Emily and the Dark Angel

Table of Contents
 
 
Praise for the Novels of Jo Beverley
Emily and the Dark Angel
 
RITA Award, Best Regency
Romantic Times Award, Best Regency Rake
Named as one of
Romantic Times
’s Best Romances of the Past 20 Years
 
“This marvelous love story has all the makings of a long-standing classic.”
—Romantic Times
 
A Lady’s Secret
 
“With wit and humor, Jo Beverley provides a wonderful eighteenth-century romance starring two amiable lead characters whose first encounter is one of the best in recent memory. The tale is filled with nonstop action.”
—The Best Reviews
 
Lady Beware
 
“Jo Beverley carries off a remarkable achievement in
Lady Beware
, the latest and possibly last in her Company of Rogues novels. . . . It is the unusual combination of familial comfort and risqué pleasure that makes this book a winner. . . . No doubt about it,
Lady Beware
is yet another jewel in Beverley’s heavily decorated crown.”
—The Romance Reader
 
“[E]nchanting . . . a delightful blend of wit (with banter between Thea and Darien), intrigue (as evil lurks throughout), and emotional victories (as love prevails in the end). . . . Watching Thea and Darien spar is entertaining, and watching them succumb to the simmering love and passion is satisfying.”
—The Columbia State
(SC)
 
To Rescue a Rogue
 
“Lighthearted and serious, sexy and sweet, this exquisitely rendered story is a perfect finale to this classic series.”
—Library Journal
 
“Beverley brings the Regency period to life in this highly romantic story [with] vividly portrayed characters. [Readers] will be engrossed by this emotionally packed story of great love, tremendous courage, and the return of those attractive and dangerous men known as the Rogues. Her Company of Rogues series is well crafted, delicious, and wickedly captivating.”
—Joan Hammond
 
“With her usual beautifully nuanced characters and lyrical writing, RITA Award winner Beverley brings her popular Company of Rogues Regency historical series to a triumphant conclusion . . . [a] quietly powerful romance.”

Booklist
 
The Rogue’s Return
 
“Beverley beautifully blends complex characters, an exquisitely sensual love story, and a refreshingly different Regency setting into one sublime romance.”
—Booklist
 
“Jo Beverley has written an excellent character study. One of the best books I’ve read this season.”
—Affaire de Coeur
 
A Most Unsuitable Man
 
“Picking up exactly where
Winter Fire
leaves off, Beverley turns a rejected ‘other woman’ into a fiery, outspoken, sympathetic heroine; pairs her with a dashing but penniless, scandal-ridden hero; and lets the fun—and the danger—begin. Once again readers are treated to a delightful, intricately plotted, and sexy romp set in the slightly bawdy Georgian world of Beverley’s beloved Malloren Chronicles.”
—Library Journal
 
“Beverley brings back some of the characters from
Winter Fire
as she takes her readers into the dangerous, intriguing, and opulent world of Georgian England. Her strong characters and finely honed dialogue, combined with a captivating love story, are a pleasure to read.”
—Romantic Times
 
“I found myself enjoying every minute of the relationship in this story of love, hope, and increments of witty humor. As usual, a Malloren novel is a keeper.”
—Rendezvous
 
“Expertly laced with danger and skillfully sweetened with sensuality,
A Most Unsuitable Man
is a most captivating romance.”
—Booklist
 
More Praise for Other Novels of
New York Times
Bestselling Author Jo Beverley
 
“A delightful, intricately plotted, and sexy romp.”
—Library Journal
 
“A well-crafted story and an ultimately very satisfying romance.”
—The Romance Reader
 
“Jo [Beverley] has truly brought to life a fascinating, glittering, and sometimes dangerous world.”
—Mary Jo Putney
 
“Another triumph.”
—Affaire de Coeur
 
“Wickedly delicious. Jo Beverley weaves a spell of sensual delight with her usual grace and flair.”
—Teresa Medeiros
 
“Delightful . . . thrilling . . . with a generous touch of magic . . . an enchanting read.”
—Booklist
 
“A stunning medieval romance of loss and redemption . . . sizzling.”
—Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
 
“A fast-paced adventure with strong, vividly portrayed characters . . . wickedly, wonderfully sensual and gloriously romantic.”
—Mary Balogh
 
“Deliciously sinful . . . Beverley evokes with devastating precision the decadent splendor of the English country estate in all its hellish debauchery . . . a crafty tale of sensuality and suspense.”
—BookPage
Also by Jo Beverley Available from New American Library
REGENCY THE ROGUE’S WORLD
Lady Beware
To Rescue a Rogue
The Rogue’s Return
Skylark
St. Raven
Hazard
“The Demon’s Mistress” in
In Praise of Younger Men
The Devil’s Heiress
The Dragon’s Bride
Three Heroes
(Omnibus Edition)
 
OTHER
Forbidden Magic
Lovers and Ladies
(Omnibus Edition)
 
THE MALLOREN WORLD
The Secret Wedding
A Lady’s Secret
A Most Unsuitable Man
Winter Fire
Devilish
Secrets of the Night
Something Wicked
My Lady Notorious
 
MEDIEVAL ROMANCES
Lord of Midnight
Dark Champion
Lord of My Heart
 
ANTHOLOGIES
“The Dragon and the Virgin Princess” in
Dragon Lovers
“The Trouble with Heroes” in
Irresistible Forces
SIGNET ECLIPSE
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England
 
Published by Signet Eclipse, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Previously published in a Walker edition. Published by arrangement with the author.
 
First Signet Eclipse Printing, October 2010
 
Copyright © Jo Beverley, 1991
Excerpt from
Forbidden Magic
copyright © Jo Beverley Publications, Inc., 1998
All rights reserved
 
SIGNET ECLIPSE and logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
eISBN : 978-1-101-46447-2
 
 
 
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PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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My sister and my nephew helped significantly
with the research for this book.
 
Thank you, Eileen and William.
1
E
MILY GRANTWICH flicked through the pages of her leather-bound record book. “It’s such an opportunity, Jonas.”
“That it is, Miss Emily. Old Griswold’s sheep be a rare flock. We won’t see its like up for sale again in a hurry. It likely won’t come up for auction for a week or two, but I know he’ll sell straight out if the price is right ...”
“There must be others interested,” Emily demurred.
“Aye. It’s the talk of the Beast Cross. But it’s not easy to lay hand on a few hundred just like that, I reckon.”
“I suspect it’s not so much the price, Jonas, as the land. With the war driving crop prices up, every scrap of land is under use. Ours as well as everyone else’s.”
Emily and her farm manager, Jonas Claythwait, had finished their day’s buying and selling and had moved a little way from the market square of Melton Mowbray. But there was no getting away from the animals that crowded the center of the town; the air was redolent of the farm, and lowing and bleating was the background music. Emily accepted it as naturally as most young ladies accepted perfume and dance melodies.
“We could always put ’em on High Burton,” said Jonas, scratching his nose thoughtfully.
“Hah!” was Emily’s comment. “I’ve no mind to chance anything until we know who old Casper’s heir is and what he’ll do about the property.”
“It’s a right shame to have that good land standing idle,” said Jonas, his rugged, weather-beaten face showing only innocence. “I hear the old man left everything to his nephew—some London dandy. He’d never know.”

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