The Fellingham Minx by Lynn Messina

Author:Lynn Messina [Messina, Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency romance
Publisher: Potatoworks Press
Published: 2014-01-14T16:00:00+00:00

***

When Evelyn discovered that her mother was selling commissions in the king's army as a way to offset her father's losses at the gaming table, she had thought it nothing but a tempest in a teacup. So what if her mother and Lady Courtland were adding names to the latter's husband's list without his knowledge to submit to the Duke of York for approval? It was a mere bagatelle.

Catherine, of course, had responded with shock and dismay, acting as if the minor peccadillo were a hanging offense.

Treason, Catherine had called it, with, Evelyn thought, the excessive histrionics in which she frequently accused Evelyn of indulging.

It had seemed like a small thing to Evelyn because the young men were merely paying her mother to move their name to the top of the commissions list. The aspiring soldiers were all going to end up majors in the foot guards sooner or later, and her mother had only sped up the process. A faster process was more efficient, and wasn't efficiency something everyone always lauded?

Catherine soon disabused her of that notion, insisting that neither the Prince Regent nor the Duke of York would consider her mother's meddling to be anything other than a full-on treasonous act. Even their brother agreed with the severity of the situation. Freddy was a nodcock, to be sure, but he wasn't given to overreaction. Regardless of whether the crime was prosecuted in a court of law, the story itself was damning enough to ruin the entire family.

Evelyn grasped that fact immediately, for she knew how quickly a little misstep could blossom into a large scandal. During her season, she had seen many a nine days' wonder extended to a full month. If word got out, the Fellinghams en masse would have to return to their country estate in disgrace.

She would never make a decent match buried in Dorset.

Catherine accused her of being selfish and maybe Evelyn was, but as soon as the villainous Finchly demanded her hand in exchange for his silence, she consented. It was a sacrifice indeed—leg-shackled for eternity to an immoral snake whose touch made her stomach turn—but she was willing to make it to save her mother from Newgate and to protect her siblings' future. Despite what everyone thought of her, Evelyn was a good person and loved her family and would do whatever she could to protect them.

As the pampered darling of the family, she had never been called on to make a sacrifice before and she found everything about the experience distasteful. Not even earning Catherine's respect or discovering the lengths to which both she and Freddy would go to save her redeemed the episode.

Being noble was perfectly wretched.

Clever Cathy had come up with a scheme to save her, of course, and with Deverill's help, it went off without hitch or hiccough. Indeed, Finchly was routed before their impending nuptials were even announced in the paper.

As successful as her sister's plan was, there was one thing it couldn't account for: the fact that Finchly was invited everywhere.

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