As maid to some of the most wanton ladies of the ton, Margery Mallon lives within the boundaries of any sensible servant. Entanglements with gentlemen are taboo. Wild adventures are for the Gothic novels she secretly reads. Then an intriguing stranger named Mr. Ward offers her a taste of passion, and suddenly the wicked possibilities are too tempting to resist.
Henry Atticus Richard Ward is no ordinary gentleman. He’s Lord Wardeaux and he is determined to unite Margery with her newfound inheritance by any means—including seduction and deception. But when the ton condemns the scandalous servant-turned-countess and an unknown danger prepares to strike, will Margery accept Henry’s protection in exchange for her trust?
Margery sells sweet and confections to the whores at the local brothels and gets paid in their cast off clothing. She then takes that to her brothers second hand store and he pays her for them. She’s saving her money from that as well as her position as a ladies maid to eventually open her own confectioners shop. One day when she’s in one of the brothels she runs into a man who is gorgeous and charming and though she finally spits out that she’s not a lightskirt he still kisses her and wow, it’s memorable.
Another day the man is waiting for her when she leaves her employers house on her evening off. They go to dinner and he introduces himself as Henry Ward. They have a wonderful time and Margery is pretty smitten. They actually end up in a near compromising position but stop before it goes too far.
The next day Margery is called down to her employers parlor and she’s just sure that she’s about to be fired as someone has discovered what she did with Henry. What she discovers instead is that she is an Earl’s long lost granddaughter. She of course scoffs at this information as she knows it can’t be true. She was raised with three brothers as the daughter of a blacksmith. Yet, she has memories that don’t quite fit in with her life in the Mallon family.
She is whisked off to the Earl’s estate and is now Lady Marguerite. She’s not sure what to do with herself and not sure who she is any longer. Her great-aunt isn’t all that nice and neither is Henry’s mother. Henry of course, as far as Marguerite is concerned, can go hang. She’s pissed off that he deceived her to gather information about her and her past but….as much as she hates him she also really likes the guy when she gets to know him further.
The story is about Margery’s life as a Lady and her romance with Henry, that despite all appearances, is quite steamy. We also get someone trying to do Margery harm and Henry’s having none of that.
I really liked this latest installment in the Scandalous Ladies of the Ton series. Margery was quite a woman to put up with all she did from start to finish – with her grandfather as well as relatives and those men who came to court her. No one from the Ton could quite completely accept her because of her background but she just didn’t let that stop her from being true to herself and who she was. I really liked that about her.
Henry was quite a cold fish for the most part but the guy had hidden depths. He knew that Margery was forbidden to him because he didn’t want to be seen as a fortune hunter. (He was the heir apparent until Margery was found.) But the more time he spent with her, and despite the fact that they seemed to frustrate the hell out of each other, he loved her. He tried to fight it and he did make a mess of things sometimes but despite that he came out looking pretty good in the hero department.
In the end the book was quite entertaining. Margery and Henry were great together and I loved reading about them.
Rating: 4 out of 5
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