There comes a time in a womanrsquo;s life when she must do the unthinkable - and find employment. For the widowed Anna Wren, that means taking a job as female secretary for the Earl of Swartingham. Secretaries are always male - never female - as Anna well knows but the real downfall of her career is the realisation that she is falling in love with Edward de Raaf - the Earl. But when she realises that he is going to visit a brothel in London to take care of his 'manly' desires, Anna sees red - and decides to take advantage of the opportunity to also take care of her 'womanly' desires - with the Earl as her unknowing lover. But the Earl has another reason for going to London. He is formalising his betrothal and trying (with little success) to forget about a secretary that has no right being female. Unhandsome, he knows that no woman wants him. Except for the mysterious lady with whom he spent two unforgettable nights at Aphroditersquo;s Grotto, the most scandalous brothel in London. But when Annarsquo;s plan is revealed, a bit of blackmail is thrown into the mix, a proposal is rejected and even the Earl himself will be unprepared for the intrigues that ensnare them.
Elizabeth Hoyt is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of historical romance, including reader favorite, The Raven Prince.
Elizabeth was born in New Orleans but grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has a BA in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Elizabeth married relatively young and produced two children who kept her busy until her mid-thirties. At about this time, when her youngest was entering Kindergarten, Elizabeth's mother hinted that perhaps Elizabeth should get a Real Job.
Sadly, Elizabeth was so delusional she thought writing a romance novel might qualify as a Real Job.
But! Five years later, to everyone's surprise, she actually sold that romance novel (The Raven Prince) and began a rather successful career as a Romance Novelist. This was most fortunate since Elizabeth is singularly unqualified to do anything else but Make Up Stories.
Since then Elizabeth has written eleven books to critical acclaim: The Prince Trilogy (The Raven Prince, The Leopard Prince, and The Serpent Prince); the Legend of the Four Soldiers series (To Taste Temptation, To Seduce a Sinner, To Beguile a Beast, and To Desire a Devil); and the Maiden Lane series (Wicked Intentions, Notorious Pleasures, and the upcoming Scandalous Desires.) All of Elizabeth's books are set in eighteenth century England and all feature a fairy tale story that serves as a foil to the main story.
Elizabeth's books have finaled four times in Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA award contest, have won two Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Awards, and were nominated for a third. All of her books have received Top Pick reviews from Romantic Times BookReviews magazine. Wicked Intentions, Notorious Pleasures and Scandalous Desires received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly. Four of her books were voted into All About Romance's (AAR's) Top 100 Romances of All Time list and six were Desert Isle Keepers at AAR. Elizabeth's books have been translated into thirteen languages.
Elizabeth lives in central Illinois with a bevy of untrained canines and a garden in constant need of weeding. Please visit her website, ElizabethHoyt.com, for contests, book excerpts, news, and Sidetracked Research Articles.
