The Wallflower Trap by BW Haggart with Excerpt #ReleaseDay #RevengeoftheWallflowers

The Wallflower Trap by BW Haggart

Lady Mimolette Lindsey harbors a secret which leads her to refuse any requests for a dance. This isn’t because her late father, the Earl of Bathmorris, named all his children after cheeses. It isn’t because he spent his fortune on fake Aphrodite antiquities, threatening financial ruin. It isn’t that this brands the Lindseys as socially undesirable. Her secret simply makes it even more difficult to find husbands for her younger sisters, Treccia and Ovolina. Like the Lindsey sisters, any number of hopefuls attend the Season’s events. Any number are labeled wallflowers, rarely asked to dance, with little opportunity for romance.

Refusing to be crushed by the ton’s disdain, Mimolette devises a shrewd plan, organizing the christened wallflowers, crafting the needed conditions for them to garner dances, and perhaps find husbands. Revenge for the passing snubs of coxcombs and bucks also figures into her scheme. Her stratagems are working too, until an arrogant Major Tremaine decides, as a lark, to insert himself into their “game.” Or does he mean to spoil it altogether?

Nine years of bloody war are over, leaving Major Lord John Tremaine with nightmares and at loose ends. Entertainment and carousing prove the most convenient opportunities for forgetting the war. Crashing one of the first balls of the season, he notices a mysterious beauty in white sitting among a gaggle of nature’s unfortunates and asks for an introduction. His friends refuse, claiming Lady Lindsey is dangerous. Any introduction or even proximity invariably leads to dancing with one or more of the ‘plain janes’ gathered about the lady. The warnings only pique Tremaine’s curiosity, the most intriguing sport he’s come across since returning home. He fenagles an introduction, though he must bribe his best friend to approach the lady. He grins, anticipating the fun he will have uncovering this incognita’s machinations.

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The Wallflower Trap Excerpt
“Who is that captivating vision?”
Jack Tremaine studied the intriguing lady sitting on the far side of the massive ballroom. A shining light in pure white among the multi-colored crush of guests. The dark-haired exotic reposed among a gaggle of drab chits which made her gleam all the brighter. He stood admiring her straight, lithe form, while he leaned a hip against the refreshment table. The flocks of well-bred fashionables milling between them only awarded him brief glimpses of the lady.
He had been catching up with an old university chum, the Honorable Reggie Ramsbottom. They hadn’t seen each other since Jack had gone off to war. He was grateful for the unexpected reunion because he didn’t know anyone here and needed a primer on current affairs among the Ten Thousand. As at Oxford, Reggie proved a font of such intelligence.
“Eh, wot?” Reggie squinted, looking in the direction Jack discreetly indicated and jerked erect. “Her? Oh, no, no, no. You, sir, need to avoid that woman at all costs.
She’s dangerous.”
“Pardon?” Jack grinned, astonished by Reggie’s alarm, the man’s Adam’s apple bobbing animatedly. “Come now, in a ballroom? Is she harboring knives or possessing a wicked upper cut? She looks perfectly harmless. Who is she?”
“Harmless? Ha! She’s the devil’s snare, an absolute bonnet.” Reggie gulped down his rum punch and went about obtaining more. “That is Lady Mimolette Lindsey. Two of the nature’s unfortunates sitting with her are her sisters, Treccia and Ovolina.”
Jack frowned and cocked his head, not sure he’d heard aright. “Those are the names of French and Italian cheeses.” Reggie nodded. “In truth?”
“Their father, the Earl of Bathmorris was a mad eccentric. The man had an obsession for cheese and marbles of Aphrodite. Nearly paupered the family buying both in great quantities. Absurd, I know.”
Jack shook his head, intrigued. “The man must have been dighted.”
“Without a doubt an addled pate. The youngest of the four, his only son and heir, Edam, is off at Eton.
Jack eyed Lady Mimolette, her dark hair close about her head, her elfin features an enjoyable study. She seemed contemplative, letting other women talk. “So, Reggie, how can such a siren be hazardous?”
“How? She always turns down any invitation to dance, but somehow, constantly contrives to foist off one of the present gaggle of wallflowers on unsuspecting gentleman.”
“She doesn’t dance?”
“Refuses to. I’ve never seen her on a dance floor this fortnight.”
“Ah, sort of a bait and switch.”
“That’s not the half of it. I have ended my attempts to dance with any of the choice belles. By some dark sorcery, once introduced, I find myself dancing with one of those creatures surrounding the desired beauty. Just tonight, like a fool, I have suffered through three sets of country dances with these frumpish drabs while attempting to be introduced to some of this evening’s diamonds.”
Fascinated, Jack considered Reggie. At Oxford, he had been judged a complete Tony. A cawker always welcomed at evening card games. Perhaps he’d been snookered again. “Other gentlemen too?” With a nod. “You’re serious?”
“Damn twig I am.” Reggie poured another glass of punch, siphoning mostly rum.
“Once introduced to those, those wallflowers, no one can be rid of them.” He took a healthy swig from his glass. “I’ve been to several assemblies and celebrations in the two weeks past, and whenever that—,” he waved his punch glass in Lady Lindsey’s direction,
spilling some, “—person is in attendance, I end up dancing with nothing but Cheiranthus cheiri torments.”
Jack smiled. If there was one thing he cherished in this world, it remained a challenging intrigue, or was it an intriguing challenge? He chuckled to himself at his nonsense. She proved the first really stimulating curiosity to present itself in more than a month. Occupying Paris had quickly turned tedious . Returning to England and traveling to London without encountering the slightest opposition, no Frenchmen, no
highwaymen, no tavern bullies, or even naval officers, proved just as boring. This celebration threatened to be more of the usual dull conventions.
He acknowledged his sad, hurly-burly need for excitement and the novel. Provided by the bucketful on campaign in foreign lands, here entrenched in English Society, it remained considerably less so. Unfortunately, weaned on war and battle, exhilaration and challenge remained a drug he craved. He dreaded this peace so dearly won against Napoleon.
Studying Lady Lindsey, he made one of those quick, energetic decisions so valued among cavalry officers.
“Reggie, introduce me to the lady.”
Shivering, he declared, “Absolutely not. I am not approaching that witch again.”
Jack scrunched up his face in surprise, but seeing his companion so resolute, he glanced around for others he might know. Reggie cut in.
“Don’t bother, old boy. You won’t find any men willing to introduce you to that sorceress. Other females seem to be of two camps, unwilling or in league with Lady Lindsey, and deuce it, I can’t ferret out which is which beforehand. It’s a dem conspiracy, I tell you.”
Just then, a prime example of an incomparable beauty gracefully strode over to talk to Lady Lindsey as the music began for the next set. Lady Lindsey’s greeting smile enchanted him. A man would brave dragons to win that smile.
What proved to be the most amazing thing was the herd of coxcombs following after the beauty. They blew away like leaves in an Autumn breeze as she closed on Lady Lindsey and company. He grinned as the men played least in sight, hiding among the well-dressed multitudes while the women happily chatted. A magnificent cut circumbendius, dodging the horde without a word. She had used the Lady Lindsey to
shed unwanted suitors. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. This evidenced an unusually deep scheme. Blazes, Lady Lindsey seriously piqued his interest.

More titles coming this June