Seducing the Rake (Mad, Bad and Dangerous Heroes) (60 page)

Chessy’s head slanted back. “Why?”

“So I can kiss you, of course. And so that we can begin our
practicing.”

Chessy offered him her most alluring smile. Her dress slid slowly from her shoulder. “My dear forever friend,” she said huskily. “I thought you would never ask.”

Dear Reader:

I hope you have enjoyed
Seducing the Rake
, which was originally published by Dell as
East of Forever.
(I also hope that Tony will stop bothering me now that I’ve given him his own story!)

I confess that it has been an unadulterated delight to bring you this headstrong but vulnerable pair of lovers.

As with my other books,
Seducing the Rake
is based upon historical fact. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the British resolved to send a delegation to the Chinese emperor with the aim to negotiate free trade and an opening of more northern ports to British ships. The leader of the delegation, Lord Amherst, was the former governor of India.

The Chinese emperor, Chia-ch’ing, was singularly uninterested, however. China needed nothing that England had to offer. English woolens and manufactured goods were considered of no importance to the Celestial Kingdom, which had centuries of skill producing finest silks.

Upon his arrival in China, Lord Amherst made it clear that he refused to perform the correct Chinese ritual of respect to the emperor. Called the
kowtow,
this involved three kneelings and nine complete prostrations during which the head was knocked against the floor. As a result, Amherst was denied an audience with the emperor and sent on his way back to England.

The Amherst mission (like an earlier mission in 1793, which cost the English government a staggering seventy-eight thousand pounds) was a complete and very expensive failure. Other attempts at diplomacy also failed to convince the Chinese that they should welcome permanent diplomats or open their ports to trade. As an earlier Chinese emperor had written, “We possess all things. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufactures.” (Immanuel Hsu.
The Rise of Modem China.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1970, p. 206.)

Of course, all of this was soon to change. As the eighteenth century ended, the amount of opium smuggled from India to China rose dramatically. Between 1817 and 1834, smuggled opium amounted to three-quarters of Britain’s total China trade. There, too, hangs a tale, but that one will have to wait for a future book.

Suffice it to say that when the Amherst mission failed, diplomatic contact between England and China nearly ceased. The British soon adopted harsher measures. Military strength and gunboat diplomacy became the rule. Tony Morland was correct in seeing the importance of resolving the problem peaceably as soon as possible.

Of course, I like to believe that English attempts at diplomacy failed because the secret societies finally managed to find Chessy’s pillow book and then used it in their
own
negotiations with the emperor. If so, we will never know. What respectable historian—Chinese or British—would have recorded such a development?

After Waterloo, Wellington continued to occupy an important position in the British government. Unfortunately, his personal life was marked by unhappiness. An austere man with an abrupt manner, he completely overshadowed his timid, retiring wife. He had little tolerance for indecision or error and he began to regret his marriage almost immediately. As he remarked to his longtime confidante Mrs. Arbuthnot, “In short, I was a fool.” Divorce was out of the question, however.

The two lived separately until his wife’s death in 1831.

Puffer, or blowfish, which figured in Tony’s attack, contains one of the most toxic poisons known to man. Known as tetrodotoxin, it is twenty-five times more potent than curare. Every year a small number of diners die from eating improperly prepared
fugu,
as this delicacy is known in Japan. As one Japanese poet put it, “Last night he and I ate
fugu
together; today I carry his coffin.”

Yet the fascination with the fish continues. Although avidly sought after by gourmets,
fugu
should never be consumed except in restaurants where trained chefs are licensed to prepare it. (And even then, I suspect, only after some careful consideration…)

The warrior-monks of Shao-lin have been famous in China for centuries. Legend has it that the martial arts were originated by no less than the Buddhist patriarch Bodhidharma
(a.d.
448-527), the founder of Ch’an Buddhism. Over the centuries the Shao-lin Temple in China’s Henan Province has been built and destroyed many times. In the late eighteenth century the Manchu rulers of China finally ordered the building razed, since they believed it was a source of plots to overthrow the government. (They were right; it was.)

But monks continued to train and practice in secrecy, and today many famous schools of martial arts trace their parentage back to Shao-lin. For an interesting account of a Western student of martial arts who has developed his own principles of training and awareness, readers might enjoy
Cheng Hsin: The Principles of Effortless Power,
by Peter Ralston (Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1989).

Last, but certainly not least, literacy continues to be an issue of serious concern today. A recent U.S. study revealed, for example, that 80 percent of sampled adults could not read a bus schedule, 63 percent couldn’t follow written map instructions, and 73 percent could not understand a newspaper story. It is estimated that 15 million adults holding jobs in the U.S. today are functionally illiterate, while nearly 40 percent of U.S. 4th graders do not reach basic reading proficiency.

For more information about the national literacy programs, visit
rif.org
. Reading is Fundamental offers key educational tools and reading content, along with links to local literacy programs across the country. Find out how you can help.

Finally, I want to thank all of you who have sent such enthusiastic and inspiring letters about my historicals, Draycott Abbey and Summer Island series books
.
I am glad my stories have brightened a rainy day or helped you hyperventilate through a midnight hour or two. If you would like to receive a signed book plate and my current newsletter with information about past characters, upcoming books, and odd research tidbits, please visit my website at
http://christinaskye.com/
and sign up for mailings.

I would love to hear from you.

In the meantime, I am revising more of my early books. What a joy it is to meet old friends again!

Stay tuned.

With warmest regards,

Christina Skye is the
New York Times
bestselling author of thirty-three books. She is
a pushover
for Harris tweed, Scottish cashmere, Chinese dumplings, French macarons and dark chocolate. 

Not necessarily in that order.

A classically trained China scholar with over two million books in print, she has appeared on national television programs including
ABC Worldwide News, Travel News Network
, the
Arthur Frommer
show,
Geraldo, Voice of America, Looking East
, and
Good Morning, Arizona
.

Christina loves being a writer and savors quirky historical research. Most of her first drafts are written by hand, while her white Siamese helps with the “editing.” While she writes, she usually has her knitting right beside her. But don’t expect speed. “The sheer pleasure of colors and texture running through my fingers helps me concentrate on the mystery of my characters taking shape before my eyes. Researching a period draws me into a sense of place, and then knitting pulls me to a quiet place where a story can unfold at its deepest level. It’s my best writing tool.”

Visit her online at
http://christinaskye.com/
for a glimpse into new books, strange research tidbits, great recipes and some of her all-time favorite knitting patterns.

~ ~ ~

If you enjoyed this work, please leave a review to help other readers decide if it’s a story they too would like to read. A couple of sentences are all you need to write. Thank you!

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Ebooks by Christina Skye available now or coming soon to Amazon (from Steel Magnolia Press)

Regency Romances

Come the Night
, Book 1 of The Dangerous Delameres

Come the Dawn
, Book 2 of The Dangerous Delameres

Defiant Captive

Tempting the Pirate (original title: The Black Rose)

Seducing the Rake
(original title: East of Forever)

Victorian Romance

The Ruby

Paranormal Romances
(Draycott Abbey Series)

Hour of the Rose

Bride of the Mist

Key to Forever

The Perfect Gift

Fallen

Christmas at Draycott Abbey

 
Find all of Christina’s books at Amazon.

Contents

 PART ONE