Lady Mimolette Lindsey harbored a secret. Because of it, she turns down all dance requests, consigning herself to wallflower status. This only pours difficulties over the dire predicaments she faces. Her late father, the Earl of Bathmorris, had been an eccentric profligate who named all his children after cheeses and spent his fortune on fake antiquities. They were nearly out of funds... moreLady Mimolette Lindsey harbored a secret. Because of it, she turns down all dance requests, consigning herself to wallflower status. This only pours difficulties over the dire predicaments she faces. Her late father, the Earl of Bathmorris, had been an eccentric profligate who named all his children after cheeses and spent his fortune on fake antiquities. They were nearly out of funds. With her brother Edam still at Oxford, Mimolette must find husbands for her younger sisters, Treccia and Ovolina during this year’s Season. Unfortunately, they were no beauties, from a dubious family, and in need of a swift education in dancing and manners her father neglected to provide. There were many wallflowers this Season, like herself and her sisters, destined to never be asked to dance, with little hope of romance. Mimolette devised a devilish plan, organizing the wallflowers, creating the needed circumstances to garner dances and perhaps find husbands. Revenge for the passing snubs of coxcombs and bucks also figured in her schemes. Her stratagems were working too, until an obnoxiously arrogant Major Lord John Tremaine decided, as an amusing lark, to insert himself into their “game.” Or did he mean to spoil it altogether? Nine years of bloody war were over, leaving John Tremaine with nightmares and at loose ends. The second son of a marquis, he joined the cavalry, only to inherit a fine estate from a maiden aunt upon his return from France. Being set for life, with no direction since the cessation of hostilities, entertainment and carousing proved the most expedient attractions for forgetting the war. Crashing one of the first balls of the season, he spied a mysterious beauty sitting among a gaggle of ‘plain janes,’ and sought an introduction. His friends warned him off, claiming Lady Lindsey was dangerous. Whatever his goal, any introduction invariably led to dancing with one or more of those nature’s unfortunates who gathered around the lady. His friends claimed it was sorcery. The forewarning only piqued Tremaine’s interest, the most intriguing hum he’d come across since coming home. He fenagled an introduction, though he had to bribe his best friend to approach the lady. He grinned, anticipating the fun he would have uncovering this incognita’s machinations. less
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