A Loving Scoundrel

Book excerpt: This “delightfully engaging” (RT Book Reviews) entry in New York Times bestselling author Johanna Lindsey’s Malory-Anderson Family series follows the son of a gentleman pirate as he falls in love with the streetwise young woman he hires as his maid. When Danny, a young woman from the streets of London with no memory of her real family, helps handsome rakehell Jeremy Malory steal back the jewels his friend lost in a card game, she is kicked out of her gang. She demands Jeremy give her a legitimate job so she can become respectable. Intrigued by her beauty and spunk, Jeremy hires Danny as his upstairs maid, although he really wants her to be his mistress. Under the tutelage of Jeremy and his cousin Regina, Danny blossoms into a lady. Although she is drawn to Jeremy by a passion she has never experienced before, she refuses to be anything more than a servant to him. But when she undergoes a Cinderella-like transformation and poses as Jeremy’s new love interest in an attempt to help him avert a scandal, his aristocratic peers can’t help but notice how familiar Danny looks. Now tongues are wagging, raising the question of her true identity, which threatens not only Danny’s chances of capturing Jeremy’s heart but also her very life. Filled with Johanna Lindsey’s “signature blend of witty writing [and] charmingly unique characters” (Booklist), A Loving Scoundrel is a sparkling romance classic that will stay with you long after you turn the final page.