ONE NIGHT OF SCANDAL

CHAPTER ONE

Roselyn Jane Rialto was coming out. Unfortunately, what she was coming out of was the balcony of her brother-in-law's uptown mansion, clinging for dear life to the trellis that supported the full-bloomed roses. The flounces of her sea foam green gown were impossibly tangled within the elaborate wooden plaits of the trellis.

A telltale sound of the expensive material signaled yet another flounce ripping cleanly off the gown, causing Roselyn to grasp more ferociously the fragile damask roses, a wayward thorn embedding itself into the soft flesh of the pad of her thumb. She swore silently to herself as bright red drops of crimson began to fall.

"Roz! What the bloody hell do you want me to do? The whole trellis is going to fall down, you included!"

Roz lifted her head upward at the normally composed voice of Lorelei Mosside, now escaping in a high-pitched, frantic wail. Her best friend clung to the railing of the marble balcony, her hazel eyes wide and chestnut hair pinned in a neat chignon. A few wisps fell over her brow as she leaned further down, peering at Roz. Her pert face suddenly went aghast and she drew a hand to her ample bosom offset by her low cut maroon gown. "Goodness gracious, Roselyn! Will you please cover up down there!"

Roz arched a brow at Lorelei before glancing down at her once magnificently crafted gown—a luxury imported from Paris just for her ball by her Devon—to find that the lovely neckline that was adorned with tiny sea foam green roses and glittering crystal beads had most unfortunately torn in her tirade with the trellis, and one of the roses hung sadly limp, revealing a breast. Roz elicited a laugh in spite of herself, as she untangled a set of fingers from the trellis to hold the material in a more modest manner. Alas, this gesture is just what a mischievous Pan must have aspired for—on the night of her debut into society nonetheless-- for as soon as the released her grasp to cover up, she felt the trellis begin to buckle from under her and knew she too would fall with it.

Without bothering to glance up at Lorelei, her eyes too transfixed on the window that opened to the darkened room before her, she shouted up to her friend, "Remind me why I am on this trellis staring into this contemptible window?"

"Because!" Lorelei called back, poorly concealing the mirth in her voice, "Georgiana Walker supposedly has that newsboy Spot Conlon in her bedroom right this very moment!"

"Oh, right," Roz sighed, her eyes betraying her listless tone and glittering devilishly, as the trellis finally collapsed under her weight and she fell into the darkness below.

***

Spot Conlon was like an eager child on Christmas, impatiently awaiting to open his present, and Georgiana Walker was said present….said chaste, pure, virgin present.

He could feel the white-hot warmth flood his groin merely just by drinking in her sight. He released an unrequited groan.

She stood with her back to him, garbed in only her crinoline, tied in a tidy bow at the small of her back. Her top was free of any clothing, revealing the creamy white flesh of her back, which a fall of luxurious ashy brown hair cascaded down. She looked over her shoulder at him, her dark, gilded lashes fluttering and her full, reddened lips pouting.

"Why, my dear Mr. Conlon," she purred, her dark eyes locking upon his. "I do daresay that I have heard of your great reputation." Those luscious lips curled into a smirk and Spot felt his heart drop to the floor. His trousers suddenly felt unbearably tight and he wanted to have his hands all over any part of that alabaster skin they could touch. There was no two ways about it; Miss Walker was a cock-tease. Then again, most rich girls with prim and proper exteriors usually turned out to be the wildest…and most desperate for some fun.

But he would play her game. He returned the smirk as he ran a hand carelessly through his dirty blond hair. "And uh, what exactly have you heard of my so-called 'great reputation,' Miss Walker?" He closed the distance between them in her room until he was a few mere inches behind her. He ducked his head close to her ear and held his hands aloft, so they almost grasped her shoulders.

Georgiana seemed somewhat taken aback by his unabashed manner, as her bee-stung lips fell open and her eyes widened, but she still did not uncross her arms from across her chest that shrouded her lovely breasts. If he wanted to have those lovely breasts in his hands before her brother came to collect her, he had better kick up the charm and act fast. He drew his mouth to her ear, gently nuzzling aside her hair, and whispered into her ear, his voice husky and breath hot, "You wouldn't mean this reputation, now would you, Miss Walker?"

And with his long, elegant fingers, he caught her shoulders in his experienced grasp, and spun her round expertly into him. Before she could react, he pulled her into him and brought his lips feverishly to his. She released a sigh of protest, momentarily pulling away from the embrace, but her sighs soon turned to moans of delight and she was seduced fully and completely by his skilled wiles. One hand wove into her tangles of hair, and he sharply snapped her head back, lowering his lips to her creamy neck. He could feel the pulse quickening beneath his lips. He took his chance, now that she was rendered utterly defenseless, and brought a hand to a full, luscious breast.

Georgiana elicited a broken exhalation of pleasure as Spot trailed his practiced lips down her neck, over her collarbone, down to the nipple…Spot knew the warmth in his groin was about to bubble over and explode, when there was a sudden burst of curt raps on the bedroom door.

Georgiana's eyes suddenly fluttered open and her body went rigid. She uttered a gasp. A second set of knocks came, followed by a matronly voice. "Miss Walker, are you ready miss? We have to finish getting you dressed for Miss Rialto's debut tonight!"

Georgiana issued a squeak, and glanced down at Spot, catching her gaze and still suckling on her breast as thought he were an infant. As a third series of knocks filled the room, a grand panic seemed to overtake the girl for she quickly pushed Spot off her, sending stumbling backwards and almost slamming his ass into a vanity.

