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A Most Unsuitable Match
Julia Justiss
Shunned by the tonHow will she find a husband?Part of Sisters of Scandal: After her mother’s latest outrageous affair, innocent Prudence Lattimar has fled to Bath. With her dubious background, she must marry a man of impeccable reputation. A clergyman with a title would be perfect. And she must steer clear of Lieutenant Johnnie Trethwell—his family is as notorious as hers, no matter how funny, charming and unfailingly honourable he is!
Shunned by the ton
How would she find a husband?
Part of Sisters of Scandal: After her mother’s latest outrageous affair, innocent Prudence Lattimar has fled to Bath.
With her dubious background, she must marry a man of impeccable reputation. A clergyman with a title and a considerable income would be perfect.
She must steer clear of Lieutenant Johnnie Trethwell—his family is as notorious as hers, no matter how funny, charming and unfailingly honorable he is!
Sisters of Scandal duet
Book 1—A Most Unsuitable Match
Look out for the second story, coming soon!
“Justiss provides her fans with heart-stealing characters.”
—RT Book Reviews on Secret Lessons with the Rake
“Secret Lessons with the Rake is a deeply romantic and satisfying end to these tales of Hadley’s Hellions and it’s a book I’m happy to recommend.”
—RT Book Reviews on Secret Lessons with the Rake
JULIA JUSTISS wrote her ideas for Nancy Drew stories in her third-grade notebook, and has been writing ever since. After publishing poetry in college she turned to novels. Her Regency historical romances have won or been placed in contests by the Romance Writers of America, Romantic Times magazine, National Readers’ Choice and the Daphne du Maurier Award. She lives with her husband in Texas. For news and contests visit juliajustiss.com (http://www.juliajustiss.com).
Also by Julia Justiss (#ub4740402-0535-5439-a1a6-1996a0340431)
Ransleigh Rogues miniseries
The Rake to Ruin Her
The Rake to Redeem Her
The Rake to Rescue Her
The Rake to Reveal Her
Hadley’s Hellions miniseries
Forbidden Nights with the Viscount
Stolen Encounters with the Duchess
Convenient Proposal to the Lady
Secret Lessons with the Rake
Sisters of Scandal miniseries
A Most Unsuitable Match
And look out for the next book
Coming soon
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk).
A Most Unsuitable Match
Julia Justiss
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-07414-8
A MOST UNSUITABLE MATCH
© 2018 Janet Justiss
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Eve and Lenora.
Words aren’t adequate to express my gratitude for
your love and support since the accident—especially
when finding time to write becomes so difficult. Every
time I’m about to give up in despair you pulled me
back from the edge. I love you guys!
Contents
Cover (#ueba80fc2-dbbf-5427-9d91-d4ba2302646b)
Back Cover Text (#uc69b214c-22a0-56cc-a3e0-954f2054a42c)
About the Author (#uda70985f-4d48-5dc6-befe-c57dd5df4df6)
Booklist (#u809b3418-5831-5207-bf19-5205648117e4)
Title Page (#u55a75ce6-f54c-5bb6-8d70-cea935e9539a)
Copyright (#ud3739695-c214-54a6-a731-3bcdf230db26)
Dedication (#u4120f827-26a2-5e27-90bd-0052339b0a6b)
Prologue (#u2ff7c455-a212-569f-bdef-88826ce95a59)
Chapter One (#u672770f2-fe11-5a39-afa4-4270d8df7367)
Chapter Two (#u1ea20cf5-8fc7-54d2-ba05-5cf5c8dd7f6c)
Chapter Three (#uc0d99543-6fa8-522c-ae02-665b1ccb3535)
Chapter Four (#ub287d393-5139-549b-bb78-415c98978c9c)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue (#ub4740402-0535-5439-a1a6-1996a0340431)
London—late March 1833
‘She’s done it again,’ Gregory Lattimar, oldest son and heir of Lord Vraux, said as he ushered his twin sisters, Temperance and Prudence, into the small salon of their Brook Street town house, where their aunt, Lady Stoneway, awaited them.
The vague foreboding she’d felt when her brother pulled Pru from happy contemplation of the latest fashions in Godfrey’sLady’s Magazine intensified into outright alarm. ‘What’s happened, Gregory? Whatever it is, surely we won’t have to delay our Season yet again!’
That pronouncement was met with a groan from her aunt, who came over to give Prudence a hug. ‘I’m so sorry, my dear! I thought for sure we’d be able to launch you girls this spring!’
‘So it’s no Season for us, eh?’ Temperance asked, crossing her arms as she regarded her brother grimly. ‘What’s the latest event to besmirch our reputations?’
‘Your brother heard about it over breakfast at the Club and summoned me for a strategy session straight away.’
‘A strategy session about what?’ Temperance cried.
‘Easy, Temper,’ Gregory said, putting a hand on her arm. ‘I’m about to tell you.’
Though, as usual, she suppressed the emotions her more volatile twin was expressing, Pru could hardly refrain from raising her own voice. ‘What happened, Gregory?’
‘Farnham. Well, not being officially out, you won’t have met him, but he’s recently down from Oxford and followed the usual convention of appearing enamoured of our mother. He and another young admirer, Lord Hallsworthy, have been snarling at each other around her like two dogs over a choice bone. Apparently last night, with both of them well in their cups, Farnham claimed Hallsworthy had insulted Mama’s virtue and challenged him to a duel. Which Hallsworthy accepted, the two of them dispensing with the usual protocol and going off at once to Hounslow Heath.’
‘At night?’ Temperance said incredulously. ‘Besides, I thought duelling was illegal—and out of fashion.’
‘There was a full moon and it is,’ Gregory said. ‘I don’t know what got into them. The upshot was, before anyone realised what was going on, Farnham put a ball into Hallsworthy. The friends who caught up with them took Hallsworthy to a surgeon, but he isn’t doing well. Farnham has fled to the Continent and, by now, the news of the duel, and over whom it was fought, is all over London.’
‘Well, I say “bravo, Mama!” if she’s still bewitching young men at her age,’ Temperance said defiantly.
‘If she only would consider how much her actions reflect upon us!’ Pru cried, beset by the familiar mix of admiration and resentment for her dazzling mother.
‘To be fair, it’s not her fault, Pru,’ Aunt Gussie said. ‘Paying court to London’s longest-reigning Beauty has been a rite of passage for young men coming down from university since the Season your mama debuted. You know she does nothing to encourage them. Quite the opposite.’
‘Which only intensifies their rivalry,’ Gregory observed with a sigh.
‘Mama has been trying to shield us, Pru,’ Temperance added. ‘Though she’s certainly had offers, she hasn’t taken any new lovers these last five years.’ At her aunt’s gasp, she snapped, ‘Oh, please, Aunt Gussie, there are no innocent maidens here. Not after what we’ve seen going on in this house.’
Though her sister didn’t blush, Pru felt her own cheeks heat at the reminder. They’d barely been out of leading strings when, even relegated to the nursery, they’d started noticing the parade of handsome men paying calls on their mother. They were hardly in their teens when they’d pieced together the whispers among the staff and come to understand exactly why.
‘The Vraux Miscellany,’ society called them. Knowing that only Gregory was truly the son of her legal father, while her brother Christopher and she and Temperance were acknowledged to be the offspring of other men.
Keenly as she felt this latest scandal, which might well delay once again her chance to find the love and family she yearned for, fairness compelled her to agree with her sister. ‘I know Mama has been trying to live less...flamboyantly, just as she promised us. For all the good that’s done,’ she added bleakly.
