Too Scandalous for the Earl, page 1
Cranford Estate Siblings
Wherever the siblings of Cranford Estate go, scandal is sure to follow!
As the future marquess, William must marry appropriately, yet he’s tempted by his close friend’s sister, Anna... A most inconvenient attraction indeed!
Tilly flees London with her reputation in tatters! And promptly meets Lucas, the Earl of Clifton, and his adorable baby nephew. But with scandal hot on her heels, will she make a suitable wife?
Eligible bachelor Charles is stunned when strikingly unconventional Lucy goes out of her way to avoid him. They have a connection, but Lucy is hiding a heartbreaking secret...
Read William’s story in
Lord Lancaster Courts a Scandal
Available now
Tilly’s story in
Too Scandalous for the Earl
And look out for Charles’s story
Coming soon!
Author Note
Too Scandalous for the Earl is the second book in the Cranford Estate Siblings trilogy. The story is set in Devon, which is one of my favorite locations.
Having disgraced herself with a disreputable young man on the eve of her debut, Tilly’s sent to Devon by her family until the scandal has blown over. Here she meets Lucas Kingsly, the Earl of Clifton. In the beginning there is conflict between the two, but gradually, against a backdrop of the sea and the beautiful Devon countryside, where smuggling is rife, their conflicts are resolved.
HELEN DICKSON
Too Scandalous
for the Earl
Helen Dickson was born and still lives in South Yorkshire, UK, with her retired farm-manager husband. Having moved out of the busy farmhouse where she raised their two sons, she now has more time to indulge in her favorite pastimes. She enjoys being outdoors, traveling, reading and listening to music. An incurable romantic, she writes for pleasure. It was a love of history that drove her to writing historical fiction.
Books by Helen Dickson
Harlequin Historical
Caught in Scandal’s Storm
Lucy Lane and the Lieutenant
Lord Lansbury’s Christmas Wedding
Royalist on the Run
The Foundling Bride
Carrying the Gentleman’s Secret
A Vow for an Heiress
The Governess’s Scandalous Marriage
Reunited at the King’s Court
Wedded for His Secret Child
Resisting Her Enemy Lord
A Viscount to Save Her Reputation
Enthralled by Her Enemy’s Kiss
To Catch a Runaway Bride
Conveniently Wed to a Spy
The Earl’s Wager for a Lady
Cranford Estate Siblings
Lord Lancaster Courts a Scandal
Too Scandalous for the Earl
Visit the Author Profile page
at Harlequin.com for more titles.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
Excerpt from The Gentleman’s Cinderella Bride by Carol Arens
Chapter One
1812
Self-willed, energetic and passionate, with a fierce and undisciplined temper, Tilly had a charm and wit and beauty that more than made up for the deficiencies in her character. She hadn’t a bad bone in her body and was just proud and spirited, so determined to have her own way that she had always been prepared to plough straight through any hurdle that stood in her path—but that was before she had made the dubious acquaintance of Richard Coulson.
Summoned to the drawing room by her brother Charles, who had been staying with friends in Sussex for the past month, an inexplicable premonition of dread mounted as she descended the stairs. When Tilly entered the drawing room, Charles was waiting for her.
He was still dressed in his travelling clothes, waiting impatiently by the fireplace, obviously in an angry mood. He had a handsome face—at least he would have been handsome had not a fierce scowl marred his features. The moment she closed the door behind her he embarked on a blistering tirade, denouncing her recent disgraceful behaviour.
‘There you are. Aunt Charlotte has filled me in with what you have been getting up to in my absence. Really, Tilly, will you never grow up? You are clever, quick thinking and sharp witted. You are also problematical and a constant headache. You test my patience at every turn. You live for the moment and notice nothing that is not to do with outdoor pursuits and horses. In short, you are hell-bent on self-destruction.’
Tilly sighed. Her brother was adamant when administering discipline. ‘I’m sorry, Charles, truly,’ she said, only mildly repentant, ‘for all the trouble I have caused. I never meant for this to happen. I didn’t know.’
‘There’s a great deal you don’t know.’
She nodded. ‘It would appear so,’ she replied, adopting a meek expression, although anyone who knew Tilly Anderson would know there was nothing meek about her.
‘It would seem the task of learning to be the lady our mother intended you to become is seemingly impossible.’
‘I am sure I must be a terrible disappointment to you, Charles, but I will try not to let you down in future. I will try harder, I promise.’
‘It’s too late for that. How could you let it happen? You haven’t a grain of sense in you. How could you have been so blind to propriety? Coulson saw you as easy prey. You should have known better than to become entangled with him. You are too young and inexperienced to take on a man of his ilk. He eats young women like you for breakfast. He’s played the field and gambled his way through his fortune. He’ll beggar his father before he’s done. Where did you meet him?’
‘In the park when I was out riding.’
‘Alone?’
‘Well...yes. Aunt Charlotte wasn’t very well...’
