Can Amelia and Jack defy a spirit from the past long enough to ensure their future together?
Having discovered that there’s no demand in Atlanta, Georgia, for college graduates with a PhD in history, Amelia Comstock accepts a job from her former professor to research the mysterious disappearance of the Duke of Durbane almost two hundred years ago. Unfortunately, her research seems to have stirred up the duke’s spirit, which—convinced she’s a courtesan—visits her during the night intent on pleasuring her sexually. When Amelia tries to quit her job in the hopes of ridding herself of the duke, her boss tricks her into meeting his nephew, Jack, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the duke and who is struggling with his own unwanted visitor from the past.
When Jack Durban, a computer programmer, accepted a transfer to Atlanta, he didn’t expect his uncle Ben, a professor and historian, to recruit him to help research the disappearance of the Regency era Duke of Durbane. Nor did he expect to start getting ghostly visits from a woman wearing a ball gown who insists on pleasuring him against his will. Determined to end his research, Jack agrees to do one last favor for his uncle, which results in his meeting Amelia Comstock, a beautiful historian who strongly resembles his pesky visitor from the past. Jack soon realises that he and Amelia share a unique connection, meaning that they must combine their efforts to defy the duke so they can enjoy their future together.
Reader Advisory: This book contains scenes of dubious consent while the character is in a hallucinatory state.
Publisher's Note: This book was previously released by Totally Bound under the title The Hallucinatory Duke. It has been revised and re-edited for re-release.
General Release Date: 14th November 2014
Amelia Comstock awoke moaning with anticipated pleasure, but her moan turned to a shrill whine when the duke in her dream removed his hand from her pussy. She burrowed down into her pillow, trying desperately to cling to the fantasy, but it faded before she could climax.
She flipped over and sat up, aware that, as usual, her breathing had quickened, moisture had gathered between her legs, and her mound now quivered with need. Damn it, she was tired of this. There had to be some way to get this freakin’ man out of her dreams. After all, he’d died a hundred and ninety-four years ago.
Well, technically, he’d disappeared a hundred and ninety-four years ago. Whether he’d died at that time was anybody’s guess.
She turned to look at the digital clock sitting on her bedside table. Three-thirty in the morning.
Again.
She knew from experience that going back to sleep was impossible, so she switched her bedside lamp on to low and rolled out of bed. She tugged off her sweaty nightshirt and tossed it into the hamper of dirty clothes sitting beside her dresser.
“Mmmm—owww.”
“Sorry, Wellington,” she muttered. “I forgot that you prefer curling up on my underwear to sleeping on your own bed.” She glared at the cat who stared back, his green eyes heavy with sleep. He stood, stretched, turned around three times then buried his nose in the crotch of her panties before curling up in a ball and tucking his head under his front legs.
“You pathetic, purring pervert.” She flung the words at him as though he could understand and be properly chastised. She sighed and shook her head. “Scolding the cat. I really need to get some sleep. That or go completely bonkers.”
But she was wide awake now. Wide awake and sweaty. She wondered just how much she’d twisted around during her dreams. She also wondered exactly what that damn duke had done to her before she’d awoken.
After blowing her breath out in a long sigh, she stalked into the bathroom, adjusted the shower to cool, then climbed under the spray. Unfortunately, the tepid water couldn’t quench the heat that the dream had stirred up, so she propped her foot on the side of the tub and used her fingers to complete what the duke had started. By the time she’d finished, she felt marginally better but still craved something obviously out of her reach.
A couple of minutes later, she stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. After drying herself off, she walked into her bedroom stark naked then screamed at the top of her lungs.
The Duke of Durbane sat on the side of her bed, fully clothed in garments that had been the height of fashion in 1817. Darkly handsome, he raised his eyebrows before slowly looking her over from the top of her damp hair to the tips of her bare toes, which sported dark red polish.
“Ah!” His voice was husky. “So you’re a courtesan. I suspected as much.”
“I beg your pardon. I’m not a…” Amelia forced herself to stop talking. She was college educated. She understood that sleep deprivation could cause hallucinations. But responding to your hallucinations didn’t imply good mental health.
She turned her back on him, marched over to her armoire and yanked a clean nightshirt from her sleepwear drawer. She’d started to pull it on over her head when he spoke again.
Meta Mathews is—fortunately or unfortunately—one of those writers who can't pick a time period and stick with it. Her first published book was a sweet contemporary set in the American South (where, not coincidentally, she lives). After writing another contemporary, she veered back in time a couple of centuries for the setting of a traditional Regency, which won the National Readers' Choice Award that year. Next she decided to stick with the Regency setting but move from sweet to rather steamy (to put it mildly). Now, with her first book for Total E-Bound, she's combining the two time periods for an erotic paranormal set in the present in the American South but with visitors from Regency England. Where she'll go from here is anybody's guess.
Reviewed by Amanda
I couldn’t put the book down. I love how Amelia and Jack come together to figure out the truth behind the Duke and wife’s disappearance. This book made me laugh. There is a lot of passion in this read....
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Reviewed by Crystal Blogs Books
Reading Defying the Duke was a fun way to spend a hour one rainy night. I liked that it had a little of everything to offer. It's a contemporary romance with hints of paranormal, historical, mystery...
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Meta Mathews - Blog Tour Stop with Crystal Blogs Books
In my erotic romance, Defying the Duke, the heroine is visited by the spirit of a Regency duke who, based on Amelia’s scanty clothing, assumes she is a courtesan and treats her accordingly.
To me, one of the most fascinating aspects of the Regency period was the world of the courtesans, some of whom wielded great power and accrued wealth along the way.
Writing Defying the Duke made me curious about how the courtesans of this period actually lived. My research led me to a book by Katie Hickman named Courtesans: Money, Sex and Fame in the Nineteenth Century. Ms. Hickman discussed five famous courtesans, but the one of most interest to me, because she was influential during the Regency, is Harriette Wilson.
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Meta Mathews - Female First Feature
In Defying the Duke, my recent book for Totally Bound, the modern-day American heroine is visited by the spirit of an English Regency-era duke. Briefly, the plot revolves around Amelia’s research into the duke’s mysterious disappearance almost two hundred years earlier. She is joined in this research by the hero, Jack, who also begins receiving the unwanted attentions of a spirit from the past.
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