Scandalous Brides (Four Bestselling Full-Length Regency Novels) by Annette Blair & Cheryl Bolen & Lucinda Brant & Brenda Hiatt

Author:Annette Blair & Cheryl Bolen & Lucinda Brant & Brenda Hiatt [Blair, Annette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: box, Romance, set, humor, historical, georgian, regency, suspense, boxed-set, marriage of convenience, drama, boxed
ISBN: 9780987375285
Goodreads: 18761514
Publisher: Sprigleaf
Published: 2014-01-12T13:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

AS SHE SIPPED tea from a delicate porcelain dish in the Yellow Saloon, Jane was still wishing she had pulled away from the wall of the Gallery box and not listened to the rumor and counter rumors about the Lady St. John and her husband. Watching through the netting it was clear Diana St. John was infatuated with Salt. But did he know it? And were they lovers? She had no idea.

Jacob Allenby had repeatedly lectured her about the hypocrisy rife within Polite Society. That the ruling class was riddled with vice in all its forms and that the Earl of Salt Hendon was just as guilty of the unspeakable sins of his class as the rest of the inhabitants of Gomorrah, as he continually referred to London, the environs of Westminster in particular. And his lordship had committed the most heinous crime of all amongst his wickedly depraved brethren: he had seduced a virgin and then abandoned her with child.

He had preached this sermon to her so often that Jane became immune to his hellfire and brimstone prophesies. Living in a house in the wilds of Wiltshire where no pictures livened the walls, fires in the grate were permitted only every second day, and such vanities as looking glasses and feminine fripperies were strictly forbidden, the Earl of Salt Hendon’s nefarious lifestyle was another world away. Yet, now that she was the Countess of Salt Hendon, it mattered to her a very great deal, and that bothered her. It bothered her because she was in love with her husband. And because she was in love with him, the sooner she signed the document banishing her to Salt Hall, the better for her peace of mind.

Loud laughter intruded into these musings and Jane remembered she was in the Yellow Saloon where the ladies had gathered to await the gentlemen who, having finished playing their games of Royal Tennis, were bathing and dressing in readiness to sit down to a good dinner. With their silk and brocade layered petticoats spread out around them, and painted and ivory fans fluttering on flushed upward thrusting bosoms, the ladies lounged about on the arrangement of sofas and wingchairs by the two fireplaces, chatting amongst themselves.

Diana St. John presided over the tea things with all the aplomb of one used to the task. Of course she had made an elaborate display of refusal when the butler and four liveried footmen had arrived with the trolleys stacked with the Sèvres porcelain tea service, plates of sweetmeats and a variety of cakes and pastries, and the teapot and coffee urn on their silver stands. But Jane, not knowing the first thing about playing hostess to a gaggle of sharp-eyed society matrons, was only too willing to allow Lady St. John the honor, even if it did highlight her lack of social skills. Her calm capitulation to Lady St. John’s expertise won her a few nods of approval from the older matrons, but the close friends of Diana St.

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