Kisses and Scandal

by Shana Galen

  Kisses and Scandal

  A Survivors Novella Anthology

  Shana Galen

  KISSES AND SCANDAL

  Copyright © 2020 by Shana Galen

  Cover Design by The Killion Group, Inc.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Acknowledgments and Dedication

  Kisses and Scandal

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Counterfeit Scandal

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  How to Brew a Perfect Kiss

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  About the Author

  Also by Shana Galen

  Acknowledgments and Dedication

  Thank you to Kim Killion for the lovely cover of the anthology. Gratitude to Abby Saul for editing, copyediting, formatting, and everything else she does. Thank you to the Shananigans for their support and to Sarah Rosenbarker for her proofreading skills. Special thanks to Gayle Cochrane for all her help and for being such a great friend.

  This book is dedicated to Theresa Romain, Minerva Spencer, and Janna MacGregor. These authors worked with me on the two novellas in the anthology that were previously published, and they inspired and encouraged me through the process of writing.

  Kisses and Scandal

  One

  Philomena shivered in the drafty dining room of the grand country house—and not only because of the snow swirling outside. The snow was light and feathery and would melt before noon. Her mother’s wrath would last much longer.

  “Philomena, I simply do not understand what would cause you to do such a thing,” the duchess said for perhaps the third time in so many minutes. “Viscount Knoxwood is not yet forty, has all his teeth and a full head of hair, and is, if not wealthy, not in the poor house. Why on earth would you refuse his offer?”

  Phil pushed her toast to one side of the plate and back again. The trick here was not to allow her gaze to stray to the other side of the room. She had to focus on her plate or her mother. “Mama, I do think marriage should be based on more than finding a man who is not elderly and has a full head of hair.”

  It was the wrong thing to say. Her mother set her teacup down with a clatter. Phil cringed.

  “I agree. Marriage should be based on mutual respect. Viscount Knoxwood has been courting you for the last six months and has shown nothing but respect. The sacrament of marriage should be entered into by equals, and you and he are of the same social rank.”

  Phil stared very, very hard at her plate.

  “And, though I know this is out of fashion, a marriage should forge an alliance. Viscount Knoxwood has several estates. Your dowry would help him make the repairs and improvements he wants, enriching both our family and his. So tell me, please do, what is your objection?”

  Phil shrugged.

  “Do not shrug your shoulders, Philomena. It is unladylike.”

  Phil looked directly at her mother. “I don’t love him, Mama.”

  This was really the wrong thing to say. The duchess looked as though she might throw her teacup across the room. “Listen to me, Philomena. I do not want to hear another word about love from you. I have had quite enough of that from your brother. If Phineas wants to ruin his life by marrying a woman old enough to be his mother then taking up with her in Berkshire, of all places, that is his mistake.”

  “She isn’t quite that old, Mama.”

  “She is too old to bear him an heir, and now what will become of the title?”

  The Mayne title was in little danger of extinction, but Phil knew her mother did not wish to be corrected. Wisely, she kept her mouth closed.

  “You are the last of my children. I have seen four sons put in the grave and one daughter whose husband has been disgraced. My only living son has made a mésalliance I have little choice but to accept. But you, Philomena, you will marry well, and you will make me proud.” The duchess rose. She was not a tall woman, but she stood very straight, which gave her the appearance of height. “Either make the decision yourself, or I will make it for you. You have one month from today.”

  With that shocking pronouncement, the Dowager Duchess of Mayne strode out of the room, her skirts swishing.

  Phil waited a full minute before raising her eyes to the sideboard. James stood there in his light blue livery. His back was straight, his eyes focused on an indistinct spot across the room, his face expressionless. Of course, the footman had heard every word, but one would never guess it from his behavior.

  Phil lifted her teacup and drank deeply, all but draining the cup. As if on cue, James lifted the teapot and came to stand beside her. “More tea, me lady?”

  “Yes, please.” She held the teacup in place while he lowered the pot. By raising her arm just slightly, she grazed the underside of his wrist with the outside of hers. Of course, he wore white gloves, but she could see the slightly darker color of his flesh between glove and coat sleeve. He lifted the teapot, and his gaze met hers briefly. She nodded and he withdrew, back to his spot across the room, though it might as well have been an ocean away.

  PHIL WORKED DILIGENTLY on her correspondence for the next hour or two. This was no easy task with her mother at the desk behind her. The two had often written their letters in the morning room in companionable silence, but the silence this morning was strained. Phil’s hand shook as she wrote and she blotted her ink several times, forcing her to begin letters anew. Each time she crumpled a sheet of ruined vellum, her mother would huff as though disappointed. Finally, the clock chimed eleven and Phil rose.

  “Have you finished your letter to Aunt Joyce?” her mother asked without looking at her.

  “I have, Mama.”

  “It seems a bad idea to ride today. There might be ice.” Her mother continued to write, her pen scratching the paper in front of her.

