories to come.”

  —Library Journal

  “The incomparable Balogh delivers a masterful first in a new trilogy…. Always fresh, intelligent, emotional and sensual, Balogh’s stories reach out to readers, touching heart and mind with their warmth and wit. Prepare for a joyous read.”

  —Romantic Times

  SIMPLY PERFECT

  “A warm-hearted and feel-good story … Readers will want to add this wonderful story to their collection. Simply Perfect is another must-read from this talented author, and a Perfect Ten.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  “With her signature exquisite sense of characterization and subtle wit, Balogh brings her sweetly sensual, thoroughly romantic Simply quartet to a truly triumphant conclusion.”

  —Booklist

  SIMPLY MAGIC

  “Absorbing and appealing. This is an unusually subtle approach in a romance, and it works to great effect.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Balogh has once again crafted a sensuous tale of two very real people finding love and making each other’s lives whole and beautiful. Readers will be delighted.”

  —Booklist

  SIMPLY UNFORGETTABLE

  “When an author has created a series as beloved to readers as Balogh’s Bedwyn saga, it is hard to believe that she can surpass the delights with the first installment in a new quartet. But Balogh has done just that.”

  —Booklist

  “A memorable cast … refresh[es] a classic Regency plot with humor, wit, and the sizzling romantic chemistry that one expects from Balogh. Well-written and emotionally complex.”

  —Library Journal

  SIMPLY LOVE

  “One of the things that make Ms. Balogh’s books so memorable is the emotion she pours into her stories. The writing is superb, with realistic dialogue, sexual tension, and a wonderful heart-wrenching story. Simply Love is a book to savor, and to read again. It is a Perfect Ten. Romance doesn’t get any better than this.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  “With more than her usual panache, Balogh returns to Regency England for a satisfying adult love story.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS

  “Slightly Dangerous is the culmination of Balogh’s wonderfully entertaining Bedwyn series Balogh, famous for her believable characters and finely crafted Regency-era settings, forges a relationship that leaps off the page and into the hearts of her readers.”

  —Booklist

  “With this series, Balogh has created a wonderfully romantic world of Regency culture and society. Readers will miss the honorable Bedwyns and their mates; ending the series with Wulfric’s story is icing on the cake. Highly recommended.”

  —Library Journal

  SLIGHTLY SINFUL

  “Smart, playful, and deliciously satisfying … Balogh once again delivers a clean, sprightly tale rich in both plot and character…. With its irrepressible characters and deft plotting, this polished romance is an ideal summer read.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  SLIGHTLY TEMPTED

  “Once again, Balogh has penned an entrancing, unconventional yarn that should expand her following.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Balogh is a gifted writer Slightly Tempted invites reflection, a fine quality in romance, and Morgan and Gervase are memorable characters.”

  —Contra Costa Times

  SLIGHTLY SCANDALOUS

  “With its impeccable plotting and memorable characters, Balogh’s book raises the bar for Regency romances.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “The sexual tension fairly crackles between this pair of beautifully matched protagonists. … This delightful and exceptionally well-done title nicely demonstrates [Balogh’s] matchless style.”

  —Library Journal

  “This third book in the Bedwyn series is … highly enjoyable as part of the series or on its own merits.”

  —Old Book Barn Gazette

  SLIGHTLY WICKED

  “Sympathetic characters and scalding sexual tension make the second installment [in the Slightly series] a truly engrossing read. … Balogh’s sure-footed story possesses an abundance of character and class.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  SLIGHTLY MARRIED

  “Slightly Married is a masterpiece! Mary Balogh has an unparalleled gift for creating complex, compelling characters who co
me alive on the pages. … A Perfect Ten.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  A SUMMER TO REMEMBER

  “Balogh outdoes herself with this romantic romp, crafting a truly seamless plot and peopling it with well-rounded, winning characters.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “The most sensuous romance of the year.”

  —Booklist

  “This one will rise to the top.”

  —Library Journal

  “Filled with vivid descriptions, sharp dialogue, and fantastic characters, this passionate, adventurous tale will remain memorable for readers who love an entertaining read.”

  —Rendezvous

  WEB OF LOVE

  “A beautiful tale of how grief and guilt can lead to love.”

  —Library Journal

  ALSO BY MARY BALOGH

  The Huxtable Series

  FIRST COMES MARRIAGE

  THEN COMES SEDUCTION

  AT LAST COMES LOVE

  SEDUCING AN ANGEL

  The Simply Series

  SIMPLY UNFORGETTABLE

  SIMPLY LOVE

  SIMPLY MAGIC

  SIMPLY PERFECT

  The Slightly Series

  SLIGHTLY MARRIED

  SLIGHTLY WICKED

  SLIGHTLY SCANDALOUS

  SLIGHTLY TEMPTED

  SLIGHTLY SINFUL

  SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS

  Beloved Classic Novels

  A SUMMER TO REMEMBER

  NO MAN’S MISTRESS

  MORE THAN A MISTRESS

  ONE NIGHT FOR LOVE

  THE IDEAL WIFE

  THE DEVIL’S WEB

  WEB OF LOVE

  THE GILDED WEB

  A PRECIOUS JEWEL

  Dark

  Angel

  1

  LONDON WAS SOMEWHAT OVERWHELMING TO the two young ladies who entered it in an imposing traveling carriage late one April afternoon. Instead of talking and exclaiming over it as they might have been expected to do considering the fact that they had chattered almost without ceasing during the long journey from Gloucestershire, they gazed in wonder and awe through opposite windows as the crowded, shabby, sometimes squalid streets of the outskirts gradually gave place to the elegant splendor that was Mayfair.

  “Oh,” one of them breathed on a sigh, breaking a long silence, “here we are at last, Jenny. At last! And suddenly I feel very small and very insignificant and very …” She sighed again.

