My Lady Taken
By Shirl Anders

Full Page Excerpt from "My Lady Taken" 
(reviews below)

     Lady Nia O’Shea was stepping carefully in the pitched darkness walking toward him. Still, he sat in silence, awaiting the next move to be made.
     “I see that you have heard of my wager, your grace.”
     Somewhat startled by the sudden sound of a voice issuing forth from the darkness, Radford first noted the Irish lilt to it, along with an enticing and husky feminine quality. A minx’s bedroom voice.
     “Do you always greet your male visitors in the darkness, cheriè?” Radford deliberately used an improper endearment to address the lady. She should be scandalized at the blunt forwardness. Curiously, he found himself hoping that she was not shocked at all.
     The laugh that sounded was feminine, yet full-bodied and true. It stirred him instantly. “There are no secrets in the dark, are there? The senses do not lie, don’t you agree, your grace?”
     Radford chose that moment to rise, and as he perceived, to gain a small advantage. He could readily feel the lady’s nearness to him now. Her scent filled him, yet strangely he could not hear any accompanying sounds to her movements, except for her breathing. Where were the rustling sounds of a lady’s full skirts? It was a sound that was as ingrained into his hearing as his own voice. The absence of such a sound was blaring in his mind. He seriously began to wonder what it was that the lady was wearing, because he could only imagine one logical reason for the absence of that sound.
     He turned suddenly and caught the briefest glimpse of pale skin. Thoroughly astound, he realized that the lady was quite possibly nude. However, his instantaneous and incredulous amazement halted his complete belief that it could be true. No lady would do such a thing. Belatedly, he realized that he might expect the light to come crashing on with Lady Nia to be there in all her glorious nudity as her aghast mother stormed into the room and summarily caught them in a compromising position, to then begin the recriminations and blackmail into marriage.
     It was only by an unusual leap of faith that he stilled his inclinations of alarm. Nothing in the lady’s emboldened overtures thus far added up to ensnaring him by underhanded means. “What I do agree too,” he murmured, with less calmness than he was feeling. “Is that you have no hope of winning your flamboyantly pretentious wager, cherie.”
     “Handsome bonny lord.”
Radford tensed as the sound of Lady Nia’s purred words stirred the fine hairs on his nape. He had not sensed that she was so close to him. The realization stretched his muscular frame tautly in a sensually thrumming way.
     “Can you not appreciate a lady’s willingness to try? And, her sincere efforts to stir you, your grace.”
     Out of the darkness a long strand of silky hair brushed suddenly against his jaw line, then settled over his shoulder, before being whisked away. Radford had the impression of movement behind him with the air stirring around him as though Lady Nia danced slowly and closely to his back. His breathing deepened and his ever primed manhood stirred with its base tightening. The phantom minx definitely had his attention.
     With heightened senses, Radford timed his movement with patience, because he knew if he were to move to quickly his ghostly sprite would flee. “Cherie, your game is dangerous.” His hand reached outward and found what he sought as he turned slightly with his words. His fleeting touch upon bare flesh startled them both, even though he had guessed the wanton play.
     “Oh!” The lady breathed a breathless exclamation, instantly withdrawing from his touch with its sounding.
     A buttock, naked and toned of satin, Radford was certain. He placed the lady twirling away in the darkness from his touch in his mind and he advanced. The time had come to take the upper hand. “How bold and naughty, cherie.”
     Radford turned his head to the side, bending his voice in a misleading direction as he followed Lady Nia’s scent, warmth, and slightly hitched breathing. In his mind’s eye he had a mental picture of the room. It was a talent he had honed to perfection during his spying days. He knew the precise placing of every piece of furniture and every nook and cranny in the room. Nocturnal spying visits were his specialties. The lady might believe her safety would lay in a fool stumbling around in the darkness, yet what she would find instead was the stealth of a panther.
     His hand reached outward time and again as he advanced with his fingertips brushing glancing strokes against warm soft female flesh. Each touch enlisting a soft gasp and each fleeting stroke guiding the daring minx in the direction, he wanted her to retreat.
     It was a fast paced waltz in the inky blackness and each time Lady Nia sought to move in the direction of escape, the bold touch of his fingers and hand startled her back into the direction of his intention. Cornered. He was certain that he touched a full breast, a bare waist, and the creamy cheek of a nicely rounded ass with his briefly stroking fingers. Each tangible feeling amazing him with the reality of her complete nudity and stroking his ardor higher.
     Suddenly, the back of Nia’s bare thighs bumped a small table, rattling a crystal lamp and something else unknown crashed onto the floor shattering. She cried out, flinging her hands upward in the attempt to keep from falling. Then, abruptly in the pitched blackness, she was engulfed against warm material and a tall hardened body beneath.
     “It is not to be like this!” she gasped, senselessly overwhelmed by the masculine presence carrying her to safe equilibrium with her back braced gently against the wall beside the table. Her fingers clutched a twill jacket and the firm breath of muscular shoulders beneath. All at a height that dwarfed her uncommon tallness.
      She was not to be caught like this. The written instruction had been clear. She was to tease, titillate, and flirt, perhaps flirting outrageously using her naked body in glancing touches to inflame the duke. However, she was not to allow him to touch her more than briefly on this first encounter.
     “Carefully laid plans gone awry, cherie?” Radford’s warm breath caressed her cheek too intimately.
     She could not feel Radford’s hands touching her, only his unyielding body pressing down the entire length of her figure, pinning her to the wall at her back. “Yes, I—.” She murmured in confusion, with her lips brushing the strong heated hollow of Radford’s throat as he moved his hips with a barely perceptible motion that slowly undulated the impression of his hardening cock against her lower belly.
     “A little late to turn shy or moral, my sweet.”
 

Erotic Ebook Reviews

Fallen Angel Reviewer, Jean says:
This is the fourth novella in the Archangel series. The Archangels are a group of British noblemen who have served their country during the Napoleonic Wars. They have served as soldiers, as diplomats, and as spies. None of them have escaped unscathed, whether physically or emotionally.

My Lady Taken is the story of Radford, the Duke of Sutherlin, who lost an eye in a disastrous spy mission during the Wars. With his piratical black eye patch, and his title and money, Sutherlin has his pick of the single ladies on the Marriage Mart. He wants only a particular type of lady, however. To find her, he proposes a bold contest in which the contestants are the ladies, and the prize is his hand in marriage. He invites a number of the most eligible ladies to his estate for a country weekend, planning to observe the contestants in their native habitat, as it were.

But someone is conspiring against Sutherlin, and has employed the services of Lady Nia O’Shea, a woman struggling to support her younger brothers and sisters. This mysterious stranger gives Lady Nia strict instructions regarding her actions toward Sutherlin and in return, sets her up in style in a townhouse, with servants, rich clothing, etc. The mystery is ... what is the plot of the mysterious stranger, and will it succeed? Meanwhile, will Sutherlin find his ladylove?

This was an amusing story that is not a run-of-the-mill Regency romance. Ms. Anders stories always throw a slight twist into an otherwise traditional Regency plot. In this case, rather than running from marriage, the hero decides to run toward it, placing the ladies in the role of the aggressors. The heroine meets his requirements of boldness and strong sexuality in a woman, and proceeds to demonstrate those qualities in all of their interactions. The characters of Radford and Nia are well matched; both are well rounded, and have distinct personalities that are very appealing to the reader. The supporting cast, including the heroes and heroines from the previous installments in the series, are quite amusing in their antics. The love scenes are very explicit and sexy, and depict a man and woman in a loving relationship. I was definitely entertained by this novella, and would recommend it to my friends.


Reviewed by: Jean, Fallen Angel Reviews