EIGHT SISTERS, EIGHT SCANDALOUSLY SEDUCTIVE STORIES
Scandal on the night of the world-famous one hundredth Balfour Charity Ball has left the Balfour family in disarray! Proud patriarch Oscar Balfour knows that something must be done. His only option is to cut his daughters off from their lavish lifestyles and send them out into the real world to stand on their own two feet. So he dusts off the Balfour family rules and uses his powerful contacts to place each girl in a situation that will challenge her particular personality. He is determined that each of his daughters should learn that money will not buy happinessâintegrity, decorum, strength, trustâ¦and love are everything!
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MIAâS SCANDAL â Michelle Reid
KATâS PRIDE â Sharon Kendrick
EMILYâS INNOCENCE â India Grey
SOPHIEâS SEDUCTION â Kim Lawrence
ZOEâS LESSON â Kate Hewitt
ANNIEâS SECRET â Carole Mortimer
BELLAâS DISGRACE â Sarah Morgan
OLIVIAâS AWAKENING â Margaret Way
âCALL me when you grow up!â
As Emily ducked beneath the ghostly, blossom-shrouded trees and emerged onto the twilit lawn his voice followed her: mocking, amused and, with its faintly exotic accent, horribly sexy.
She quickened her pace, thinking only of putting as much distance as possible between herself and the man in the shadows. Head bent, oblivious to the curious stares of the guests scattered across the velvet lawns of Balfour Manor, she hurried towards the house, pressing her teeth down into a lip that still tingled and throbbed from where he had kissed her.
The 99>th Balfour Charity Ball was in full swing and the sound of laughter, conversation and clinking glasses drifted above the music coming from the marquee. Ahead of her the majestic house shimmered with light from every window, its honey-coloured stone glowing in the dusk like old gold. Behind her the darkness of the garden pressed at her back, spreading goose bumps over her skin. Her heart was beating so hard she could feel it all through her body, a rapid, throbbing pulse that intensified as she ran lightly up the shallow stone steps to the house.
He had ruined everything.
Sheâd looked forward to this party for so longâall those years at boarding school, when sheâd been reduced to picking over the edited details of the annual Balfour Ball in celebrity magazines and piecing together snatches of gossip from her older sisters. This year, with ballet school all but finished, her time had finally come.
She blinked as she stepped into the brightness of the hallway. Heading straight for the stairs she gathered up the long skirt of her dress, trying not to think of the excitement with which sheâd put it on only a couple of hours earlier. She had felt so grown up and sophisticatedâ¦
Until the moment those knowing, gold-flecked eyes had wandered lazily over her, and then she had felt something different altogether.
Reaching her bedroom she slammed the door and leaned against it for a moment, breathing hard. The room was filled with violet shadows which blurred the edges of everything, making the familiar objects seem suddenly strange and unrecognizable. She didnât turn on the light though. Instead she found herself drawn towards the window.
Spread out before her the garden glittered with tiny lights. It was like a picture from a childâs storybookâan enchanted kingdom, the butterfly ball. And thatâs what sheâd wanted, she thought with a sob, leaning her burning forehead against the pane. Sheâd wanted it to be like a fairy tale, with the handsome prince just waiting to fall in love with her.
Her eyes were drawn beyond the delicate strings of fairy lights and the glittering crystal chandeliers that stood on the tables across the lawn; deeper, into the darkness itself, where inky shadows moved beneath the trees.