Scandalous Love Read Free

She
still did not understand Stacy's motivation, but that did not matter. What
mattered was the challenge. "Until Friday," Nicole said, standing.
    When the two women had
left, Nicole regretted letting them back her into a corner. But how could she
refuse the challenge Stacy Worthington had thrown at her? And by now people had
forgotten, hadn't they?
    After the scandal,
Nicole had been the object of much ugly gossip and speculation, and it had
hurt. Her parents had been very angry with her, and even if she had wanted to
hide at their London home, they would not have allowed it. But she was not a
coward, and she had continued the season as if nothing had happened, holding
her head high and ignoring all the gawking and gossip.
    When the scandal began
to die, Nicole bowed out. From the time of her debut, Nicole had not been
impressed with the balls and routs, the soirees and supper parties, which she
found endless, repetitive and quite boring. She enjoyed rising with the sun and
spending her day on horseback, tending to Dragmore with her father and
brothers. And to her, a good book was much more entertaining than most of these
affairs.
    The past four years had
not been unhappy ones. Nicole loved her family, she loved Dragmore and she was
content with the life she led. In fact, it was because she hadn't wanted to
change her life that she had caused the scandal in the first place.
    But... sometimes,
usually when her younger sister Regina was in London with her mother, attending
one party after another, dressed in fabulous silks and courted by handsome
bachelors, Nicole missed her and felt alone, and she would suddenly wish that
she were there, too. Regina was always the belle of the ball, the way Nicole
had never been, and Nicole knew she wished for what she could not have. It was
a small wish, a fleeting wish. Nicole reminded herself of the few times she had
gone out with her family since the scandal, times that had not been fun, times
where people looked at her and remembered, and sometimes whispered behind her
back as well. She had only to remember those times and the wistful feeling
would pass and be forgotten for weeks on end.
    And now she was not only
going out again, but she was going alone. Not only were her parents and Regina
in London, her brother Ed was at Cambridge and her brother Chad was in France
on business. She didn't have an escort. Ladies did not attend parties
unescorted unless they were over thirty, which she was not.
    Yet she would attend
this masque, even without an escort. She would do so in high style and show up
that snooty Stacy Worthington.
    Draping herself in a
fine red wool cloak, Nicole set off for Tarent Hall on Friday night. She was a
jumble of nerves when she was finally on her way. Earlier that day she had given
in to a few doubts about going without an escort, but she had finally laid them
to rest by sheer willpower. She had been challenged and she was no coward—she
was going to attend the masque, come what may.
    She had a terrible
feeling that she was going to regret this night. If she were sane, she thought
to herself, she would forget all about Stacy Worthington and stay at home as a
proper young lady should.
    But it was too late now,
Nicole thought, fingering the brilliant orange petticoat and vividly pink skirt
beneath her cloak. She had never been proper, not really. There was a wild
streak in her, and there always had been. She got it from her father's side of
the family, or so her mother said, although the Earl insisted disregard for
convention was a Barclay trait. At the age of twenty-three she was mature and
honest enough with herself to recognize this outlandish side of her nature and
accept it. It was this wild part of her that had accepted Stacy's challenge and
that was even now propelling her forward without an escort against her better
judgment.
    Nicole had always hated
the rules and conventions that bound all the women of her day. Fortunately, she
was not alone, although she was