Naughty Pleasure

By Robecca Austin

Do you enjoy quick reads you can devour in a single sitting?
Then, Naughty Pleasure is for you!

Miss Isa Campbell grew up thinking her marriage would be a love match. One filled with passionate nights and sinful afternoons.
Until her father remarried a wealthy woman bent on raising their social station.
With two weeks of freedom, Isa intends to know passion, and is shocked when it is delivered from the most unlikely suitor!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robecca Austin
• Release date: Apr 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781999003289

Robecca Austin

Robecca Austin is an author of romance and paranormal stories. She is the founder of www.ColorfulPen.com. A member of the Hamilton Mountain Writers Guild, two of her short stories, “Cold Table” and “The Bowl” won first prize and were published in collections by the Hamilton Mountain Writers Guild. You can find her outside enjoying nature and lots of sunshine when there are no bugs. Her days are spent battling Cystic Fibrosis, hugging family and writing her next novel. She lives and works in Canada.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Sexual desire is a state not unlike hunger. ~ Mary Roach ~

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Miss Isa Campbell gripped the frame, peering out her father’s carriage window. Her knuckles ached as her fingers tightened around the leather lining when her father’s heavy creole shouts stopped the driver from departing. She liked it best when he spoke in his natural tongue and it usually occurred on four occasions. When he was in her presence, in the company of family, during bouts of anger, and on occasions he was especially determined.

Looking from her stepmother’s contriving stance as she stood at the top of the stairs, then to her father’s stiff bulk as he drew near, Isa decided he was determined.

Father? Saying any more would make what was to come easy. He had a habit of cherry-picking her words to fortify his point. She wouldn’t give either of them the pleasure.

Your mother and I—

Stepmother.

Have decided, he continued as if the difference in parental status was naught but an oversight on her part. Two weeks with Judy is sufficient.

She couldn’t help glancing in her stepmother’s direction. The woman was determined to make her unhappy. You mean it was her decision.

Nevertheless, she’s right. Can’t wed you off when you’re prancing about London.

Father, she said, trying to conjure a smile and failing. You promised and I’ve looked forward to this summer—

It wouldn’t work, pumpkin, he said, awkwardly patting her hand. You’ll return home the same time we do.

Isa’s lips thinned.

Unless. . . He rubbed his jaw. You’ve decided on one of the fellows. Any one of them lords will do.

Isa blanched.

Name one and you can have your summer.

I wouldn’t choose a single one from that lot if you promised a year, she hissed through clenched teeth. Normally she wouldn’t give a fig who heard her, but Father had the temper of a caged skunk when angered, and she couldn’t risk him forbidding the trip entirely. They are like fat pork, she said, knowing he disliked both the fruit and its name. Thick flesh wrapped in over-pink shells. Hope fluttered when his lips twitched. Too bad both grow ripe and wrinkled.

They stared at each other for a measured moment, a cloud of regret clouding his sharp brown eyes before he sighed, stepping out of reach. In that moment, he was no longer swayed by her jest. She was no longer a little girl free from responsibility.

Have your fortnight. When you return, I’ll have your answer or you’ll marry a match of my choosing.

Her heart sank when he walked away, exchanging crisp words with the driver before the carriage lurched into motion. The last sight of her father was of his back. His decision final.

Miss Isa Campbell’s heart pounded with excitement. After months of begging and pleading, and though father had unexpectedly shortened her vacation, she would spend her twentieth birthday