Helen Banks is going to die. When her twin brother
gambles away their fortune, she must save his life and take his place in a duel
to satisfy the honor of a man her brother couldn’t pay. Disguised as her
brother, Helen faces the one man she’s admired from afar, a widower with a dark
past and eyes that scorch her very soul.

Since Gareth Fairfax lost his wife, the darkness in his
heart continues to grow. Lashing out at anyone who opposes him, Gareth is
stunned to face a lovely young woman opposite his dueling pistol. After
discovering Helen’s deception, he offers her a choice: become his mistress or
her brother dies.

Their devil’s bargain turns into a slow, sweet, intoxicating seduction.
With each passing hour, Helen uncovers Gareth’s secret heartbreak and yet she
can’t help but fall for the man who has ruined her. With Helen in his arms,
Gareth wonders if he might yet be saved. All it takes is one passionate
embrace, a kiss from the depths of his soul and a night of wild abandon.

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The predawn sky shone brightly with flickering stars as
Helen Banks readied herself for the duel. Her hair was coiled and pinned
tightly against her head, concealing its thick mass and giving her a boyish
look—a disguise she prayed would last. Checking the black mask covering her
face, she resumed walking. She took a deep, steadying breath as she adjusted
her breeches and the black coat she’d pinched from her brother’s wardrobe.

The open field near the spa city of Bath was quiet. Two
coaches waited in the distance along the roadside, and ahead of her, two men
waited, watching her approach.  Not even a breeze dared rustle the
knee-high grass as Helen walked up to her enemy and his second. Both men also
wore masks to conceal their identities should someone witness the illegal duel.
The paling skies played with the retreating shadows of night, lending a
melancholy air to the moment she stopped inches from the men.

“You are late, Mr. Banks,” the taller of the two men
announced coldly.

With his broad shoulders and muscular body, Gareth
Fairfax cut an imposing figure. He seemed perpetually tense, as though ready to
strike out at anyone who might offend him. Dark hair framed his chiseled
features, and the eyes that glowered from between the spaces of his mask were a
fathomless blue. They were the sort of eyes a woman lost herself in, like
gazing into a dark pool of water that seemed to sink endlessly, drawing her in
until she can’t find her way back to the surface. She recognized the sensual,
full lips, now thinned by anger, and the gleam of his eyes on her. She was
never more thankful that the early morning’s pale light did not expose her as
being a woman.

Helen hated knowing that even now, faced with possible
death at his hands, she still desired him. Having seen him from afar over the
past few months, she’d been enchanted. Gareth—for that was the way she’d dreamt
about him, not as Mr. Fairfax—had a way about him, an animal magnetism that
drew her in, with his smoky gaze and relaxed movements. Sin personified—she’d
once heard a woman describe him thus at a dance and it was true. Even angels
would be tempted to stray to hell for one glance, one lingering, seductive look.
He smiled so rarely, she’d glimpsed it but twice in the months she’d seen him.
Both times it had fairly knocked her off her feet with the sheer force of its
power.

He’d never noticed her at the social engagements. She had
stood close to the wall, quiet and lost in dreams as she watched him through
her heavy lashes. Foolish, too, she knew, to look at him and feel such hunger
for the things his brooding demeanor promised. He had passed her by on numerous
occasions, but his head never turned and his eyes never alighted on her. Even
now, as she stood before him, ready to die at his hands, she knew he thought
her to be her twin brother, Martin.

If he ever discovered she was a woman, he would be
appalled and furious. Especially given that she was only dueling him to save
her brother’s life.

She briefly studied her opponent’s second. He was just as
tall, his features nearly as striking as Gareth’s.

Helen choked down a shaky breath. “I was waylaid.” She
prayed her voice sounded gruff and masculine.

Gareth’s eyes were dark orbs, burning with thinly
controlled anger. He shifted restlessly on his feet, his imposing form
momentarily revealed by the dark blue coat that contoured to his shape.

“Is this your second?” His growl sent shivers down her
spine as his glaze flicked to the squat man in his mid-thirties standing behind
her. She glanced over her shoulder, widening her eyes in silent encouragement
for her second to come closer.

“I am,” Mr. Rodney Bennett replied and bowed.

“Mr. Banks, I am Mr. Ambrose Worthing,” Gareth’s second
announced politely.

Well, finally someone was acting like a gentleman. “Mr.
Worthing,” Helen said, making sure to keep her voice low. “Allow me to
introduce my second, Mr. Rodney Bennett.”

Bennett passed by Helen, and he and Worthing shook hands.
Bennett offered the pistols to Worthing for inspection. Since Gareth and
Worthing had not brought the weapons, that duty fell to her as the challenged
party. As the two men drew apart from her and Gareth, she tried not to stare at
him. He was impossibly handsome, in that dark, mysterious sort of way that a
woman simply couldn’t ignore. Like gazing upon a visage of an angry god, all
fire and might, ready to burn her to ash with passion.

Her opponent glowered at her. “I suppose I should trust
that you’ve not tampered with my pistol?”

His icy tone made her bristle with indignation. “You have
my word it shoots fair,” Helen snapped. The nerve of the man to accuse her of
cheating!

“Your word? We would not be here if I could trust your
word. A man who does not honor his debts may not find it necessary to honor the
rules of a duel,” Gareth retorted.

She wanted to scream. Her fists clenched at her sides. Her nails dug painfully
into her palms as she struggled to calm down. She wanted to throttle her
brother, whose rash and inconsiderate behavior had gotten her into this mess.

Lauren Smith is an attorney by day, author by night, who
pens adventurous and edgy romance stories by the light of her smart phone
flashlight app. She’s a native Oklahoman who lives with her three pets: a
feisty chinchilla, sophisticated cat and dapper little schnauzer. She’s won
multiple awards in several romance subgenres including being an Amazon.com
Breakthrough Novel Award Quarter-Finalist and a Semi-Finalist for the Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley Award. Lauren loves hearing from readers and can be reached
through her website www.laurensmithbooks.com.

For more information about Lauren and her books please
visit her website, her blog, Facebook Author Page, Facebook Friend Page, Twitter,
Google+, Amazon and Goodreads. Or email Lauren on ldsmith1818@gmail.com, sign up for her
newsletter and join Lauren’s Street Team.

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