  “I thought I would take a walk. I trust that is acceptable.”

  Her mother made a sound of acquiescence and Phil started away.

  “Perhaps I shall join you,” the duchess remarked, looking up and out the window. The sun was shining now, glittering off the quickly melting snow making a thin covering on the grounds.

  Phil held her breath. Everything inside her screamed no, but she couldn’t very well say it aloud. Her mother would want to know why she shouldn’t go out walking with her daughter, and Phil had no answer for that.

  Finally she said, “Shall I have Miss O’Malley bring your pelisse, gloves, and hat?”

  Her mother made a face. “Never mind. That seems a lot of trouble to look at dead trees and grass.

  Phil blew out a silent breath of relief.

  “I’ll have Cook put out some cold dishes about one o’ clock. Help yourself if you’re
feeling peckish.”

  “Yes, Mama.”

  “We will have guests for dinner.”

  Phil paused, trying to remember who was coming to dinner. She’d ask Miss Dawson, her lady’s maid. Feeling lighter than she had in days, Phil rushed up to her chamber and found Dawson laying out several of her dresses. She saw a pretty green one she would have liked to change into as it made her eyes look even bluer, but it was a spring and summer dress, and winter hadn’t quite loosened its grip on the world. Phil decided to content herself with the warm dove gray dress she had donned this morning.

  “What are you doing, Dawson?” she asked.

  “I’m looking to see if these dresses need mending. I know we travel to Town in a few days to order your gowns for the Season, but you can still wear these from last year when you are at home.”

  Phil sat on the edge of the bed and let her fingers trail over last year’s gowns. Each of them held a memory of dancing and music and garden parties. She had always looked forward to the Season before. But this year the riot of balls and routs held little appeal for her. She would have rather stayed in the country. Her mother’s pronouncement meant that by the time she attended her first ball of the Season, she would be engaged.

  “Mama says we have guests for dinner. Do you remember who?’

  “It’s Reverend Maypole, Mrs. Maypole, Viscount Knoxwood, his mother, and sisters, my lady.”

  “Oh. That should prove awkward.”

  Dawson gave her mistress a sympathetic look. “Perhaps it will snow this afternoon and the roads will be impassable.”

  Phil rolled her eyes. That was about as likely as her mother agreeing to allow her to marry their footman. She stood. “I should take my opportunity to go for a walk now then. I don’t want to be out if the weather does miraculously turn. Can you help me change into my boots and cloak?”

  That done, Phil pinched her cheeks to give them some color then lightly descended the stairs and went out the door.

  HE HATED HOW HIS HEART sped up when he saw her coming. It wasn’t just because she was beautiful—though she was incredibly beautiful. And it wasn’t because she was rich—though she was almost as rich as she was beautiful. This was more than attraction or greed. This was something he hadn’t counted on and really couldn’t afford.

  She spotted him a moment later, and he knew the exact moment because her smile widened and lit up her face. He’d heard that expression before, of course, but he’d never seen it actually happen until he’d met her. Her face actually seemed to shine brighter when she saw him. In those moments, he couldn’t even see her beauty. All he could see was her.

  “Sure and ye take my breath away when ye smile like that,” he said when she was close enough to hear him.

  It seemed impossible, but her smile widened. “You do have quite the way with words, Mr. Finnegan.”

  “I save them all for ye, me lady.”

  She stopped to stand under the eaves of the rear of the dowager house. She’d walked the long way around so that she approached from the back, not the front, which could be seen from the grounds of Southmeade Cottage. It always made James smile when he thought of the name of the sprawling country house. It was the largest, grandest cottage he had ever seen. Even the dowager house boasted eight bed chambers.

  Lady Philomena wrinkled her nose. “Why so formal? You know I hate when you call me my lady.”

  “Then call me James, and I’ll call ye—what did we decide? Mena?”

  She shook her head. “Phil. That’s what everyone calls me.”

  He could smell her scent. It was subtle, floral and earthy, and reminded him of heather. He wanted to move closer but forced himself to stay where he was. “It’s hardly a name that suits ye.”

  “Neither is Mena. That’s for a petite girl with black hair like yours. I’m far too tall and my hair too yellow for the name Mena.”

  He would have described her hair a thousand ways before he’d call it yellow; it was more gold than silver, more sunlight than starlight.

  He almost made another quip, but he noticed she was shivering. It was a cold day, and they’d met on other cold days. Once or twice, they’d even gone inside the house. Lady Philomena had the key, but he couldn’t be the one to suggest it. “Yer shivering.”

  “The damp, I think.” She fished in the pocket of her cloak and pulled out a key. “Shall we go in?”

