Love and Other Scandals by Caroline Linden - Love & Other Scandals

Author:Caroline Linden - Love & Other Scandals [Linden, Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Regency, Fiction, Historical Romance
ISBN: 0062025325
Google: RfyIWI9UCcUC
Amazon: B009NFFSUU
Barnesnoble: B009NFFSUU
Goodreads: 16089849
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2012-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Fortunately Abigail Weston could be counted upon. Penelope was great fun, but her attention was always drawn to the most shocking and titillating bit of anything. Abigail, on the other hand, was more thoughtful and mindful of proper behavior, which was probably why she was free to stroll down Bond Street and her sister was not. Penelope, as it turned out, had been careless, and her mother had discovered her reading 50 Ways to Sin.

“It was her own fault she got caught,” Abigail said as they walked arm in arm a few steps behind Mrs. Townsend. “I warned her that Mama was expected home at any moment.”

“She was reading it in the drawing room?” Joan couldn’t believe it.

Abigail nodded. “Bold as brass, settled in the window seat with a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits. Mama saw her from the street, of course, and when she came in and asked what Pen was reading, the silly girl tried to lie.”

“Oh, dear,” murmured Joan.

“So now Mama knows Pen has been stealing her copies—and you know what the last issue was about.”

She remembered Lady Constance’s adventure with the rutting Lord Everard all too vividly. The thought of what her own mother would say if she knew Joan had read that sent a shiver down her spine. “How long will she be punished?”

“A week. Mama has forbidden her from every sort of ball and party. She’s not permitted to leave the house except to go to church, and Mama has been opening her letters.”

“But how did you escape trouble?” Joan asked, perplexed. Mrs. Weston must know that anything Penelope did, Abigail was likely to know about.

A faint blush crept into her friend’s cheeks. “Pen swore up and down that I wasn’t part of it, that she’d hidden it from me. I didn’t think that would sway Mama, but somehow she believed it, and I was only warned not to follow my sister’s bad example. So Pen made me vow to repay her by smuggling any new issues into the house, since Mama will be watching her like a hawk.”

“I was amazed at her selflessness, but now I begin to understand it,” said Joan with a grin.

“Yes, very selfless,” agreed Abigail wryly. “It was her own fault, but I’m very grateful not to be confined to my room, too. The only trouble is, she’s badgering me to find a new issue when I don’t know how to get them without drawing Mama’s eye onto me as well. And if Mama discovers that both Pen and I lied to her . . .” She shuddered. “I should hate to die young, Joan.”

She choked on a laugh. “Oh, never! Even my mother would only lock me in a convent until I was too old to care about naughty stories.”

Abigail smiled. “True. But I fear Pen really will murder me just out of boredom if I don’t bring her something interesting soon.” She cast a wistful glance down Madox Street, which they were just passing. “But there’s no way I can slip off to inquire about new issues without making Olivia suspicious.

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