In ONE NIGHT TO SCANDAL, the follow-up to ONE NIGHT TO SEDUCTION, Malcolm and Amelia MacCabe’s best friends must navigate the pitfalls of the past to claim a chance at tomorrow.

An Unwanted Inheritance…

William Avenel Ferguson Stafford never planned to inherit anything other than his mother’s ruined Scottish estate. Driven to avenge his mother and fueled by sheer stubbornness, he has spent decades antagonizing his English father. In his latest plot, he has become one of the ton’s most outrageous dandies — a charade completely at odds with the autocrat hidden beneath his elaborate cravats. But when his half-brothers have the ill grace to die, Ferguson becomes earl of Rothwell and heir to a dukedom. Unfortunately, his father despises the thought of his title going to a son with a ridiculous reputation and Scottish blood. The duke delivers an ultimatum: unless Ferguson marries an acceptable heiress, he cannot touch the funds necessary to restore his mother’s clan.

An Unclaimed Debutante…

Lady Madeleine Vaillant should have died in the revolution that swept France and killed her parents, but a resourceful nursemaid spirited her away to the Stauntons. Now twenty-four, she is tired of being the perfect ward, even though her lack of a dowry will likely doom her to spinsterhood. So when she encounters Ferguson in London and recognizes the man beneath his masquerade, she’s all too eager to embrace a bit of adventure with the devastatingly handsome earl. In a moment of madness, she makes a scandalous proposal: she will help Ferguson to find the perfect duchess — if he will show her all the earthly pleasures that an unmarried lady should never feel.

An Unexpected Arrival…

As they feign a courtship that thrills the gossips, they realize with each suggestive waltz and every stolen kiss that the chemistry between them is dangerously real. But just as Ferguson decides to damn the consequences and claim Madeleine forever, a flesh-and-blood ghost — in the form of the French duc she was betrothed to in childhood — offers her the opportunity to regain the life she lost. Ultimately, Ferguson’s father knows the secret of Madeleine’s past — but he won’t reveal it until Ferguson vows to forsake her. Caught between two dukes and his own desires, will Ferguson let Madeleine go so that she can learn the truth about her family? Or will Madeleine abandon her heritage for the love that has saved her heart?



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Posted 28 June 2009, 9:03 pm