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    Summer of Discontent: A Short Story
    Summer of Discontent: A Short Story
    Summer of Discontent: A Short Story
    Ebook67 pages1 hour

    Summer of Discontent: A Short Story

    By M. C. Beaton

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    About this ebook

    In this Regency romance novella, a proper young English lady spends her summer getting into mischief by masquerading as a servant girl.

    Cassandra, or Cassie to her friends, sticks out like a redheaded weed amidst her family of tidy blooms. At Bramfield Park, Cassie’s prim parents and attractive older sister, Sophia, wish for nothing but an advantageous marriage for their eldest and prettiest—and for Cassie to stay out of the way. But when the surprisingly charming Lord Peter Courtney pays Bramfield a visit to take in Cassie’s father’s renowned collection of art—and, if the Earl of Wychhaven has anything to say about it, to add his daughter Sophia to Courtney’s own collection—fate throws Cassie and the Lord together under most extraordinary circumstances. What began with a simple ruse to aid a friend grows more complex as Cassie’s feelings for Lord Peter grow stronger, and soon she finds herself in over her head…

    From the New York Times–bestselling author of the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth series, M. C. Beaton’s Regency romance novella, The Summer of Discontent, delivers an enchanting summertime tale of mistaken identities, unlikely friendships, and unexpected love.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateApr 19, 2016
    ISBN9780795348501
    Summer of Discontent: A Short Story
    Author

    M. C. Beaton

    M. C. Beaton (1936-2019), the “Queen of Crime” (The Globe and Mail), was the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Agatha Raisin novels -- the basis for the hit show on Acorn TV and public television -- as well as the Hamish Macbeth series and the Edwardian Murder Mysteries featuring Lady Rose Summer. Born in Scotland, she started her career writing historical romances under several pseudonyms and her maiden name, Marion Chesney. In 2006, M.C. was the British guest of honor at Bouchercon.

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      Book preview

      Summer of Discontent - M. C. Beaton

      The Summer of Discontent

      M.C. Beaton

      The Summer of Discontent

      Copyright © 1992 by Marion Chesney

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

      Electronic edition published 2016 by RosettaBooks

      Cover design by Brehanna Ramirez

      ISBN (EPUB): 9780795348501

      ISBN (Kindle): 9780795348518

      www.RosettaBooks.com

      Contents

      The Summer of Discontent

      Other Books by M.C. Beaton

      The Summer of Discontent

      At first it looked as if it was going to be the usual English summer, chill winds and driving rain. But then, at the end of June, the sun shone down and one lazy hot day began to follow the next.

      Bramfield Park, home of the Earl of Wychhaven and his family, should therefore have been a place of sunshine and calm, undisturbed by any ripple of the realities of life that plagued most of the rest of Regency England. After all, the earl was armored in great wealth and lineage, and he had one of the most beautiful daughters in England.

      But discontent prowled the cool, handsome rooms of his stately home and added lines to the face of his countess. For the beauty of the family, Sophia, had appeared in London at yet another Season, and, horror of horrors, she had not taken. In other words, she was back at Bramfield Park without one single proposal of marriage.

      Her parents could not understand it. They were a fastidious couple, both elegant and mannered. Their home reflected their exquisite taste, and, to them, Sophia was everything that pleased the eye: tall and statuesque, graceful, thick glossy brown hair, a darling of a straight nose, a rosebud of a mouth, and versed in all the arts to entrap a man from the flutter of a fan to white arms plucking the harp in the drawing room.

      Perhaps if it had just been the London Season that had been the theater of Sophia’s failure, they could have borne it. But they had taken her to Brighton in the wake of the Prince Regent. Sophia had even danced at the Royal Pavilion. But no suitors had arrived at the Wychhavens’ expensively rented house on the Steyne.

      Uncle Wilbur, the earl’s brother, had said that they might try puffing off their other daughter, Cassandra, but this was treated as yet another sign of old Wilbur’s dotage.

      If Sophia had failed so miserably, how could such as Cassandra succeed?

      Cassandra—Cassie to her friends and family—was a sad disappointment to her stylish parents. She was small and slight in stature, clumsy and coltish, and worst of all, she had red hair. Not auburn, pure flaming, unadulterated red. Red hair was associated with the Scotch race and therefore unfashionable. Had not the great Duke of Wellington shaved his son’s eyebrows because they were red?

      So as the days passed and the heat increased and the various relatives and houseguests of the Wychhavens began to wilt, Cassie escaped more and more into the countryside. She disliked her sister, Sophia, and occasionally felt quite guilty about that dislike even though Sophia had earned it. Sophia could be very cruel and was always taunting Cassie about her lack of looks.

      Then one day a stone dropped into the stagnant pond of Bramfield Park.

      The earl had received a letter from Lord Peter Courtney. Lord Peter, like the earl, was a great art collector, and he was returning to England from the Grand Tour. He had gone on the tour immediately after leaving the army and had not graced society for many years. He was reported to be thirty-two.

      In his letter Lord Peter had expressed a wish to see the earl’s collection. The earl promptly wrote back, saying they would be delighted to receive him, and then he and his countess fell into an orgy of plans for making a match for Sophia with Lord Peter.

      Into the animated discussion of those plans cut the dry voice of one of their guests, Mr. Jensen. I have heard Courtney is a cold fish, he declared. Got ice water running in his veins.

      Nonsense, said the earl. He has written a charming letter. I understand him to be a fastidious man of great intelligence.

      Mr. Jensen stifled a yawn. Wasn’t that just what I was saying? A cold fish.

      Cassie dreaded Lord Peter’s arrival. She felt she had enough chilly, fastidious people in her life without a possible brother-in-law joining their ranks.

      So on the day when Lord Peter was due to arrive, Cassie went down to the kitchens and persuaded the French chef to give her a basket of

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