Scandal, by Amanda Quick

Scandal, by Amanda Quick

From a stately country house in Hampshire to the dazzling drawing rooms of London Society, comes an exquisite tale of an elfin beauty, a vengeful lord, and a sweet love that is sheer poetry.

With her reputation forever tarnished by a youthful indiscretion, lovely Emily Faringdon is resigned to a life of spinsterhood, until she embarks on an unusual correspondence and finds herself falling head over heals in love. Sensitive, intelligent, and high-minded, her noble pen-pal seems to embody everything Emily has ever dreamed of in a man. But the mysterious Earl of Blade is not at all what he seems.

Driven by dark, smoldering passions and a tragic secret buried deep within his soul, Blade has all of London cowering at his feet, but not Emily... never Emily. For even as she surrenders to his seductive charms, she knows the real reason for his amorous wit. And she knows that she must reach the heart of his golden-eyed dragon before the avenging demons of their entwined pasts destroy the only love she has ever known...

This was the other AQ that I'd read in 1993. It's excellent too, a B+.

What I liked best here was how Quick dealt with having Emily in love with Simon the entire time and him knowing it. I don't usually like this, but it was excellently done in this case.

Emily was great, not really as naive and oblivious (especially in regards to her family and how they used her) as she appeared to be at the beginning. I loved how she was so sensible about Simon's intentions, and many situations which seemed ripe for a Big Misunderstanding. As for Simon, it was great to see how he softened and became so much more reasonable about his revenge. As it was, only those who really did deserve it were punished, and very fittingly at that.