Off to the graveyard with another dead baby. With her
thoughts torn between giving what kind send-off she can
to the stillborn and seething at the callousness of her
stepfather, young Cleo vows this will never happen to her.
Stuck with the name Cleopatra, Cleo Hadley, is one of
fourteen living children. She has seen her mother suffer
from
giving birth and suffer even more from the numerous babies
that didn't survive.
Unexpectedly, a representative of her real father comes to
their poverty stricken home and offers the family a
sizeable fund of money if he could take Cleo away to live
with her father, Jack Hadley, who has changed his mind
about recognizing his daughter. Always the responsible and
dutiful daughter, Cleo agrees to go off to meet this
unknown man.
Jack Hadley turns out to be extremely rich and now only
wants some titled connections to make his life dream
complete. Cleo can have anything she wants as long as she
marries a titled gentleman. Thrilled with this
extraordinary change in circumstances, Cleo is determined
to marry the oldest and frailest lord she can find. That
way, she will not need to have children and could be an
independently wealthy widow very soon. What could possibly
be better than that?
The elderly and nearly feeble Lord Thrumgoodie fits Cleo's
wish list and she sets her cap on him. As none of his
previous four wives have produced an heir; Cleo feels he is
ideal, despite the nastiness of his current heir, his great-
nephew Hamilton. Now, if she can only marry him before he
dies.
Meanwhile, the London ton is aware that a very handsome and
rugged Scottish lord is on the prowl for a rich heiress to
help him fund much needed repairs to his crumbling castle.
Fiona, Lord Logan McKinney's married sister, is doing her
best to help her brother find one despite the rumors about
him. Much as Logan has disliked the ones set up, he is
painfully aware that time is running out and so agrees to
go to the opera with his brother-in-law, so he can meet
Alexander's friend, Mr. Hamilton and court Mr. Hamilton's
cousin, Lady Libba. When the opera starts, the chemistry
sizzles but with the wrong partners! Can best laid plans
be abandoned?
LESSONS FROM A SCANDALOUS BRIDE is the second book in
bestselling author Sophie Jordan's latest historical
romance series, Forgotten Princesses, about the
lives of
the very wealthy, but untitled Jack Hadley's illegitimate
daughters and it is a winning story, indeed. Set in early
Victorian England with all its attitudes of class and
restrictions on women, Jordan immediately pulls you into
the story and sets the stage for this dramatic rags to
riches story with her strong understanding of the period's
manners, attitudes, morals and ideas. Lord Logan is a
wonderful hero who is compassionate, loyal and handsome
with enough background issues to make him keenly human and
Cleo is strong and independent and held hostage by her
fears of birth and death. While a very good read on its
own, there is a nice linkage between the sisters' story to
make you want to read the whole series and I can't wait to
find out what happens to Annalise. With its exciting
romance, sizzling hot chemistry, and fast action, fans of
historical romances are sure to enjoy LESSONS FROM A
SCANDALOUS BRIDE!
No one knows this better than Miss Cleopatra Hadley, who
went from poverty to plenty when she discovered one of
England's richest men was her true father who wanted her to
share his wealth . . . if she married into the upper
echelons of Society. A high price to pay for someone whose
mother taught her just how dangerous a marriage could be.
An imposing yet impoverished Scots nobleman, Lord Logan
McKinney knows he must wed some vapid title-hunter with a
substantial dowry in order to restore his once-thriving
estate. Having the vibrant Cleo nearby, however, makes his
task even more unpalatable—for she tempts him like no other
woman . . . just as he's precisely the sort of man she most
fears: exciting, unpredictable, fiercely passionate. But
when attraction proves too powerful, they succumb to a kiss
that quickly leads to lessons too scandalous for even the
darkest nights . . .
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