Scandalous

By Cassandra Dean

From Award-Winning Australian author Cassandra Dean comes a short novella of lost love and second chances...

The dissolute Earl of Edgington is the last man Miss Sofia Hargrove ever wanted to see again. Ten years ago, she fell foolishly in love and, worse, she thought he loved her in return. Recklessly, she indulged her passion in a moonlit garden….and was caught. Ruined, she ran to the Continent, and then was devastated again when he didn't follow. Now, at a London ball, he stands before her and begs for a chance to explain.

Edgington knows Sofia will never forgive him. For ten years, memories of her have haunted him, but his memories pale next to the bright, vibrant woman she's become. The chance to explain, to ask her forgiveness, burns inside him, alongside the dormant passion he's never forgotten and a long-held love that will no longer be denied.

Cassandra Dean, author of the bestselling Teach Me and Finding Lord Farlisle, entices readers once more with a tale of passion, love and second chances.

For the first time, Scandalous is available as a standalone novella of approximately 7,000 words. Scandalous originally appeared in SECOND CHANCES: A Romance Writers of America collection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SeaDub Publications
• Release date: Jun 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201732066

Cassandra Dean

Cassandra Dean is an award-winning author of historical and fantasy romance. She grew up daydreaming, inventing fantastical worlds and marvellous adventures. Once she learned to read (first phrase: To The Beach. True story), she was never without a book, and when she realised she could write her own, she never looked back. Cassandra is proud to call South Australia her home, where she regularly cheers on her AFL football team and creates her next tale. Cassandra Dean is an award-winning author of historical and fantasy romance. She grew up daydreaming, inventing fantastical worlds and marvellous adventures. Once she learned to read (first phrase: To The Beach. True story), she was never without a book, and when she realised she could write her own, she never looked back. Cassandra is proud to call South Australia her home, where she regularly cheers on her AFL football team and creates her next tale.

Book preview

Chapter One

London, 1846

The town house was lit like a bonfire, every sconce that could contain light ablaze. Laughter and music spilled through the air, the temptation of revelry too much to refuse an invitation to the Maddern ball, though it was a week before Christmas and as cold as the Arctic. Guests entered the foyer through the heavy oak doors, bitter cold brightening their cheeks as they shed their heavy cloaks to reveal the finery beneath, and footmen scurried amongst them, burdened with discarded cloaks as they ushered the arrivals in the direction of the ballroom.

Shoulder against the wall, Edgington observed the activity. He’d accepted the invitation to this ball purely on a whim though he’d known it would be tedious, and nothing in the time since his arrival had disabused him of this notion. After an obligatory turn of the ballroom, he’d stationed himself in the entrance hall, gaining some faint amusement from the arrival of those so desperate for society they ventured out on a night like this. Ah, but then, what did he say about him that he was amongst their number?

A couple passed him, close enough he could almost discern their conversation. Tittering behind her gloved hand, the female glanced at him. Edgington met her eyes. The woman blanched, her gaze quickly skittering away as she urged her partner hurry toward the ballroom.

He smiled faintly. His reputation was in full effect, it seemed.

Shifting his weight, he considered his options. Maybe it was he should make his way to his club, or a gambling house, or any one of a number of entertainments he’d previously patronised. While it held amusement to force his presence upon a society clearly unwilling to host him, there were vastly more interesting ways to spend an evening—not that he could think of any at this present moment. Of late, the life of a profligate had started to pall, and he found himself wondering of his estate in Ambleside. Of what might be involved in land management, and how the sun would feel against his skin as he stood in a field, the gentle bleat of sheep carried on the breeze.

With a twist of his lips, he dismissed such fancies. He must be getting old to be prone to such maudlin thoughts. Besides, the Earls of Edgington were bred for better things, or so his father had told him. However, his father had also told him he was a useless fool, and if his countess had managed to present him with a spare as was proper, he would not suffer his eldest son as heir.

Why his father had despised him, Edgington didn’t know, but he’d long reconciled himself that his father held no affection for him and he’d found delight in living down to his opinion of him. A smirk twisted his lips. The greatest of his perversions could boast inception in his desire to enrage his father and, truth be told, he was a little lost as to his purpose now the man was gone.

Once, though, he’d thought to have something more. His smirk died as memory curled about him. Once he’d thought perhaps he was more than the sum of his