The Acquisition
by Louisa Trent

New Bedford, Massachusetts. The year 1844.

When brothels and taverns lined the seaport's cobblestone streets, and brawny seamen and bawdy wenches routinely transacted business between the bed linens before the start of lengthy whaling voyages, an honorable gentleman of indeterminate background lusts after a female servant of questionable repute.

Captain Joshua Kane made his fortune on the high seas, working his way up from cabin boy to wealthy ship-owner. Along the way, he developed a gentleman's refined taste for the accumulation of exotic artifacts from far-off places. He's recently added a new object to his valuable collection of fine treasures, a fiery redheaded whore-thief from the wharves. Henrietta Clark is easily Josh's most beautiful possession, and also his most frustrating acquisition, for though the lusty conniver agrees to trade her wanton body to escape a locked jail cell, she stubbornly refuses to barter the key to her heart.

. . . because sex is sometimes negotiable, but love can never be bought or sold . . .

Louisa Trent's Bio

Louisa Trent is happiest writing and so she writes all the time, even when the veggies are in need of peeling and the dust bunnies are in need of vacuuming. When she was far too young to contemplate anything as serious as marriage, she snatched up a boy with a sense of humor and led him right to the altar. Somewhere along the way, she picked up a couple of academic degrees which she uses each and every day, though certainly not in the way she intended to use them. Blessed with three funny sons and a husband who still makes her giggle, she lives in a quaint New England town in a messy home surrounded by flowers and laughter.