The Lady and Her Secret Lover Read online

  The Lady and Her Secret Lover

  a romance novel with photographs

  Jenn LeBlanc

  Illustrated Romance

  Ellie and Lou

  In late Victorian London, Louisa, the daughter of a viscount, falls in love with Ellie, the daughter of a new money family. Absolutely impermissible, they manage their trysts in plain view of their families, ever wary of being caught out.

  Unfortunately, Louisa’s father is keen on Louisa being married as expediently as possible. Three years on the market is enough. He arranges to have another man ruin her in society, forcing a marriage—but it goes horribly wrong.

  Two days later, when Ellie is allowed to visit Louisa, they escape the formalities of tea and rush to the galleries so they can speak— but they aren’t as cautious as they should be, and Louisa’s father catches them in a much-too-compromising position.

  Ellie is horrified as Louisa’s father attacks her, threatens them both, and Louisa sends her away—but he isn’t done. Put out by Louisa’s refusal to marry and now finding his daughter in a sapphic clutch, he does the only thing he believes he can in the situation— he sends her to the Magdalene Asylum to spend the balance of her days in anonymity.

  Little does he know she was being watched by her friend, Hugh Garrison Baron Endsleigh, who rescues her from the Asylum and takes her away. He places her with the love of his life, Amelia, as a ladies maid, on the coast far from London, her father, society, and Ellie.

  Three years Louisa spends with Lady Amelia at Pembroke-By-The-Sea, until Amelia’s coming out brings them all back to London and a passionate reunion with Ellie. But she cannot abandon Amelia, who has episodes that are minimized with proper care, and only Louisa and Hugh understand that.

  Ellie wants nothing more than to spend her life in a cottage, far from maddening society, with Louisa, but it seems it’s never to be.

  But when the powerful duke who has a contract of marriage for the hand of Amelia also comes to London to claim his bride—and destroy Hugh’s heart in the process— Louisa gets ideas. She believes Amelia is in love with both men, and the only solution she can see is for her Ellie to marry the Baron, so they can all live happily ever after.

  •><•>•<•><•

  TW: sexual assault

  •><•>•<•><•

  The Lady and Her Secret Lover is the seventh full - length

  illustrated historical romance in the Lords of Time series and is a companion novel to The Duke and The Baron.

  Contents

  Praise

  Copyright

  Welcome!

  A note about the illustrations

  Something different!

  Introduction

  The Lady and Her Secret Lover

  Before

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Louisa

  Ellie

  After

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Louisa

  Ever after

  Louisa

  Ellie

  Hugh

  Louisa

  Enfin

  Preview of: The Duke and The Domina

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you!

  Romance Picture Books by Jenn LeBlanc

  About the Author

  Also by Jenn LeBlanc

  Praise

  The Duke and The Domina

  "So effing sexy—I want my own personal Warrick. We can share corsets.”

  —Tiffany Reisz, RITA-award winning author of THE SAINT.

  The Trouble With Grace

  "I did enjoy reading a story about a character on the ace spectrum. YES! All aces rejoice. It was done fairly impressive by a non-asexy. And it was a heteromantic character at that, which is extremely rare in the fiction world.

  I love this book…I’m impressed by the author's writing style and ability to suck me into the story so quickly and thoroughly. I also appreciate the respectful representation of the asexual community.”

  —Casse NaRome, author of paranormal romance and YA

  “The depth and love in this book was delicious. I wanted to watch Lulu wield those whips, I wanted to see Warrick in his corset and I want to relive this book again and again. As I read it, the book played like a movie, and I find that is one of the things that made me fall so madly in love with Lulu and Gray.”

  —Sheri : For The Love Of Bookends

  “I’ve been waiting for this hero's book for what feels like FOREVER and now he has his own story. THE DUKE AND THE DOMINA is the story of #‎Warrick, the last remaining heir to the Warrick name and he's totally not down with that. Throw in a 21st century Dominatrix who happens to have Freaky Friday'd her way there somehow and you've got one heck of a story. Step aside hymen reconstruction surgery, time traveling into a virgin Lady's body is the new fad. Just kidding.”

