Having recently read ONE WEDDING AND AN EARL, I was keen to take up another story in Tracy Sumner's Duchess Society series. Some of the characters continue, and although the theme of women doing what polite society forbids is still present, this is quite a different story. TWO SCANDALS AND A SCOT follows Theodosia Astley, who was raised as a proper young lady.

The first scandal is a disruption to a ball when Bluestocking Thea learns something outrageous about the man she was about to agree to marry. Clearly, any engagement is off. But we don’t see this happen, we start with Thea sitting in a state of shock in a carriage being driven through the streets, reflecting on the event. At first, I thought the author had wasted a great scene. But by the end of the book, I agreed that the bounder we never met, was not a part of Thea and Dash’s story, and did not deserve a scene.

Dash is the Scot of the title. The second scandal is that in Thea’s rush to leave the scene of her embarrassment, she jumped into a carriage alone, and it turns out to belong to an old friend, Dash Campbell, who is a notorious gambler. Now she’s trundling off into the night with no chaperone, to be delivered to a gaming hell.  

The nice details about the carriage’s manufacture indicate the good research in this historical romance. Dash wants his carriage back, and preserving Thea’s good name turns out to be tricky, so the pair are being pressured into a wedding. After this, the point at which many romances end, the young people really start getting to know each other and begin leading new lives. Thea sees one major advantage of being a wife, not having to cover up her reading matter in public, lest she be thought forward. Maybe now she can be free to do what she really wants – but if, and only if, Dash agrees.

Character is the major factor in this series by Tracy Sumner. Each person has lived an unusual life, and largely they are happier for being individuals with interests. By the time they consider marriage, they are long out of the schoolroom, and several of them were dragged up through the slums rather than being fortunate from birth. The genteel Duchess Society aids promising young people to get a start and education, with jobs to make use of their talents. After that, it is hoped that the work will benefit the rest of society. At a time when some wealthy people only thought of enjoyment, it’s typical that women saw further and did more. TWO SCANDALS AND A SCOT is a great deal of fun and follows characters we’ve come to know and love.