TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON

       AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG

       STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID

       PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND

      Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to

       Paula Marshall for her contribution to

       THE STEEPWOOD SCANDAL series.

      PAULA MARSHALL,

      married with three children, has had a varied life. She began her career in a large library and ended it as a university academic in charge of history. She has traveled widely, has been a swimming coach and has appeared on University Challenge and Mastermind. She has always wanted to write, and likes her novels to be full of adventure and humor.

      Other books in THE STEEPWOOD SCANDAL series:

      Lord Ravensden’s Marriage, by Anne Herries

      An Innocent Miss, by Elizabeth Bailey

      The Reluctant Bride, by Meg Alexander

      A Companion of Quality, by Nicola Cornick

      A Most Improper Proposal, by Gail Whitiker

      A Noble Man, by Anne Ashley

      An Unreasonable Match, by Sylvia Andrew

      An Unconventional Duenna, by Paula Marshall

      Counterfeit Earl, by Anne Herries

      The Captain’s Return, by Elizabeth Bailey

      The Guardian’s Dilemma, by Gail Whitiker

      Lord Exmouth’s Intentions, by Anne Ashley

      Mr. Rushford’s Honour, by Meg Alexander

      An Unlikely Suitor, by Nicola Cornick

      An Inescapable Match, by Sylvia Andrew

      The Missing Marchioness, by Paula Marshall

      Contents

      Prologue

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Prologue

      Spring 1812

      Athene Filmer, twenty years old, poor and illegitimate, had only one aim in life and that was to make a good marriage. She fully intended to marry a man who was not only rich but also had a title. By doing so she would settle her mother for life as well as herself. Today, out of the blue, an opportunity had come for her to achieve her ambition and all her mother could do was try to make her reject it!

      “For goodness sake, Athene,” she was saying, “if you must accept this offer of a London Season from Mrs Tenison, I must beg you to be careful. It may be my own sad experience which is affecting my judgement, but I should not wish you to end up as I have done—a lonely woman in a country village. I would much rather that you stayed with me than risk that.”

      The country village to which Mrs Charlotte Filmer referred was Steep Ride, where she and her daughter lived in what was little more than a cottage, ambitiously called Datchet House. Steep Ride was pleasantly situated in the wooded neighbourhood of Steepwood Abbey, not far from the River Steep and its tributary which ran through the Abbey grounds.

      Mrs Filmer was, not without reason, looking anxiously at her daughter. Alas, Athene was not only clever, but she was also determined and wilful—one might almost call her headstrong! In that she was the opposite of her mother, who was gentle and retiring, and whose one lapse from the straight and narrow path of virtue had been cruelly punished. In her first and only Season the young man whom she had loved had betrayed her, and though she called herself Mrs she had never been married. Her one consolation lay in her pride in her beautiful child.

      “Dear Mama,” said Athene, leaning forward affectionately and kissing her anxious parent, “I shall only be going as a mixture of a companion and a friend for my dear old schoolfellow, Emma. You may be sure that Mrs Tenison will keep a firm eye on both of us. Depend upon it, she will not allow me to outshine Emma, since her intention is to secure a good match for her.”

      “She will have no trouble doing that,” fretted Mrs Filmer. “What I do not understand is why she isn’t engaging some decent, middle-aged woman to look after her rather than trying to persuade you to be her companion. After all, you are not very much older than Emma and might be considered to need a guardian or a chaperon yourself.”

      “Now, Mama, you know as well as I do what a timid little thing Emma is. The sort of dragon you are describing would extinguish her, whereas I am her good friend and guardian from her school-days who protected her when she needed protection. I am also old enough for her to look up to me, but not so ancient and stern that I frighten her. I shall stand between her and the Tenisons’ sponsor, Lady Dunlop, who is somewhat of a dragon. Besides, would you deprive me of the delights of a London Season because you were unfortunate? You were young and inexperienced in the ways of the world, whereas I have had the benefit for the last few years of being made aware by you of the traps which await the innocent in the often cruel world of the ton.”

      “There is that,” sighed her mother. “Nevertheless…”

      “Nevertheless nothing,” said Athene firmly. She had the advantage of always having won her arguments with her mother in the past. Her own internal reaction when Mrs Tenison had called earlier that afternoon with her exciting proposal had been: At last! Here is the chance I have always