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      He collected his wits. ‘What I don’t understand,’ he said, ‘is how anyone could pay attention to the opera when you were in the place.’

      ‘They’re French,’ she said. ‘They take art seriously.’

      ‘And you’re not French?’

      She smiled. ‘That’s the question, it seems.’

      ‘French,’ he said. ‘You’re a brilliant mimic, but you’re French.’

      ‘You’re so sure,’ she said.

      ‘I’m merely a thickheaded Englishman, I know,’ he said. ‘But even I can tell French and English women apart. One might dress an Englishwoman in French fashion from head to toe and she’ll still look English. You…’

      He trailed off, letting his gaze skim over her. Only consider her hair. It was as stylish as the precise coifs of other French-women…yet, no, not the same. She was…different.

      ‘You’re French, through and through,’ he said. ‘If I’m wrong, the stickpin is yours.’

      ‘And if you’re right?’ she said.

      He thought quickly. ‘If I’m right, you’ll do me the honour of riding with me in the Bois de Boulogne tomorrow,’ he said.

      ‘That’s all?’ she said, in French this time.

      ‘It’s a great deal to me.’

      She rose abruptly in a rustle of silk. Surprised—again—he was slow coming to his feet.

      ‘I need air,’ she said. ‘It grows warm in here.’

      He opened the door to the corridor and she swept past him. He followed her out, his pulse racing.

      LORETTA CHASE has worked in academe, retail and the visual arts, as well as on the streets—as a meter maid (aka traffic warden)—and in video, as a scriptwriter. She might have developed an excitingly chequered career had her spouse not nagged her into writing fiction. Her bestselling historical romances, set in the Regency and Romantic eras of the early nineteenth century, have won a number of awards, including the Romance Writers of America’s RITA®.

      Website: www.LorettaChase.com.

       Silk is for Seduction

      Loretta Chase

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

       In Memory of Princess Irelynn

       ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      Thanks to:

      The milliners and tailors of colonial Williamsburg’s margaret Hunter Shop, with special thanks to mantua-maker and mistress of the shop Janea Whitacre and tailor mark Hutter, for helping me with numerous details of the art of dress, and for so generously sharing their expertise and enthusiasm

      Chris Woodyard, for her invaluable help with dolls and demolished houses and every other pesky question I could think to ask her

      Susan Hollowy Scott for storms at sea, as well as her usual wit, wisdom and moral support

      My husband Walter for his cinematic eye, unceasing supply of encouragement and inspiration, and numerous acts of undaunted courage

      Cynthia, nancy, and Sherrie for what they always do

      and, of course,

      Trinny and Susannah

      Table of Contents

       Cover

       Excerpt

       About the Author

       Title Page

       Dedication

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Chapter Seventeen

       Epilogue

       Copyright

       Prologue

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