Loretta Chase - Last Nights Scandal

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Last Nights Scandal

Loretta Chase

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Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Teaser Chapter

Acknowledgments

About the Author

By Loretta Chase

Copyright

About the Publisher

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Prologue

London

5 October 1822

My Lord,

You must Burn this Letter after reading it. Should it fall into the Wrong Hands, I shall be once again Exiled to the COUNTRY, to one of my Carsington step-uncles

Domiciles, where I shall most certainly be placed in ISOLATION. I dont mind Ruralizing in Small Doses , but to be LOCKED IN and forbidden any Social Intercourse of any Kind (for fear of my forming Unsuitable Acquaintances or Leading Innocents Astray) is intolerable , and will surely lead me to Desperate Acts.

I am Watched constantly . The only way to send you a proper, Unexpurgated and Uncensored Letter is to write in my Secret Place and arrange with Certain Persons

who must remain Nameless, the Undertaking being uncommonly dangerous to put this Epistle among the Diplomatic Dispatches.

I should not undertake this Perilous Enterprise merely to note that it is Exactly One Year since we set out upon our Most Interesting Journey to Bristol. Nor should I endanger my Freedom merely to Convey the Usual Harmless News a Young Lady is permitted to communicate to a young Gentleman of her acquaintanceeven if he is practically her Brother or at least a Cousin of sorts. I am driven to Subterfuge because it is my DUTY to Inform you of a further change in your Circumstances . We Children are supposed to know nothing of these Matters, but I am not Blind, and the fact is, your Mama is expecting again.

Yes, it is shocking, at her age, and the more so as its scarcely a year since your first brother was born. Little David, by the way, is turning out amazingly like you, outwardly at least. Babies are chameleon-like in the Early Stages, but his Looks seem to have settled. His Hair is growing in fair like yours and his Eye color seems to have resolved itself to the same unusual shade of grey. But I digress.

I was always Mystified by your Mamas sudden FERTILITY after thirteen barren years . But Great-Grandmama Hargate says that your parents lengthy visits in Recent Years to what she calls their Cottage Love Nest In Scotland , explain everything.

Great-Grandmama says the Haggis & the Scottish Whiskey Did the Trick . She said the combination always had a prodigious effect on Great-Grandpapa. I know what she meant by prodigious because I happened to come upon her Secret Collection of Page 3

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Engrav

I must make short work of this, if it is to get safely into the Dispatch Bag. The Ordeal will require my slipping out of a Certain Relatives House Unnoticed and finding a Hackney. Luckily I have Allies. If I am caught, IMPRISONMENT IN THE

COUNTRY awaits mebut as you know, I regard my own Safety and Happiness as of No Consequence in the Pursuit of a Noble Cause.

Yours sincerely,

Olivia Wingate-Carsington

Thebes, Egypt

10 November 1822

Dear Olivia,

I received your letter some days ago and should have answered sooner, but my studies and our work consume all my time. Today, though, Uncle Rupert is away ejecting a party of Frenchmen from one of our excavationsfor the third time. The scoundrels wait for our servants to clear all the sand awayweeks and weeks of work.

Then the devious Gauls produce a firman from a nonexistent kashef or such, which they claim gives them sole rights to the site.

I can break heads as well as the next fellow, and would have gone, but Aunt Daphne tied me to a rail of the dahabeeya (a type of Nile boat, quite commodious) and told me to write to my family. If I write to my parents, it will only remind them I exist, and incite the usual irrational urge to have me home to watch their histrionics until they forget why they wanted me and send me away to yet another dismal school.

Since, as Lord Rathbournes stepdaughter, you qualify as family, no one can logically object to my writing to you instead. I find myself torn regarding your news. On the one hand, I am very sorry to learn that yet another innocent child will be thrown into the parental tempest. On the other, Im selfishly glad to have siblings at last, and pleased that David is thriving.

I dont see why anybody should mind your apprising me of my mothers pregnancy, but then Ive never understood the strictures placed on females. Its worse here for women, if thats any consolation. In any case, I hope you suffer no imprisonment for enlightening me. Your temperament is not suited to rules, let alone captivity. This I learned firsthand during the adventure you refer to.

Of course I recall vividly the day on which I suddenly and unexpectedlytwo words I shall always associate with youdeparted London with you.

Every moment of our journey to Bristol is as deeply incised in my brain as the Greek and Egyptian inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone, and bound to endure as long.

If someone, centuries hence, happens to dig up my corpse and anatomize my brain, Page 4

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he will find, etched there in unmistakable characters: Olivia. Suddenly. Unexpectedly.

You know I leave sentiment to my parents. My thinking must be guided by facts.

The fact is, my life took a remarkable turn after our journey. Had I not gone with you, I should have been sent to one of the many schools in Scotland run on Spartan principlesthough to be fair, the Spartans were soft by comparison. I should have had to put up with the same sort of infuriating narrow-mindedness prevailing at other schools, but under even more sadistic conditions, such as impenetrable Scottish accents and hideous weather. And the bagpipes.

In thanks, I enclose a small token. According to Aunt Daphne, the scarab beetle sign is said as kheperwith the kh pronounced like the German ach. The hieroglyphic signs have several meanings and uses. The scarab signifies rebirth. I look upon this journey to Egypt as a rebirth.

Its turned out more exciting than Id dared to hope. Over the centuries the sand has swallowed whole worlds, which weve scarcely begun to uncover. The people fascinate me, and my days are mentally and physically stimulating, as they never were at home. Im not sure when well return to England. I hope it isnt for a very long time.

I must end here. Uncle Rupert has returnedall in one piece, were pleased to noteand I cannot wait to hear about his encounter with those worthless slugs.

Yours sincerely,

Lisle

P.S. I wish you would not address me as My Lord. I can hear you say it with that provoking hint of mockery in your voice, and I can see you making an excessive sort of curtseyor perhaps, given your confusion regarding what girls may and may not doa bow.

L

P.P.S. What Engrav ?

Four years later

London

12 February 1826

My dear L,

Felicitations on your EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY!

I must be Quick with this, because Im about to go into Exile again, to Cheshire with Uncle Darius this time. That will teach me to take a Little TATTLETALE like Sophy Hubble to a Gaming Hell.