  He took the key from her gloved hand and opened the door, holding it so she could pass through first. The fact that she trusted him enough to be alone with him humbled him. He did not deserve that trust. But then she didn’t know that, did she? She had no reason not to trust him. He’d never done anything she didn’t want, though adhering to that pledge—one he’d made to himself—just about killed him. As many times as he’d met her alone, he had only kissed her a handful of times, and most of those had been as chaste a kiss as a boy gave his grandmother.

  He pulled back the Holland cover on the couch and eyed the dark hearth in the sitting room they usually sat in. “Sure and I wish I could light the fire.”

  “That would give us away.” She patted the couch cushion beside her. “Sit here, and I’ll be warm enough.”

  He did, careful not to touch her. The small distance between them didn’t stop him from feeling her heat.

  “Do ye want to talk about it then?” he asked.

  She paused in the act of removing her hat. “Talk about what?”

  “Oh, so it’s to be that way. I was in the dining room, and though we act like we’re deaf, servants hear everything.”

  “I know.” She surprised him by reaching over and putting her hand on top of his. He wasn’t wearing gloves. His gloves were for work. He had two pair, and they had to remain spotless if he was to serve at dinner and other meals. He couldn’t afford to soil them and had left them in his rooms before sneaking out this afternoon. He could feel the heat of her gloved hand on his skin.

  “It’s just that I want to forget all of that for a little while.”

  “We’ve forgotten it for months. I don’t think we can put it aside much longer. Ye have to marry, Phil. Ye should have said yes to Knoxwood.”

  She made a face. “I don’t want to marry him. He’s a decent enough man, but...” She looked at James, and the implication was clear. Knoxwood wasn’t him. James should have been glad she thought herself in love with him. It was what he’d wanted. But he couldn’t rejoice.

  “A decent enough man is nothing to scoff at. And don’t look at me like that. Ye know ye can’t marry an Irishman. And even if I wasn’t Irish, I’m a footman. I’m no match for a duke’s daughter.”

  “I never said anything about marriage.” She tossed her head in an effort to look unconcerned, but he saw the sparkle of tears in her eyes before she looked away. “I may never marry. I may devote myself to the role of maiden aunt to my nieces and nephew or perhaps I’ll travel abroad and see the grand cities of the world.”

  “Without a chaperone?” he asked, his brows raised.

  She looked back at him. “You could be my chaperone.”

  He laughed until he noticed she wasn’t smiling. “Ye can’t be serious. How would we live?”

  “I don’t know. We’d find a way, wouldn’t we?”

  They could. They would. For an instant he wanted nothing more than to take her away right that moment, but he couldn’t do that to her. He couldn’t ruin her life. She’d end up hating him for it, and he’d hate himself.

  Christ Jaysus. When had he become so fecking noble? It was like a disease he caught when he was near her.

  She was still looking at him with hope in her eyes. He shook his head. “Ye were born the daughter of a duke, and I won’t be the man who’s responsible for making ye starve. As much as I want to”—and Jaysus did he want to—“I won’t run away with ye.”

  The hope in her eyes faded, replaced with an expression he found more concerning—determination. Her eyes could turn from the soft blue of the summer sky to the hard blue of sapphir
es in a matter of seconds. The sapphires glittered at him now.

  “I wonder if I can change your mind,” she said. He looked down and saw she’d drawn off her gloves, revealing long-fingered white hands that were as soft as clouds.

  “Sure and ye can try, but I care too much for ye to do as ye ask.” He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. Now that he’d refused her outright, she’d probably storm out, angry at his rejection. He’d miss these clandestine meetings, but it was for the best. He could never be the man she deserved. He wasn’t even the man she thought he was.

  She reached out, but instead of slapping him, she touched his cheek. The feel of her fingers stroking his skin from cheek to jaw made him freeze, even while his flesh heated where her fingers stroked.

  “I love the feel of you under my fingertips,” she murmured. “Your beard is rough.”

  “I shaved early this morning,” he corrected. Footmen were clean-shaven, forcing him to shave twice some days. He’d always had thick dark hair that grew quickly. Mrs. Johnson, the housekeeper, trimmed his unruly hair every fortnight.

  “And yet, it scratches the pads of my fingers. I wonder...” She leaned closer, and James frowned. He should stand up, move away, but he didn’t so much as breathe as she pressed close, sliding the skin of her soft cheek against his coarse jaw.

  “Phil,” he murmured, his tone a warning. He kept his hands on his knees, though they itched to take her into his arms. Her lips grazed his jaw, and he closed his eyes, willing his body to remain under control. When, after a long, teasing trail, her mouth finally reached his, she kissed him gently. Summoning all his fortitude, he kissed her back—a press of mouth to mouth. But when he pulled back, she followed.

  “What are ye doing?” he asked, his brogue heavier now with the effort to contain his arousal. They’d never gone further than a quick touch of lips, and even that was dangerous to them both.

  “Why don’t you ever kiss me like you want to?”

  His brows shot up. “And what do ye know about what men want?”