  —Kati : Romancing Rakes

  “Unique, beautifully written BDSM romantica…”

  —MyBrainCandy

  “Unlike anything I have read before…”

  —Amazon Reviewer

  “This author…makes a historical romance come to life with fraught emotion, darkness and the most amazing personalities in her characters…”

  —Kathryn, Amazon Reviewer

  The Duke and The Baron:

  "Intriguing. Sensual. Complicated with all those things we call love. And completely original."

  —Cathy Maxwell, New York Times bestselling author

  The Rake and The Recluse

  "The Rake and The Recluse is everything you could possibly want in a romance. Witty, sensual, and just downright fantastic."

  —Delilah Marvelle, USA Today bestselling author

  Copyright

  Copyright

  Jenn LeBlanc

  POB 29035 Denver, CO 80229

  All text, images, design and layout

  Copyright © Jenn LeBlanc

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form whatsoever except in the case of brief excerpts for critical review.

  No images may be reproduced at ANY time without the express permission of the copyright holder.

  For information contact Jenn:

  http://JennLeBlanc.com/contact

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-944567-32-3

  Print edition: 978-1-944567-34-7

  First Edition: May 7, 2019

  Front cover design by Jenn LeBlanc / Illustrated Romance

  Cover fonts used with licensing: Jellyka, IVORY

  This is a work of fiction.

  Names, characters, places and events are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be considered real.

  Any similarities between the names, characters, places and events within the novel and in the real world are entirely coincidental.

  Welcome!

 
Interested in advance notice of releases, author appearances, limited editions and special giveaways?

  Join my NEWSLETTER

  Come find me and join the conversation!

  Twitter: @JennLeBlanc

  Instagram: @JennLeBlanc

  Facebook: Facebook.com/groups/IllustratedRomanceHooligans

  Email: JennLeBlanc.com/contact

  A note about the illustrations

  THE REVIEW EDITION DOES NOT CONTAIN IMAGES DUE TO FILE SIZE RESTRICTIONS FROM REVIEW PLATFORMS.

  The illustrations are meant to be a work unto themselves.

  They aren’t meant to depict the scenes with perfect accuracy in setting, costuming or design. They’re meant to accompany the text and evoke the emotions of the scenes in the same way the words do. More of a companion than a direct visual translation.

  Certainly you will notice discrepancies between the scene and details in the images, but that’s the nature of creation, some things don’t work visually when they do work with words.

  Thank you for understanding and I hope you enjoy this illustrated version.

  Hugs n’ smooches,

  Jenn

  Something different!

  The Lords of Time series has been licensed to Crazy Maple Studio for adaptation for their app CHAPTERS INTERACTIVE STORIES.

  The Rake and The Recluse is AVAILABLE NOW in the Chapters app so look for the cover to check it out!

  The Duke and The Domina is NOW AVAILABLE on the Chapters App!

  For Amanda

  Introduction

  This book is a love letter to my readers...

  When The Duke and The Baron came out (under the title Absolute Surrender) you fell in love with Amelia, Charles, and Hugh. You also fell in love with Amelia’s ladies maid Louisa, and her love, Maitland. You asked for their story, even though you knew it was a tragedy and to be honest, I’m grateful.

  This book took five years to write, for a lot of different reasons, but the biggest one is that it’s not an easy story to tell. I’ve always known Louisa’s story. I knew what happened to her when I wrote Amelia’s story. I’ve always known how special Louisa is. But I’ve never been in the habit of intentionally telling tragedies, and that’s how I saw her story. Sure she gets her HEA so it isn’t a true tragedy— but what she has to go through to get there is and it broke my heart.

  Louisa is one of the sweetest and bravest women I’ve written. She’s very self aware, but quite sheltered in the beginning. Her path to her forever is fraught with introspection and fear. The ending in this case does not make up for the journey, but I do believe I did my best. We can call it mother’s guilt.

  Does it make the story a bit too sweet? Perhaps. I could have made it much more angsty, I hear I’m good with the angst. But I wanted something beautiful and simple for Louisa. I wanted happiness and I wanted everything taken from her to be restored under no uncertain terms.

