A Scandalous Marriage Read Online Free PDF

my interest from my family. My aunt Venetia would relish any opportunity to further blacken my name to my grandfather.”
    “She still wishes to see you disinherited?”
    Devon frowned. “She would dearly love such a thing. Then her son Rex would inherit the title, the money… but it would never happen. Grandfather will not disinherit a legitimate heir no matter how much he disapproves of me.”
    Charlotte sipped her wine, her mind mulling over the problem at hand. “What is it this Miss Carrollton wants? If we offer it to her, she will come to us.”
    “The only thing Carrolltons ever want is money. They are in over their heads in debt.”
    “You have plenty of money,” Charlotte answered. In fact, she was one of the few people who knew that contrary to the negligent way he knotted his neckcloth, or the plain cut of his jacket, or the scuffed toes of his boots, Devon was a canny investor. She’d followed his advice and made quite a tidy fortune from it.
    Devon remembered the fire in Leah’s eyes when she had confronted him. “She won’t ever come to me for money, even if I offered marriage—which I would never do.”
    “Then your title holds no attraction either.”
    He grinned. “Though the Carrollton complaint is we stole it from them years ago, I imagine Leah has too much pride to chase after it now.”
    “Then she must be convinced to want you for yourself.”
    “Is that bad?” he asked, laughing at himself.
    “I think you are prize, but your best qualities are not something a virgin would be knowledgeable enough to appreciate. Think, cher. What else do these people want?”
    Devon sank down on the pillows, holding the wine glass on one bent leg. He thought of Julian boasting, basking in the attention of anyone who would listen to him. Of Leah’s head bowed in prayer… and the straightness of her back as she sat in church… and the way she stood a little apart from the other debutantes.

    “They want to be respected,” he said slowly. “They feel they should travel in the highest circles.”
    “And do they?”
    Devon frowned. “Of course not. Few people accept the Carrolltons since the racing accident, even though it happened two decades ago. The courts may have claimed there was no evidence, but enough people agree with my grandfather that Richard Carrollton caused the accident.”
    “Then this Miss Carrollton would find an invitation to an exclusive soiree given by none other than our friend the imminently respectable Lady Dorchester irresistible.”
    “Of course!” Devon agreed with growing elation. “Lady Mary would be perfect.” He used the nickname Lady Dorchester adored. “She’s so romantic she won’t be able to resist helping me. And Leah’s mother would jump at the bait.”
    “Bait?” The baroness’s eyebrows raised in mild disapproval. “Cher, this girl is an innocent. I do not want her to come to harm.”
    “I would never harm a woman,” he answered, irritated that she would even think him able to do such a thing.
    “Every man is capable of hurting a woman… sometimes they can’t help themselves,” Charlotte said softly, her dark eyes sad. She gracefully sat on the cushions next to him. “If I did not believe this was more of an affair of the heart than you wish to let on, I would not help you. A broken heart can be more painful than any physical harm.”
    “It won’t come to that,” he answered, dismissing her concerns with a wave of his glass before he drained it. His mind was already too full of plans to heed warnings. Besides, women worried incessantly. “I think it best we have a masquerade,” he answered. “And invite everyone of importance.”
    “Ah, Devon,” Charlotte said with a sigh. “Do you know—really know—what you are doing?”
    He laughed. Charlotte needn’t worry about him. He was going to see Miss Carrollton again.
    Lady Mary leapt at the idea of helping star-crossed lovers caught in the grip of a family feud. She embraced Devon’s