Chloë d’Artois

Born in Canada to J-H Carignan, a French diplomat, and his wife Lorraine, Chloë was first a tomboy, then at twelve an early version of the woman she would be, and at fourteen that woman in every characteristic save her age, not yet of consent. She excelled at her lessons, however much she approached them casually. Her dreams lay elsewhere.

At seventeen she met a man whose age, twenty years more than hers, provoked a scandal at home. It was not proper, said her mother. Her father threatened the police. The first as may and the second an unrealized threat—her father rarely denied her—she married Pierre later that year, with her parents’ consent. There was nothing to be done, Chloë determined and soon to be eighteen.

Her husband’s line was an old and noble one, he by rights the duke of Artois, however unrecognized since the French Revolution. His young wife’s allure inflamed her husband’s circle. She was the object of their play, but made them the target of hers, the hunted become the huntress. Demure by nature, however otherwise given to mischief, Chloë has known other beds than those of her duty. Her husband—taking an older view—is more amused than distressed. They have three children, live mostly in London, spend autumns at their ranch in the Canadian Rockies, and run off to a discrete villa by the Lake of Garda for occasional escapes. The reader will have to decide what is true, what is not.

 

An elegant equestrienne, Chloë rides whenever she can. She loves her horses and her dogs. Mounted she offers a seductive figure, ever followed by masculine eyes. In London life turns around the children and their schools, the society of her husband’s friends, and those of his business obligations she cannot avoid. She does not shop to excess, however she might, but naturally dresses herself to advantage. Pierre likes this, his young wife a modern girl cloaked in the aura of a more amusing time, when suggestion was more beguiling than shamelessness. Long involved in a charity supporting African wildlife, Chloë puts in hours each week, and shuns such causes as are social functions. She and Pierre travel widely, taking their children from school to join them, believing knowing the world the best education. Pierre supports a private charity that delivers breast cancer care in rural Mexico, a connection through a friend. Better a large frog in a small water than a small frog in a big lake.

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Most of her friends know Chloë a sportswoman, although never at a gym. Her sport is active: riding, skiing, and hiking; archery only because she considers it more refined than her husband’s shooting; and martial arts with an instructor Pierre has never met, but whom he suspects. It keeps her fit, he tells himself.

As a couple, they sit at table with their children whenever other obligations do not intrude, emphasize manners, and delight in refined dishes. As all things, cuisine came easily to Chloë. Their cook sees to daily needs under Madame’s meticulous direction.

When Chloë took up writing, it came to her easily, first for amusement, then to thinking she might make something of it. Thus, Nightfall Temptations. Stay posted.

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Chloë D’Artois is a pseudonym, and her life is fictional. The author and team behind Chloë embrace what Chloë offers, and invite her readers to do the same. No part of Chloë’s stories is created with AI. Expect to hear back from Chloë and connect with her on social media. There is, behind the curtain, a woman of lyrical imagination. Live the adventure with her!