Fascinating and well-researched history of the notorious English rake.

For King and Country, Three Notorious Rakes Will Put All Their Seductive Skills to Work. After All, The Fate of England's Monarchy is in Their Hands. Since the death of his fiancée, Nathaniel Colton's polished boots have rested beneath the beds of countless wayward wives and widows of the ton. He's careful to leave each lady smiling, and equally careful to guard his heart. So seducing Lady Georgette should pose no problem. But the beautiful reformist is no easy conquest, and Nate's considerable charm fails to entice Georgette to his bed. To woo her, Nate will have to make her believe he cares about someone besides himself--and no one is more surprised than Nate when he realizes he actually does.

To prevent three dukes from shoving their way into the royal line, the monarchy will dangle the "ton's" most notorious rakes before the dukes' intended brides. They'll cause a scandal, then call off any plans of matrimony. But just who will have the last laugh? First in a new series. Original.

"Plenty of action and passionate, wicked adventures."—RT Book Reviews on One Night with a Rake Lady Serena's List of Forbidden Pleasures Attend an exclusively male club. Smoke a cigar. Have a fortune told by gypsies. Dance the scandalous waltz. Sir Jonah Sharp thinks Lady Serena Osbourne will be just like any other debutante, and seducing her will be one of the easiest services he's ever done for the Crown. Then he catches her wearing trousers and a mustache in his gentleman's club and she demands he teach her to smoke a cigar. But what will truly be Jonah's undoing is finding out he's an item on her list too, which makes him determined to bring her all the forbidden pleasures she can handle.

Synthesizing the histories of masculinity, manners, and radicalism, Rakes, Highwaymen, and Pirates offers a fresh perspective on the eighteenth-century aristocratic male.

Widely regarded as the greatest Romanian novel of the twentieth century, Mateiu Caragiale’s Rakes of the Old Court (Craii de Curtea-Veche) follows four characters through the bars and brothels of Bucharest. Guided by an amoral opportunist, the shadowy narrator and his two affluent friends drink and gamble their way through a city built on the ruins of crumbled castles and bygone empires. The novel’s shimmering, spectacular prose describes gripping vignettes of love, ambition, and decay. Originally published in 1929, Rakes of the Old Court is considered a jewel of Romanian modernism. Devoted “Mateists” have long read, memorized, and reenacted the novel, and after the Romanian Revolution, it became part of the high school curriculum. Now canonical, Mateiu’s work has been celebrated for its opulent literary style and enigmatic tone.

"St. Martin's Paperbacks historical romance"--Spine.