‘And you didn’t have the presence of mind to take a maid with you?’
‘Aunt Charlotte’s maids don’t ride—and you know I don’t like being confined in a carriage.’
Charles turned away in exasperation. Audacious and bold, Tilly could be a handful without any encouragement. ‘Excuses—nothing but excuses, Tilly. Aunt Charlotte does employ two grooms to take care of the horses.’
‘And one or the other has accompanied me on occasion.’
‘Not often enough. Coulson has ruined your reputation.’
‘No, he hasn’t. He didn’t dishonour me.’
‘He might as well have done.’
‘He—he did ask me to marry him.’
‘And you refused him, thank God. At any other time and with anyone whose character was not mired in decadence I would have insisted you marry him—but Coulson is a rake of the first order. He would lead you a merry dance and you would be downright miserable.’
‘I know. I didn’t want to marry him. But it’s very lonely for me sometimes with just Aunt Charlotte for company.’
‘That’s no excuse for what you’ve done. Friends have hastened to inform me of the scandal that is beginning to unfold concerning my own sister—a scandal that is entirely of your own making, if it is to be believed. It has already given you a certain notoriety—and I know perfectly well what happens to a young lady who falls short of society’s expectations.
‘I am incensed. Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine you would form a liaison with a man whose exploits are the talk of London. And where he is concerned, how dare he have the temerity, the effrontery to interfere with the half-sister of William, the Marquess of Elvington?’
William’s father had died when William was just eight years old, and one year later his mother had remarried Sir Edward Anderson. Charles and Tilly were the result of that marriage, and William cared deeply for his half-siblings. Tilly had the grace to lower her eyes and fix them on her hands folded in her lap. No doubt when William heard of this latest escapade he would be as incensed as Charles.
Of course, Charles was quite right. On her rides in the park, she had garnered the favours of several young beaux and Richard Coulson, who stood out from the rest with his raffish good looks and sense of fun, was much sought after. He had approached her when she had managed to shake off her accompanying groom, who despaired of trying to keep up with her since she could ride like the wind with the devil on her tail.
Richard had become enamoured of her and he had soon turned to putty under the assault of her large violet eyes and sweet smiles. It was all a game to Tilly, who had done it out of boredom. His possessive attitude she soon found irritating. He had even had the audacity to kiss her when she had found herself alone with him, which she had thought presumptuous of him, and had shocked her and was not to her liking anyway.
Having captured him completely, the game had turned sour along with what she had seen of society. The idea of a Season and marriage in general—which, after all, was what having a Season was all about—she decided was not for her and had sent the young man packing, blissfully unaware of the consequences of their liaison. Her naivety and i nexperience had not prepared her for a young man of Coulson’s reputation.
‘I could kill Coulson for this,’ Charles said. ‘The gossip will soon be all over town and you can expect no mercy.’ Not to be made a fool of by an ignorant girl, Coulson had let his tongue loose to do its worse and turned the tables on Tilly, laughingly telling his friends that she was a game bird, an amusingly peculiar, pathetic little thing, and, if she was launched, he had no intention of plying his suit.
Charles looked to the door when a maid entered, carrying a letter on a salver.
‘A letter has just arrived for you, Mr Anderson,’ she said, bobbing a curtsy and leaving the room.
‘Thank you, Betty.’ Casting an eye over it, he shoved it inside his jacket unopened, turning his attention back to Tilly. Her head was bent, her shock of glossy black curls falling about her face. He sighed, shaking his head wearily.
‘You have much to learn about life, Tilly,’ he said on a softer note. ‘I will take time off from the Company to take you to Cranford. Perhaps William—and Anna—can instil some sense into you, although with your difficult and unyielding nature they will have their work cut out.’
* * *
Tilly remembered when she had first seen Cranford Park. It was unlike anything she had imagined. She had been mesmerised by its splendour—imposing without being austere. This was her half-brother William’s ancestral home. He had become the Marquess of Elvington on the demise of his grandfather six months earlier. When he had returned from India, he had insisted that his half-siblings made Cranford their home.
Employed by the East India Company in London, Charles resided at the Lancaster town house in Mayfair. Tilly flitted between the houses, recently spending a good deal of her time with Aunt Charlotte in Chelsea village as preparations were being made to launch her into society.
Adored by her family, Tilly had been petted and indulged outrageously by everyone all her life, but all the attention had left her unspoiled. Happy and always smiling, she had a warm and generous heart. Her greatest sorrow had been the loss of her father as a child and then later, on the death of her mother, something vital had gone from her life. She knew nothing of the harsh, cruel world that existed outside her own secure and comfortable existence.
Aunt Charlotte, her father’s sister, with her gentle guidance and common sense, had become a kindly presence in her life. Having lost the love of her life in a riding accident, she had never married. She wanted Tilly to have a grand London Season, to associate with fashionable people of note, to attend balls and soirées.