  “Frightened?” the other young lady suggested. She continued to gaze outward.

  “Oh, Jenny,” Miss Samantha Newman said, turning her head from the window at last to look at her companion, “it is all very well for you to be so calm and complacent. You have Lord Kersey waiting here to sweep you off your feet. Imagine, if you will, what it must be like to have no one. What if every gentleman in town takes one look at me and grimaces in distaste? What if I am a total wallflower at my very first ball? What if …” She stopped in some indignation when the other young lady laughed merrily, and then she joined in reluctantly. “Well, it could happen, you know. It could!”

  “And pigs might fly south for the winter,” the Honorable Miss Jennifer Winwood said quite unsympathetically. “One has only to remember how all the gentlemen at home tread all over each other’s toes in their haste to be first at your side at the local assemblies.”

  Samantha wrinkled her nose and laughed again. “But this is London,” she said, “not the country.”

  “And so the crushed-toe malady is about to spread to London,” Jennifer said, looking in affectionate envy, as she frequently did, at her cousin’s perfect beauty—short and shining blond curls, large blue eyes framed by long lashes darker than her hair, delicate porcelain complexion saved from even the remotest danger of insipidity by the natural blush of color in her cheeks. And Sam was small without being diminutive and well shaped without being either voluptuous or its opposite. Jennifer often regretted her own more vivid—and less ladylike—self. Gentlemen admired her dark red hair, which she had never been able to bear to have cut even when short hair became fashionable, and her dark eyes and her long legs and generous figure. But she often had the uncomfortable notion that she looked more like an actress or courtesan—not that she had ever seen either—than a lady. She longed to look and be the perfect lady. And she never really craved gentlemen’s admiration.

  Except Lord Kersey’s—Lionel’s. She had never spoken his name aloud to anyone, though she sometimes whispered it to herself, and in her heart and her dreams he was Lionel. He was going to be her husband. Soon. Before the Season was out. He was going to make his formal offer within the next few days or weeks and then after her presentation at court and her come-out ball their wedding was to be arranged. It was to be at St. George’s in Hanover Square. After that she would have to be presented at court all over again as a married lady.

  Soon. Very soon now. It had been such a long wait. Five endless years.

  “Oh, Jenny, this must be it.” The carriage had turned sharply into a large and elegant square and was slowing outside one of its mansions. “This must be Berkeley Square.”

  They had indeed reached their destination. The double front doors were opened wide even as they watched and liveried servants spilled forth. Others jumped down from the baggage coach that had followed closely behind their traveling carriage throughout the journey. One of them lifted two maidservants down while the coachman himself was handing the young ladies down the steps of their carriage. It seemed a great deal of fuss and bustle for the arrival of two rather insignificant persons, Jennifer thought in some amusement. She had spent all her twenty years in the relative informality of country living.

  But she was very willing to adapt. Soon she would be a married lady, the Viscountess Kersey, and would be lady of her own London home and country estate. It was a heady thought for someone who was only just now arriving in London for the first time. She was so very old to be doing that, so very old not to be officially out. But two years ago when she was eighteen and her come-out was planned and also the engagement and marriage that had been arranged three years before that by her papa and the Earl of Rushford, Viscount Kersey’s father, the viscount had been detained in the north of England by the severe illness of an uncle. Jennifer had shed many a tear that spring and summer, not so much at the lost Season as at the delay in her marriage. She had seen Lord Kersey so few times. And then last year disaster had struck again in the form of the death of her grandmother in January. There had been no question of either a Season or a wedding.

  And so here she was, arriving in London for the first time at the advanced age of twenty. The only consolation was that her cousin Samantha, who had been living with them for four years, since the passing of her own parents, was now eighteen and able to come out at the same time as Jennifer. It would be good to have company and a confidante. And a bridesmaid at her wedding.

  It had seemed an eternity, Jennifer thought, stopping a moment to gaze up at her father’s London house. She had not even seen Lord Kersey for over a year and even then only very briefly and formally in the presence of others at various Christmas parties and assemblies. She had dreamed of him every night since and had daydreamed about him every day. She had loved him passionately and singlemindedly for five years. Soon dreams would be reality.

  Her father’s butler bowed to them with stiff deference from the doorway and conducted them to the library, where Jennifer’s father, Viscount Nordal, was awaiting them, standing formally before the desk, his hands clasped behind his back. He would, of course, have heard the commotion of their arrival, but it would have been out of character for Papa to have come out to meet them.

  Samantha rushed toward him so that he was forced to bring his arms forward to hug her. “Uncle Gerald!” she exclaimed. “We have been speechless with the splendor of all we have seen. Have we not, Jenny? All we could do was peer out of the carriage windows and gawk with hanging jaws. Was it not so, Jenny? How lovely it is to see you again. Are you well?�
��

  “I gather the speechlessness was not a permanent affliction,” he said with a rare sally into humor. He turned from her to hug his daughter. “Yes, quite well, I thank you, Samantha. It is a relief to know you have both arrived safely. I have been wondering if I should have come for you myself. It does not do for young ladies to travel alone.”

  “Alone?” Samantha chuckled. “We had a veritable army with us, Uncle. Any highwayman would have taken one look and decided in despair that it would be certain suicide to risk an attack. A pity. I have always dreamed of being borne off by a handsome highwayman.” She laughed lightly to dispel her uncle’s frown.

  “Well,” he said, looking closely at both of them, “you will do. You both look healthy and pretty enough. A trifle rustic, of course. I have a modiste coming here tomorrow morning. Agatha arranged it. She has come to stay and take charge of all the faradiddle of your presentations and the rest of it. You are to mind her. She will know what is what so that you are both suitably decked out for the Season and so that you will both know how to go on.”