A Scandal in Springtime

Portrait of a lady in a white dress (Marie Wandscheer)

This young lady looks ready to spend the evening at some soiree, but her expression is not one of delight. I think both of those things are fitting to pair with my book A Scandal in Springtime.

In this book, Kitty is spending time at her aunt and uncles home in town and attending some of the events of the season with her sister, Elizabeth (aka Mrs. Darcy). As she goes through her short season in town, Kitty is not always cheerful — mostly due to the excessive amount of talent that the always-proper-until-he-met-her Mr. Linton has for saying or doing something wrong. 🙂 (The poor man has Darcy beat in the how to offend a Bennet lady category!)

The excerpt I chose to share below is one of those times when Mr. Linton is making Kitty irritated, to say the least. I chose this time of his doing that because the lady in the painting is holding a rolled up paper, and Kitty has just attended a literary reading.

Oh, and one more thing before you read the excerpt: The Mr. Crawford who is mentioned is Henry Crawford (from my Other Pens series), who happens to be engaged to Mr. Linton’s sister.

Enjoy!

The Fanshawe’s Sitting Room (Edward Gennys Fanshaw)

The Fanshawe’s Sitting Room, Admiral Edward Gennys Fanshawe (27 November 1814 – 21 October 1906). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The following excerpt is from a conversation had in the Linton’s sitting room when Kitty and Elizabeth call on Mr. Trefor Linton’s sister Constance (who is betrothed to Henry Crawford).

“And then I created a list of ladies for him.”

Miss Bennet looked like she was going to faint away. “No! You did?”

Constance nodded. “It broke my heart to do it, but I had promised I would.”

Miss Bennet’s hand covered her heart as she shook her head. “How tragic.”

“There are several interesting bits to that tale, which I will tell you when we are not beset on every side by gentlemen,” Constance assured her. “Suffice it to say that none of the ladies on that list met with Mr. Crawford’s approval, and I was fortunate to gain his favour.”

Again, the romantic Miss Bennet sighed wistfully. But then, she sat up a little straighter, her eyes shining with excitement.

“Then, perhaps you could help me.”

“With what?” Trefor asked before he could think better of it.

“With behaving as I ought while in town. It is not that I am an improper lady like Mr. Crawford was an improper gentleman. I just have never been to town before, and, well, I would like to make a good impression. After all, I would like to marry someday, and, to be frank, there are not many gentlemen from whom to choose in Hertfordshire – at least, there are none to my liking,” she clarified.

“If Miss Linton helped me, perhaps her brother could help you by giving you a gentleman’s viewpoint,” Mr. Crawford suggested.

Miss Bennet shook her head vigorously. “That would not work.”

Trefor was inclined to agree. He had seen what had happened when he had allowed his sister to help Henry.

“I am certain I need a lady’s advice,” Miss Bennet continued as Trefor recalled the article in the paper with his sister’s name attached to it.

“Besides, Mr. Linton is far too provoking,” she concluded, bringing Trefor’s full attention back to the discussion at hand.

“I am provoking?” he asked incredulously.

“Yes.”

“I do not see how.”

Her brow furrowed as a scowl settle on her lips. “Must you always argue with me?”

“I do not argue with you. You argue with me,” he retorted. Blast! That was not what he should have said. It was not what he would have said to any other lady, other than his sister.

Miss Bennet rolled her eyes and, making a sweeping motion with her hand towards him, said to Constance, “You see what I mean?”

Constance laughed. “Yes, I know very well of what you speak. He provokes me regularly, but he means well – most of the time.”

“If you say so,” Miss Bennet replied, though she did not sound at all convinced of the fact.

[from A Scandal in Springtime]

A Scandal in Springtime can be found as a single title or as part of Darcy Family Holidays, Volume 1, which is on sale for $2.99 for the month of July.

For those who are interested and have not yet read it, Miss Linton and Henry’s story can be found here.

I Remember Spring (Robin Spielberg)

Welcome to a brand new week. Shall we start it with some relaxing piano music and a quote from a story?

If you’ve been following Charles’s story, which is currently posting on Fridays, you’ll recognize Trefor Linton, the hero of A Scandal in Springtime, as a fellow who follows the rules and is never the source of scandal. That is he wasn’t the source of scandal until he met Kitty Bennet and his world turned on its head. (FYI: This quote is from a conversation Charles and Trefor are having a ball.)

A Scandal in Springtime is book three in the Darcy Family Holidays series.

When Kitty’s world collides, quite literally, with Trefor Linton’s, the result is going to be a tantalizingly delicious tale that will set tongues wagging and make for a spring Kitty will always remember.

MAILING LIST PATREON

Music Monday: Angels from the Realms of Glory – The Piano Guys, Peter Hollens and David Archuleta

PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY PETER HOLLENS ON DECEMBER 14, 2014.

Christmas is almost here at the Brown residence. It won’t be an elaborate day of festivities. We tend to take a low key approach to the holiday. There will be presents — just a few, but not many — which we will unwrap once we ease our way into the day at a rather late hour. This will be followed by a Christmas breakfast with far too many indulgent items, and then later in the day, we will have a turkey dinner. It’s a lovely, relaxing day of rest for us — unless, of course, my husband has a job which must be completed when businesses are closed.

(He owns a cleaning business, and I have sat reading a book in the car as I waited for him to put a coat of wax on a floor before taking a drive to look at the Christmas lights while that coat of wax dries. Then, he’ll slip in another coat before we head home.)

For the next couple of weeks, I am intending to take it a bit easier than I normally do. I will still be writing and editing and such but at a more relaxed pace.

Music Monday: Dance of the Imagination (Greg Maroney)

Guess what starts tomorrow? 😀

Grace Love was not the sort of lady who sat on the side during dances. She was not the sort of lady who stayed at home when there was an outing to the park. She was not the sort of lady who avoided any sort of fun. Or, at least, she had not been such a lady until now. And all it had taken for Grace’s world to change had been one house party.

With eyes narrowed, she watched the progress of her sister’s hat as the carriage Felicity was perched in made its way down the street.

“Grace, dear, do not spill your tea on that chair.”

“Of course, Mama.” Grace pulled her attention back to the sitting room in the house they were renting for the season and away from her treacherous sister.

[from Her Secret Bea, Touches of Austen Book 3]

Provided to YouTube by CDBaby. Published on YouTube on July 5, 2015.

I had considered attempting to find songs with either the word secret or whisper in the title for each week that this story posts. However, I do not know how many weeks that will be, and I thought I might get bored of that. 😀 So, I might toss in a few secretively titled songs over the weeks but not every week. This week, I have selected a song that is on my Music to Write By playlist on Spotify that has a title which reflects what must happen as a story is being written. The imagination must dance! 🙂

And my imagination has been dancing. I am not sure how many conversations Mary and Wes have had in my mind this week. It all has to do with future possibilities, however, and not the portion of the story I am currently writing. They are even making it a bit of a challenge to focus on any other story but theirs. But then, we should expect Lord Westonbury to be a bit troublesome, shouldn’t we? LOL Continue reading Music Monday: Dance of the Imagination (Greg Maroney)