Prohibited!. Delancey Stewart
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The Roaring Twenties
In 1920s New York, uptown debutante Evie McKenzie can sense things are changing. She’s planning on going to college – being independent! But her parents are stuck in the old days, lining up a parade of respectable suitors, even though she’s just eighteen.
If he knew what she did at night, while she’s supposed to be getting her beauty sleep, her daddy would have a fit! His good little girl has been heading out to the local speakeasy Maison – and into the arms of dangerously charming bar owner Jack Taylor.
Evie believes her heart belongs to Jack, even though sometimes he seems a little cold. But then Yale- graduate Roger White, her parents’ choice, turns out to be a lot less strait-laced than she’d first assumed. Does this mean Roger is the right man for her? Or has Evie got a whole lot more living to do before she makes up her mind?
Prohibited!
Delancey Stewart
HQ
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2015
Copyright © Delancey Stewart 2015
Delancey Stewart asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
E-book Edition © June 2015 ISBN: 9781472094704
Version date: 2018-07-23
Contents
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
DELANCEY STEWART
writes contemporary romance and romantic comedy.
Stewart has lived on both coasts of the United States, in big cities and small towns. She’s been a pharmaceutical rep, a fitness trainer and a direct sales representative for a wine importer, but she has always been a writer first.
A military spouse and the mother of two small boys, her current job titles include pirate captain, monster hunter, Lego assembler, homework helper, and story reader. She tackles all these efforts at her current home outside Washington D.C.
Find her at www.delanceystewart.com
This book is dedicated to New York City and all of its inhabitants, past, present, and future. NYC is my favorite place in the world (so far) and I will never get tired of exploring its magic.
Evelyn McKenzie didn’t mind the frigid air that blew up under her skirt as much as the possibility that old Buck’s eyes were seeing something they shouldn’t. Of course, that was the risk you ran when you decided to climb out of a second story window and down a ladder in your finest.
“Buck, I hope you haven’t got those cheaters aimed this way,” she called down as she gripped the ladder rung and started down. “Daddy would have a fit if he knew you’d seen me in a compromising way.”
“Miss, your daddy’d have a fit for lotsa things right now,” Buck said, helping Evelyn down the last few rungs and pulling her soft fur coat close under her chin. “The first might be that rouge you’ve got on your lips or the length of your dress. The last would be that old Buck is helping his one and only daughter sneak out to a gin mill in the middle of the night.” Buck shook his head as he helped Evelyn toward the car.
It was easy enough to ignore Buck’s stern tone. He’d agreed to help her, after all, and that was all that mattered in the end. Evelyn settled into the back seat of the car and squinted into a tiny mirror, touching up her lipstick while Buck got it started. She’d made him park all the way down 70th Street, so the racket from the car starting up wouldn’t wake her parents.
“You ready, Miss Evie?”
It was with only a shred of guilt that Evelyn nodded her head enthusiastically and watched Buck slide behind the wheel, his thick coat pulled tight around him against the chill November night. Buck wasn’t a young man, after all. But he’d always had a soft spot for Evie, and she knew that the old man would do anything for her—with the right type of persuasion, at least, and a flask full of that would be in his hands as soon as they got to the club.
Buck had been with the McKenzie family since Evelyn was born. He’d started as a butler, and as cars had come into fashion, he’d become the family driver. In reality, he was much more like an uncle to Evelyn, who had no brothers or sisters. Buck had been protector, friend, and playmate to the poor little rich girl as she’d grown up in the elaborate life her parents had constructed for her.
They crossed town quickly—there was little traffic at this hour—and Buck guided the car up behind a row of others parked along 53rd Street. Evelyn waited for Buck to open the door and help her down, and then skipped away from him toward a group of men gathered on the sidewalk.
“Be