Scandalous heroines by Courtney Milan, Grace Burrowes, Celeste Bradley, Kate Noble
Authors Courtney Milan (The Suffragette Scandal), Grace Burrowes (The Captive), Celeste Bradley (With This Ring) and Kate Noble (The Game and the Governess) answer a burning question for HEA …
Q: What is your heroine's most scandalous action?
Courtney Milan on Frederica from The Suffragette Scandal
Frederica "Free" Marshall was one of the first women to graduate from university. When no editor would publish the exposé she wrote on government lock hospitals — hospitals where prostitutes suspected of having syphilis were locked up for years on end — she started her own newspaper. In the years that have followed, she's not backed down from a fight.
The only scandal that Free has managed to avoid is one involving a man. And once Edward Clark — forger, blackmailer, and liar extraordinaire — appears in her life, that's finally going to change.
Grace Burrowes on Gillian from The Captive
Gilly has no interest in scandal. She's paid her dues by being a dutiful wife for eight years, and all she seeks now is the peace and quiet of contented widowhood. She wants no parts of controversy or conflict, but alas, a young cousin isn't faring well. Because Gilly knows how it feels to be an isolated, unhappy female without a champion, she confronts the girl's father.
Confronting dukes is not the most socially acceptable undertaking, and Gilly does this in His Grace's home, long after proper visiting hours, and with the intention of scolding His Grace into behaving like a loving papa. Scolding a duke is also not the done thing, but scolding a national hero, recently returned from captivity in French hands, qualifies as ill-advised in the extreme.
The duke is a canny fellow, though, and recognizes that Gilly wouldn't approach him at all, ever, but for her concern for his daughter. To the contrary, Gilly's courage and disregard for convention earn his admiration, much to her — pleasant — surprise.
Celeste Bradley on Elektra from With This Ring
Middle daughter Elektra Worthington is the most normal person in her happily impoverished and unconventional family. She seems to be the only one who is disturbed by the disintegration of the house, the siblings and the Worthington name. Therefore, fiercely indomitable Elektra is determined to bag the catch of the Season — wealthy, titled and ideally oblivious to social tittle-tattle.
Although she loves them all fiercely, the madcap Worthington family is much too eccentric to be considered truly respectable by Society. As fate would have it, Elektra encounters Lord Aaron Arbogast in a countryside inn and learns that he has been abroad for the last decade. At last, a man of wealth and status who has never heard of the Worthingtons!
A flawless plan emerges — or so Elektra believes.
For although she is willing to do anything to bring her exasperating family back to wealth and respectability, Elektra's hopes are dashed when she kidnaps her prospective groom, only to learn that she has bagged his disturbingly handsome manservant instead!
Oh dear, what a pickle.
Kate Noble on Phoebe from The Game and the Governess
The most daring thing Phoebe Baker has ever done is write a letter.
When she was 17, her father's death left her destitute, and she knew exactly who was to blame — the Earl of Ashby. So, before she embarked upon her new, constrained life as a governess, Phoebe wrote the Earl a letter, condemning him for the careless choices he made that led to her father's demise.
Seven years later, she never expects the earl to turn up at her employer's door.
Luckily, he doesn't seem to remember the letter. And Phoebe is more than happy to spend the next two weeks of the earl's visit dodging him, and staying to the corners, like governesses are meant to do. Unfortunately, the earl's secretary, Mr. Turner, keeps turning up in those corners where she happens to be, smiling at her. And soon enough, Phoebe finds herself smiling back … and gradually remembering the fanciful, hopeful girl she used to be.
But Mr. Turner has a secret of his own: He's not who he says he is. And when Phoebe finds out his real identity, will she be able to see him with the same eyes? Or will she do something truly scandalous?
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