#excerpt A Courtesan’s Worth
A Courtesan’s Worth by Felicity George
A Courtesan’s Worth
A mistress cannot marry for love…
As one of the famous Preece sisters, Kitty is the most sought-after courtesan in London. But with the vicious Duke of Gillingham scaring away any man who looks her way, securing a new arrangement with a wealthy gentleman will be no easy feat. Kitty’s only hope to find someone suitable is through her loyal and cherished friend, the Reverend Sidney Wakefield.
Sidney has devoted his life to the church, but it was never by choice. He is a writer and Kitty his muse. As he is roped into Kitty’s plotting, he begins to realise that protecting her from the malevolent Duke comes at a price – and it might mean losing Kitty to someone else entirely.
As Kitty and Sidney try to find a way out, it becomes clear that years of friendship have developed into something deeper. Except that they are from different worlds and Kitty’s heart has never been hers to give away…
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EXCERPT
- No More ‘Guilty Pleasures’: Learning Live the Romance
‘Babe,’ I said to my husband one lazy Sunday afternoon nearly two years ago, as we lay side-by-side while an autumn breeze rustled the scarlet maple leaves outside our bedroom window. ‘Would you attend a Regency ball with me?’
Without looking up from his iPad game, he replied: ‘Let’s do it.’
Now, for those already entrenched in the world of Regency Romance, this might not have been a stressful conversation to have with a partner, but for me, it felt like a risk. In my pre-Covid pandemic life, I’d had ‘guilty pleasures’ which I was too embarrassed to tell anyone about. One such secret shame was my obsession with the fashion and history of the Georgian era; a second was my love of romance novels set in the eighteenth century and the Regency; and a third was my deep, dark desire to write my own novel.
Admitting our ‘guilty’ pleasures, even to those we trust most, can feel overwhelmingly daunting. It’s laying our deepest darkest secrets bare on the table and hoping not to be laughed at!
‘Er, you realise you’ll, um, have to wear clothes like Mr Darcy, don’t you?’ My cheeks warmed as I asked. My crush on Colin Firth’s wet shirt was even older than my relationship with my husband.
That made him look up from his iPad game. ‘As long as you like it, sweetie.’ I think he threw in an eyebrow waggle, which no doubt turned my face as red as the maple leaves.
I would like it very much indeed, although one year earlier, I would’ve been too ashamed to admit it, even to him. But the pandemic had changed me; during lockdown, I had begun to try my hand at that longed-for dream of writing a historical romance. As part of my research, I connected, via Twitter, with Georgian-era historians, and I discovered a world I didn’t know existed: historical re-enacting. Then, when the world opened up again in the autumn of 2021, an online re-enacting friend sent an invitation: ‘Your Company is requeſted at a Maſquerade Dinner’ …
My husband donned a redcoat and tight breeches (more Col Brandon than Mr Darcy, to tell the truth), and I wore a high-waisted silk gown. Together with our new friends, we raised a glass to the health of His Majesty King George III in a nineteenth-century hall, and after my gentlemanly husband pushed in my chair (a thing he rarely does dressed in a t-shirt and jeans), I enjoyed companions who discussed the War of 1812, the Battle of Waterloo, and the proper construction of Regency stays with as much ease as others discuss the weather.
My husband only knows who fought who at Waterloo because of the 1990s’ ABBA revival, but he listened to the dinner conversation with a sparkle in his brown eyes.
‘Are you enjoying this?’ I asked him near the end of the meal, over pear tarts and cheese.
‘Very much so,’ he said, grinning. ‘Because you are.’
And I was. I was enjoying it differently from how I enjoyed our more typical date adventures, like hikes or going to the theatre. Dressing up in a Regency gown and dining at a candlelit linen-covered table tapped into something creative, imaginative, dream-like, magical.
I smiled at my husband, my heart filling my chest. ‘You look hot, by the way.’ (And I wasn’t referring to the shimmer of moisture on his forehead, the result of a wool coat and a couple glasses of red wine.)
He winked. ‘Tell me more about how Regency corsets differ from eighteenth century ones, won’t you?’
Since that first re-enacting event, I have enjoyed many others, both here in Canada and in the UK. Re-enacting allows me to experience a combination of creativity, drama, and history which feeds my imagination as a historical romance writer, but what it’s done for my marriage has been an unexpected bonus. My husband has learned enough about my favourite historical era to understand when I explain research for my novels, and we have fantastic memories to relive and new events to plan for rather than always discussing taxes or house repairs.
And as for those ‘guilty pleasures’ I used to hide? Not only does my husband know all about them, but my debut Regency romance, A Lady’s Risk, was published last September, and the second in the five-part series, A Courtesan’s Worth, releases in July 2023!
Confess your dreams – whatever they may be – to those you love, so that they can help you catch them.
Then live the romance.
Author Bio –
Felicity George is a writer and teacher from Toronto, where she lives with her husband, her two teenage children, a large cat, and a tiny dog. A lifelong devotee of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, Felicity adores a happily-ever-after. A Courtesan’s Worth is book two in the Gentlemen of London series.
Social Media Links –
On Twitter: Felicity George https://twitter.com/ElizabethWelke
On Facebook: Felicity George, Author https://www.facebook.com/FelicityGeorgeRegencyRomance