"Yes, Mary, yes I am coming!" Georgiana called over her shoulder at the maid who had come to collect her for her older brother.

She turned back to Spot, her eyes wide, hair an utter wreck, and lips still swollen from kisses. She appeared to Spot to look rather like a deer caught in the aim of a hunter's bow, before she finally found her composure and narrowed her eyes. As he still struggled to catch his sense of balance, Georgiana stormed over him, her pace deadly quick, and spun him around, ushering him hurriedly towards the bedroom window.

"You have to leave now before Aaron finds you here! Go now!"

He had dared many swift escapes to flee angry husbands, but this was absurd.

Before Spot could sputter a response to the half naked debutante, Georgiana had him at the open window. Spot was too flabbergasted at the speed by which the events had turned ill in his favor to protest her giving him a hardy push out the window and into the smoldering summer night.

Spot released a yell only when he realized his feet were no longer in Miss Georgiana Walker's sleeping chambers, but treading darkened air.

***

The events of that night should have unfolded in a decidedly different fashion for Roz.

She should have never been tangled up in that trellis, yet at her debut, which would most likely be commencing now. A debut, in which the debutante in honor would be untimely late.

She knew the orchestra would begin to play the first notes of her entrance, and the staircase would be empty. She knew her sister Laurel's bright smile would falter into an expression of utter heart break as the realization came to her that her baby sister would not be showing. But most of all, Roz could not bear the disappointment etching itself onto the proud, handsome features of her brother-in-law Devon's face.

Devon Northfordshire had always been a dear friend of the Rialto family, and when Roz and Laurel's parents perished in a carriage accident, they had become his wards, with Laurel eventually marrying Devon and becoming the mistress of his estate. Devon had shown much patience with Roz, as she had been a horror as a child and a terror as an adolescent, her mind on ways to defy her caregivers and make mischief.

Tonight, she had wanted to make Devon proud, to prove to him once and for all that she wasn't Rascally Roz anymore, that she had finally matured into a lady of good breeding.

But…

…but as she had been dressing in her bedroom in preparation of the ball, Lorelei just had to peek her head in and dish that juicy little morsel that Evil Georgiana had Spot Conlon—a newsboy of all people!—in her room at that very moment….and Roz had just been too tempted…

For as long as she had traveled in Devon's social circles, she had been the acquaintance of Georgiana Walker. Georgiana was Roz's age, and ward of her older brother Aaron Walker. Mr. Walker was a prestigious banker in New York, but also of a line of old money, great sums of which he inherited when his father murdered his mother for an alleged affair and then placed the very same pistol in his own mouth. Quite scandalous, but Mr. Walker was quite the charming gentleman, and had retained society's good graces, determined to give his sister the best upbringing with the best connection. He had rented the townhouse next door to Devon's for the two of them for the summer.

A perpetual rivalry, it seemed, had festered ever since Roz and Georgiana had first at a ball the Wilkinson's' had thrown several years ago. A terrible rivalry had formed, and catching Georgina Wilkinson with a newsboy was just not downright scandalous, but would be completely ruin her connections and any good prospect for a decent husband.

Yes, things should have been going quite differently that night…and Roz should not be plummeting down the side of her brother-in-law's townhouse in her maddeningly expensive crystal-studded, sea foam dress that had been imported from Paris just she had been trying to one up evil Georgiana….

Just as she had almost reached the ground, the wind was suddenly knocked forcefully out of her as an object that she reckoned akin to a sack of potatoes materialized from above her. She was still gaping for breath, when she slammed into the grassy area between the two townhouses, the infernal sack of potatoes landing upon her. The fall wouldn't have been that terrible if whatever it was hadn't decided to intercept her.

Roz saw stars for a moment as she landed on her back, her head hitting softly off the grass. She heard a sound which she at first concluded was a moan she had uttered, but it sounded exceedingly too deep, too masculine…

Roz's eyes widened as far as humanly possible as she regained her bearings to regard the form that slumped over her.

Unfortunately, the object in question was not a sack of potatoes, but an exceedingly handsome man. His glittering blue eyes were dazed, his handsome face flushed. His burnished blond hair was askew, falling over his brow. She became suddenly, embarrassingly aware, of the hard planes of his muscular chest that pressed atop the softness of her breasts; the lean, sinewy legs that were nestled neatly between her spread knees.

Indeed, he was an exceedingly handsome man…that had just fallen from Georgina Walker's window and on top of her in a most scandalous manner.

He pushed himself up from his palms spread on the ground on either side of her, and regarded her bemusedly. Roz barely had a moment to open her mouth when she heard her name called by an impossibly stern voice.

"Roselyn Jane Rialto."

Roz not even turn her head to the side to know that it was Devon that spoke her name. But she turned in the direction anyhow, only to discover half of those in attendance to her coming out had filed outside the townhouse and were gaping in open disbelief at her and the newsboy. Lorelei stood behind Devon, looking as though she could wish herself ten fathoms underground. The look in her eyes said it all. She had only called Devon because she had thought Roz was in danger of falling…not that she would be caught in such an indecent display with a man.

The newsboy lying between her opened knees, her torn dress from the trellis, and his swollen lips from Georgina's kisses didn't help appearances for that matter.

How could she possibly even begin to explain it was all a fateful mistake?

She had made a debut, all right.

Roz could only turn to her brother-in-law and mustered a half-hearted smile. "Hello, Devon!"