Baron of Bad (Lords of Scandal 5)

Minnie reached for her hand. “You still could. Both of our fathers would help you.” Mary’s fiancé had been a soldier who had never returned from the war. Somehow, she’d never been able to move on.

Mary shook her head. “I like working and I’m content with my future.” But her eyes held a sadness that belied her words.

“You’ve gotten a new position now that we don’t need a companion?”

Mary nodded. “Darlington found it for me. I’m to be a tutor for the Earl of Sinclair.”

Minnie raised a brow and gave Grace a long look. “Have you met the earl yet?”

Mary shook her head. “No. Why? Is there something I should know? Is he old and awful?”

Grace pursed her lips. “Quite the contrary. He’s young and extremely handsome.”

The women about her shuff

led. His nickname was the Earl of Sin.

Mary sniffed. “I am immune to such things.”

Her mother gestured for all the women to step forward. “Come. Let’s go inside. We’ve a wedding to begin, after all.”

Emily stepped to the front of the group. “My wedding.” She gave a sigh. “I’m so glad to have made it to this moment.”

Grace gave Emily a peck on the cheek. “We’ll go take our seats. I’d wish you luck but you don’t need it.”

Turning she made her way inside. The moment her eyes adjusted, she caught sight of Ben waiting for her near the front of the church. Rushing to his side, he slipped an arm about her even as he kissed her forehead. “My love.”

She gave him a quick squeeze. “I can’t wait to see the wedding. It’s so exciting.”

He held her close, resting his forehead on top of hers. “You are magnificent.”

She looked up at her husband. “Me?” His scars were barely visible in this light and his strength radiated through her. “Don’t tell anyone, because I mean no offense to my cousins and sisters, but I am the luckiest woman in all of England.”

The organ started but she didn’t turn back right away, Ben held her to his side. “I love you so very much,” he whispered.

“I love you too.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before she turned to watch Emily float down the aisle toward Jack’s outstretched hands. After all the insanity with the club and the Countess of Abernath, the world had righted itself again.

Earl of Sin

Lords of Scandal Book 6

Miss Mary Chase stood at the front gate of the stately mansion situated in the heart of London and stared up at the imposing brick façade. It wasn’t too late to turn around, go back to her aunt and uncle’s, resume her life.

Lord and Lady Winthrop had taken her in after the loss of her parents seven years ago, even financed a season for her. But she could not, in good conscience, continue to leech off them with no prospect of marriage.

Her aunt insisted she could still find a husband but Mary knew how these things worked. In all likelihood, she’d get passed by. She was four and twenty, after all. No man would want her now. A season would be the exclamation point on the sentence of her life. You weren’t meant for a happily ever after, Mary! Haven’t you learned that yet?

And so instead of another season, she’d accepted an interview for the position of tutor within the home of the Earl of Sinclair.

Her family was mildly appalled. Unlike many girls who’d become orphans, she’d been treated with love and kindness and she’d happily acted as companion to several of her cousins. But she was of age now, and, in her mind, that meant that she ceased to be a burden to them and learned how to care for herself. Besides, she liked being useful. In a life that had been filled with loss, she found real joy in work.

She straightened her shoulders as she approached the front steps. She’d not lose her resolve now. After fixing the ribbons on her bonnet, she raised her hand and lifted the knocker, giving two decisive smacks to the brass plate on the door.

The sound echoed through the house and her insides quivered along with the noise. But she’d gone too far now to back down, so she held her breath as she waited for the door to open.

When her lungs were near bursting, the door swung in, and a tall butler with an amazingly erect back, stared down at her. “Yes?”

Mary swallowed, pressing her hands together. “I’m here for the position of tutor.” The earl’s daughter, as she understood it, had lost her mother some time ago and the earl wished for a woman of society to teach his daughter how to properly behave. As a spinster who had grown up in the house of an earl, she was perfect for such a task.