  Sometimes I think we need a story that is unbelievably sweet so the rest can be savored. I guess this, for me, is that book.

  It’s also a farewell— for now.

  I know there are more stories in the Lords of Time Saga. I know Celeste and Calder have a few things they’d like to say to each other. And I’m sure Gray has found at least three words he’d like to share about his brother’s return. For now though, I’ll be leaving the world in peace with HEA’s all around.

  I truly hope you’ve enjoyed this trip with me and these beautiful souls who’ve graciously allowed us into their private lives, even if it was—for some— a bit begrudgingly (You know who you are— Grayson)

  It has given me an enormous amount of pride bringing these stories to life, and sharing them with the world, and hearing from you that you love these people just as much as—and possibly more than—I do.

  Hugs n’ smooches,

  Jenn

  Mere air, these words, but delicious to hear.

  Sappho

  The Lady and Her Secret Lover

  Before

  London

  1878

  All the while, believe me, I prayed our night would last twice as long.

  Sappho

  Louisa

  Louisa sailed through the crush that heralded the beginning of the season. She put on quite the show, considering it was her third, but she was well practiced. She staked out the perfect position—on the left wall as you entered, midway down, between the potted palms.

  One, so she could see everyone who entered, and two, so she could see everyone who spent entirely too much time off in the gardens. Knowledge was power in society.

  Her first season had been nerve-wracking because she’d needed a husband—or so she’d been trained to think. When she hadn’t landed a husband by the end of the season and life had continued on as it had for her first seventeen years, she’d begun to wonder what the purpose of marriage would be.

  Of course it was for the children and household management and knitting and subjugation, and etcetera, ad infinitum. Yes, she understood that facet of it. What she failed to see was…to what end? Louisa couldn’t see why spending her life as the subject of a man was reasonable, expected, and even—dare she think it? Oh…she dared— looked forward to.

  There’d been girls in her first year, and girls in her second year as well, who’d spoken volumes on love and enchantment with such desperate longing it had started to sound more like a plague than matrimony. Louisa, for her part, couldn’t look at a man and understand why—why anyone would want to spend their life tending one. Or tending to one…and his cock. And so she didn’t pursue any.

  Sure she danced, sure she was courted, but she remained aloof and let her mother believe the men were simply not interested no matter how hard she tried—and a few of them did try, more than she wanted them to. She’d had hands in places she wished to never feel hands again. Hard and calloused, soft and mushy, manicured and scratchy, none of them pleasing and one particular set quite the opposite of that. She couldn’t figure why anyone would wish for any of that. Not ever.

  Perhaps if they were delicate, gentle, searching—

  She shook it off and glanced around the ballroom for that particular man—the one who’d attempted liberties—for she refused him the moniker of “gentlemen” even if society bestowed it him. Even if society bestowed him much more than that. She didn’t see him so she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. He was probably off playing cards with her father, which was good, because she wouldn’t have to keep an eye out for him while attempting to be unattainable as well as available.

  Louisa twitched her fan open and returned to watching the room. The new set of girls would be arriving, and she wanted to scout them because most of her friends from the last season were off bearing children. She needed a new set in order to survive, a group of girls who would look out for one another making sure nobody was left behind, or gone too long from the ballroom with any one gentleman.

  Louisa knew most of the ladies who’d come out this season…at least, she knew of them. She hoped this year she might find at least one other girl who wasn’t so determined to marry that they might become friends and remain so for a bit longer than she and the girls from previous years. She’d tried to keep up with them, but once married, it was all Manage the household! Have the babies! Clean the nappies!

  Disgusting business, even if it was necessary. Though, having the babies was something she understood, for she did want children…just, maybe, some she could perhaps borrow. Some she didn’t necessarily have to keep, or clean, or birth, or—for that matter—create. She had no interest in childbearing. Child rearing, perhaps, but the one wasn’t possible without the other. Not for a woman.

  She watched a group of young ladies milling about the room, shifting from the front of the ballroom toward the gardens and knew they were a green bunch. Placing themselves near the gardens was a new girl’s mistake and their matrons weren’t paying attention. As the night went on, they would catch a chill, and their wraps would be wrapped tighter—their
wares less visible.