Hey Everyone!
I'd like to welcome author Jenna Jaxon to League of Rogues where she is going to discuss Covent Garden Ladies!
Take it away Jenna!
As I’ve said repeatedly on this tour and before, the 18th
century was a wild and wicked time.
While researching Only Scandal Will Do I ran across
numerous scandals and scandalous practices that people thought nothing of. There were few regulations as to what could
be done or circulated. Therefore, many
types of lewd materials made their way into print, from scandal sheets, to
erotic books, to Harris’s List.
The last item I found fascinating. Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies or A
Man of Pleasure’s Kalendar was a directory of working prostitutes published
at Christmas by Samuel Derrick, whose pen name for the publication was Jack
Harris. The directory listed names and
addresses of “working girls,” a description of physical appearance of the woman
(including the size of her breasts), the special services they performed and
the charges (ranging from 5 shillings to 5 pounds) a gentleman could expect to
pay for said services.
An excerpt from the 1788 directory notes a “Miss
Johnson: The raven colored tresses of
Miss J-ns-n are pleasing, and are characteristic of strength and ability in the
wars of Venus. Indeed, this fair one is not afraid of work, but will undergo a
great deal of labour in the action; she sings, dances, will drink a cheerful
glass, and is a good companion. She has such a noble elasticity in her loins
that she can cast her lover to a pleasing height, and receive him again with
the utmost dexterity. Her price is one pound, one, and for her person and
amorous qualifications, she is well worth the money.”
In some entries, Harris describes the women using nautical
terminology: “many a man of war hath been her willing prisoner, and paid
a proper ransom…she is so brave, that she is ever ready for an engagement,
cares not how soon she comes to close quarters, and loves to fight yard arm and
yard arm, and be briskly boarded.”
Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies was published
each year between 1757 and 1795 and sold over a quarter of a million copies
during that time.
I mentioned Harris’s List in passing only in Only
Scandal Will Do, but thought it would give a bit of period color to the
book and a passing salute from my hero Duncan, who, as a rake, may have been
rather familiar with that list. J
A wild era indeed.
If you thought this was interesting, check out Jenna's sexy historical Only Scandal Will Do.
Blurb:
He has the woman of his dreams, but what price will he
have to pay to win her heart?
Kidnapped and sold at auction in a London brothel, Lady
Katarina Fitzwilliam squelches an undeniable attraction to the masked stranger
who purchased her, pits her wits against him, and escapes him and the scandal
that would ruin her life.
Unable to resist temptation in a London brothel, Duncan
Ferrers, Marquess of Dalbury, purchases a fiery beauty. She claims she's a
lady, but how can she be? No lady of his acquaintance in polite society is
anything like her. Then he discovers she is who she says, and that this latest
romp has compromised her reputation. He knows how that is. One more scandal and
he'll be cast out of London society, but he needs a wife who'll provide an heir
to carry on his illustrious family's name. He seeks out Katarina, intending
only to scotch the scandal, but instead finds his heart ensnared. He's betting
their future he'll capture her heart, but does he have what it
takes to win the wager?
WARNING: A blade-wielding heroine who crosses swords with
a master of sensuality.
Excerpt:
His touch, like
fine silk drawn over her skin, sent a pang of longing through her. Could she
permit someone else to be strong for her, just this once? He understood the
fears she faced tonight and sought to vanquish them, as any knight errant would
seek to make amends. He continued to stroke her cheek, her jaw, her chin, his
touch feather light. A powerful, unreasoning desire assaulted her to feel his
strong arms around her, sheltering her from the harsh world. She was hardly
surprised, then, to find him gathering her against his broad chest.
“Lean your head
just there, sweet.”
She could hear the
strong beat of his heart, smell the clean, comforting citrus of his cologne.
The fresh scent reminded her of home.
“You will be all
right now,” he whispered, holding her securely to him. Safe at last. She closed
her eyes and leaned into his caresses, contentment stealing through her for the
first time since leaving Virginia.
With a finger
beneath her chin, he lifted her face up to his. Her eyes flew open and peace
fled as he pressed her mouth with a gentle kiss that stole what breath she had
left. His lips--soft, warm, insistent--generated heat all the way to her toes.
A sensation so overpowering she forgot everything around her, giving herself completely
to the pleasures of that kiss.
Somehow his tongue
slipped through her quivering lips, stroked her tongue, and caressed the depths
of her mouth. She groaned, her face aflame at this unexpected intimacy. No man
had ever kissed her this way, plundering where he would and denying her the
will to protest. Raw power leaped from his mouth, streaked through her body,
inflamed her craving even more.
Every magnificent
swirl of his tongue resonated, not only in her mouth but in the deep, private
places of her body as well. She moaned into his mouth, the low, guttural sound
rising from some unknown reservoir of need. Pressing against him, she slid her
hands up the steely hard muscles of his back evident even through his cloak and
clothes.
All she wanted was
his hands on her, his tongue in her. Of its own accord, her tongue thrust into
him, bringing a growl of approval that encouraged her to frenzied explorations
of his warm, wet mouth. He slipped a hand down and rested it on the swell of
her breast, impudently nudging a finger inside the gown’s low decolletage and
brushing it against her aching nipple.
Blue fire shot
directly from his finger through her breast, causing Kat to gasp and arch
against him. With a chuckle the man released her lips, but before she could protest,
lowered his head and seized her nipple through the sheer white cloth. The gauzy
fabric might as well not be there, for she could feel every lash of his
circling tongue. The crest contracted into a small, tight bud. Another streak
of fire leaped straight to the vulnerable core between her thighs. An
unexpected bloom of heat raced through her and she moaned louder.
About the Author Jenna Jaxon:
Jenna Jaxon is a multi-published author of
historical and contemporary romance. Her historical romance, Only Scandal Will Do, the first in a series
of five interconnecting novels, was released in July 2012. Her contemporary
works include Hog Wild, Almost Perfect, and 7 Days of
Seduction. She is a PAN member of
Romance Writers of America as well as a member of Chesapeake Romance Writers.
Her medieval romance, Time Enough to Love, is being published this year
as a series of three novellas. The first
book, Betrothal, released on April 19th.
Jenna has been
reading and writing historical romance since she was a teenager. A
romantic herself, she has always loved a dark side to the genre, a twist,
suspense, a surprise. She tries to incorporate all of these elements into
her own stories. She lives in Virginia with her family and a small menagerie of
pets. When not reading or writing, she indulges her passion for the
theatre, working with local theatres as a director. She often feels she
is directing her characters on their own private stage.
She has
equated her writing to an addiction to chocolate because once she
starts she just can’t stop.
.jpg)