Tilly was always very much aware that the moment she appeared in a room all eyes turned to her and she was soon surrounded by dozens of people, most of them young men, who obviously thought they might have a chance with the Marquess of Elvington’s sister when she made her debut. She had a kind of aura about her that made her somehow unique, although she herself was quite unaware of this special quality.
Before her indiscretion with Richard Coulson she was given the distinction of being named as the most beautiful young woman who would grace the next London Season, that she would be the most desirable debutante to join the marriage mart, which was quite an achievement for any girl.
She wished she weren’t so attractive because people, especially the young bucks, behaved like complete idiots around her. Aunt Charlotte said that when she was ready, she hoped the man she chose would be right for her—one who would appreciate her free spirit and love her for what she was, not for what he could make her.
But an interesting fact to some was, upon her marriage, the man who married her would become the recipient of a dowry generous enough to elevate his status considerably.
Tilly had met rich men, she had met handsome men, but she had not fallen in love. Disheartened and thoroughly disenchanted with the opposite sex, she scorned them all, much to her Aunt Charlotte’s dismay, for she was eager for her to make a good marriage. She was certain that when the scandal had died a death and Tilly made her debut, there would be so many eager young males of good families posturing about that she would have the pick of the bunch.
* * *
The sun was sinking behind the gentle rise of the park when the coach carrying Charles and Tilly and Aunt Charlotte travelled along the stately drive to the house. Despite being the sister-in-law to Charles and Tilly’s mother, Aunt Charlotte had never visited Cranford Park. News of their unexpected arrival soon spread through the halls of the great house and it wasn’t long before they were ensconced in the drawing room with the tea things arranged on a low table in from of them.
Tilly glanced at William, who stood with Charles across the room. He was as handsome as he had always been, although he possessed a haughty arrogance which some people took for coldness. He was a caring and compassionate man at heart and his love for Anna, his wife, was evident to all. Their first year of marriage had been blessed with a healthy son, Thomas James Lancaster, Lord Lancaster. After proudly presenting him to their visitors, Anna had taken him to the nursery to put him down for his nap.
Aunt Charlotte was an arresting woman. Her hair was no longer the dark brown of her youth and was liberally streaked with grey. She wore it on top her head, which made her appear taller. Besides being quite striking, if not intimidating, despite being short of stature, she conversed with such zest and charm that she could not be ignored. Ever since her sister-in-law’s demise when Tilly was fifteen years old, she had stepped in to guide her beloved niece into adulthood.
Unfortunately, nothing had prepared her for the likes of Richard Coulson. With Tilly’s reputation about to be shredded before she’d been launched into society, she had agreed with Charles that they should leave for Cranford until the gossip had died and some other unfortunate girl had transgressed for the ton to focus their attention on. It was this matter that was being discussed now.
‘It was taken for granted that Tilly, a young woman with an impeccable reputation, would have a Season and make a brilliant marriage. It seems foolish to state the obvious,’ she said, shaking her head as she spoke, her coiffure wobbling precariously, ‘but she cannot do that now. It’s out of the question. The ton would never stand for it. She would be humiliated and miserable. It cannot happen. At present no one will speak to her, let alone receive her or acknowledge her.’
‘You’re quite right, Aunt Charlotte,’ Charles agreed. ‘Of course it can’t. Society will tolerate her because she is the half-sister of the Marquess of Elvington, but they will cut her dead whenever the opportunity arises. In short, she will be treated like a pariah.’
‘I’m afraid you’re right, Charles,’ William said gravely. ‘For my part I would like to tell the whole of society to go to hell, but that isn’t going to do Tilly any good.’
Charles nodded. ‘My feelings entirely. With any luck, next year this will all have blown over and she can be presented then.’
William, who had listened to what was being said with a deep regret, shook his head. ‘I blame myself for this. Our mother trusted me to keep Tilly safe, not only from rakehells like Coulson, but from any other dangers that may come her way.’ His voice was bitter as he added, ‘I was so busy at Cranford, sorting out my grandfather’s business affairs since my return from India, followed by his passing—and marrying Anna—that I failed to protect her.’
‘It was my responsibility too, William,’ Charles remarked. ‘I have been so damned busy of late that I took my eyes off what matters. But it is important that she has a Season—which was what Mother would have wanted.’
Tilly sat there, listening as all this talk about her went on as if she was absent. ‘What about me?’ she protested. ‘Does it not matter what I want? Who wants a Season anyway? From what I know of them they are a great bore—a gaggle of girls all doing the same thing, seeing all the same people at every event, all of them hoping to make the best catch.
‘It doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest—all that curtsying and bowing to goodness knows who and making empty conversation with beaus looking for a wife—the wealthier the better. All that time and effort for the sole purpose of procuring a husband. I hate all the restrictions of the social system that enslaves people like me. It all seems so silly,’ she said, sitting up straight and raising her nose to a lofty angle.
