The Spinster’s Guide to Scandalous Behavior
Lucy Westmore, Lord Cardwell’s very independent daughter, dreads her first Season in London. She’s certain she’ll be forced into a loveless marriage to someone eager for her dowry. But when she receives a posthumous gift from her recently departed, eccentric aunt – an old diary and the deed to her aunt’s remote seaside cottage – Lucy sees a ray of hope. If her aunt could live happily as a spinster in a tiny Cornish town, so can she! This dream is nearly stolen from her by the reclusive marquess, Lord Thomas Branston, who seems unreasonably interested in the broken-down cottage. Lucy is determined not to sell until she sees it for herself. But after slipping away to Cornwall, she finds Lord Branston impossible to avoid. What is his interest in the property? Lucy is a good-hearted heroine, if somewhat slow to catch on, sometimes seeming willfully so, but Thomas evolves into an all-round admirable hero, progressive enough to appreciate that a woman should be allowed to make her own decisions. This is an enjoyable, if not particularly memorable, Regency romance – on the steamy side.
