Surrender To A Scoundrel Read Free

understand. More than Penelope could ever know.
    But she did not shout those words because she knew that Penelope was right on one level. Evelyn was indeed sensible. Too sensible to ignore her firm prudence and allow herself to surrender completely to her emotions. And thank God for that. After to night, she would work even harderto be prudent, because she could never again put herself in the path of such peril. She did not want to end up like Penelope, weeping her heart out over a rake like Martin who didn’t deserve her tears.
    “No one could possibly know how devastated I am,” Penelope sobbed. “He doesn’t love me! Oh, why didn’t he love me? What’s wrong with me?”
    Evelyn shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong with you. You’re a beautiful girl, and someone else is going to sweep you off your feet again before you know it.”
    “No, I’ll never love again. I’ll enter a convent.”
    Evelyn sighed and stood up, helping Penelope to her feet. “Come on, let’s get you home. You’ll feel better after a good night’s sleep.”
    “I’ll never feel better. My life is over.”
    But Evelyn knew her friend. She would get over this, and she would fall in love again, too, probably with the very next young man who flattered her. That was Penelope. She was openly passionate, she enjoyed attention, and the young men certainly enjoyed giving it to her.
    Thankfully, Penelope found the strength to stand and walk, and Evelyn put an arm around her to lead her home.

Chapter 2
    D uring the week that followed, Evelyn and Penelope waited anxiously for a shrill whistle to blow in their direction or for some official representative of the school to demand an appointment with their parents. But no such whistle blew, nor did they hear a word about a bedroom scandal at Eton. Though they supposed such scandalous happenings were quietly swept under the school carpets, especially when they involved the younger brother of a duke.
    Hence, they spent the week doing nothing out of the ordinary—wandering in and out of local shops with their mothers, who had been friends since childhood. They sipped tea and ate sconesin Penelope’s garden, reading and going for leisurely walks along the riverbank before dinner.
    Thankfully Penelope’s tears flowed less and less as the week pressed on, and by the end of it, she was regarding Lord Martin Langdon as the most despicable boy in Windsor, claiming she had no idea how any girl could consider him handsome, for his hair was always in disarray, and he was a rake of the worst order, destined for failure in every regard, not to mention that he had a most unattractive smile.
    Evelyn knew very well that his smile was by far his best feature, nothing short of disarming to any female within a ten-yard radius, but naturally she did not argue the point with Penelope. She instead agreed wholeheartedly and assured her that she was quite right on every front. It seemed as if the whole scandalous affair had indeed blown over.
    At the end of the week, however, when it came time for Evelyn and her mother to go home, she discovered with some alarm that the storm had not passed at all—for there she was, standing on the platform at the train station, barely five feet from Lord Martin Langdon himself.
    Ten days had passed since she’d seen him in his bed, bare-chested and cursing at her, having just sat up beside a naked girl. Evelyn bit down on her lower lip and swallowed with difficulty.
    “The train is late as usual,” her mother said,checking her timepiece and taking a step forward to peer down the tracks. “Perhaps we should have had your father send the coach.”
    Evelyn could not reply. She was too unnerved by the presence of Lord Martin beside her. Did he even know she was one of the intruders that night? And good Lord, was he staring at her? Or was she imagining it because she was completely obsessed with being caught?
    She continued to stand on the platform, looking straight ahead while her heart