That Scandalous Evening [Mass Market Paperback]

Christina Dodd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1998

A Disastrous Season

A simple statue began the scandal.

A Lady Concealed

An innocent English miss conceived of it, her hands gliding across the clay, delineating each smoothly defined muscle and sinew, creating a sculpture of the man she worshipped. When the likeness was exposed, along with Miss Jane Higgenbothem's secret tendre for Lord Blackburn, the ton's gleeful contempt sent the lady back to the country in disgrace.

A Gentleman Revealed

Now, a decade later, she's back in London, as a chaperone to her beautiful niece. But to Blackburn, Jane's unwitting model, the cool, reticent spinster is still a challenge. She once made the arrogant rake a laughingstock: so why is he tempted to revive an affair that almost began so long ago, on one scandalous evening?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Christina Dodd brings fresh ideas to the often-used Regency world in which she sets this sprightly, sexy story of a statuesque spinster who returns to London, the site of her disastrous Season years ago, to chaperone the "coming out" of her dangerously beautiful niece. Jane Higgenbothem was ruined when the nude statue she made of Ransom Quincy, Marquess of Blackburn, was exposed to public view. Now Ransom, working undercover to expose a traitor to the Crown, decides he'll deliberately renew the old scandal by courting Jane, as a diversionary tactic for his investigation. But the truth is, his desire for Jane is raging out of control and he means to have her--even though she herself may be the spy he's seeking. Subplots involving Jane's niece and Blackburn's best friend offer surprising delights, while the inventive and humorously timed lovemaking between Jane and Blackburn ratchet up the heat index. Dodd's witty, affectionate depiction of human foibles makes this battle of the sexes highly entertaining. --Ellen Edwards

From Publishers Weekly

Miss Jane Higgenbothem was ruined and sent home in disgrace when her youthful adoration for the rakish Ransom Quincy, Marquess of Blackburn, was exposed?along with the nude statue she made of him. Now 11 years later, she tries to keep a low profile on her return to London as chaperon to her young niece. Unfortunately, she immediately bumps into Ransom again, who has never forgotten his humiliation at her tendre or the undersized statue of him. His revenge, he decides, will be to court her?not only will it irritate her, but, the war hero believes, it will distract gossipy polite society and the French from his search for a ring of spies. But both of them have grown up, and the stuffy Ransom has not counted on the mature Jane's resistance nor on his growing attraction for her. Dodd (A Well Pleasured Lady) combines the ambience and majesty of Regency England with witty dialogue, a fun cast of characters and plenty of plot twists.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Avon (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380790912
• ISBN-13: 978-0380790913
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #591,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #33 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Romance > Authors, A-Z > ( D ) > Dodd, Christina

More About the Author

Chat with Christina via Facebook and Twitter, and even better, join her mailing list to have her news delivered right to your inbox! http://christinadodd.com/lists/?p=subscribe

Readers become writers, and Christina Dodd has always been a reader. She reads everything, but because she loves humor, she likes romance best.

A woman wants things like world peace, a clean house, and a deep and meaningful relationship based on mutual understanding and love. A man wants things like a Craftsman router with attachments, undisputed control of the TV remote, and a red Corvette which will miraculously make his bald spot disappear. So when Christina's first daughter was born, she told her husband she was going to quit work and write a book. It was a good time to start a new career, because how much trouble could one little infant be?

Ha! It took ten years, two children and three completed manuscripts before her first novel, CANDLE IN THE WINDOW, was published. In the twenty-two years since, her novels have been translated into 25 languages, won Romance Writers of America's prestigious Golden Heart and RITA Awards and been called the year's best by Library Journal. Christina Dodd herself has been a clue in the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle (11/18/05, # 13 Down: Romance Novelist named Christina.) Publishers Weekly praises her style that 'showcases Dodd's easy, addictive charm and steamy storytelling.'

Christina's 2011 releases include TAKEN BY THE PRINCE, #9 in the Governess Brides series, and in the tradition of Nora Roberts, a new romantic suspense series starting with SECRETS OF BELLA TERRA and REVENGE AT BELLA TERRA.

Christina Dodd is married to a man with all his hair and no Corvette, but many Craftsman tools.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is entertaining, funny, boldly sensual., September 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: That Scandalous Evening (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed this book tremendously! It's the first I've read by Miss Dodd, and it won't be my last. I liked the clever banter between her main characters. Miss Higgenbottom's experiences are hysterical, particularly when she discovers why her scuplture isn't quite accurate in its depiction of the male physique. I chuckled out loud when she realized her error. Yet I found her to be endearing in her innocence. Miss Dodd does a nice job of developing her characters, tells an entertaining tale, and she writes terrific steamy love scenes that go on for pages! This is a delightful read! I highly recommend it!

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If only the fig leaf was larger..., April 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: That Scandalous Evening (Mass Market Paperback)

This was my first book by Christina Dodd, and I found it very entertaining.

Eleven years earlier during Jane's first season she makes a terrible mistake, she falls in love with Ransom Quincy, the Marquess of Blackburn. Unfotunately he doesn't feel the same way about her. Jane is an artist and decides to sculpt a nude statue of Blackburn, with only a teeny weeny little fig leaf covering him. Another unfortunate occasion occours when everybody finds out about the statue and of course a scandal erupts, for not only did she sculpt Blackburn in the nude, she also sculpted him with such a small fig leaf. It doesn't help that later that week Jane is found at Blackburn's residence unchaperoned AND in a compromising position. She is ruined.

Eleven Years Later. Jane comes back to London as a chaperone to her very, very beautiful neice Adorna. Blackburn is back in London after serving for England in the Napoleonic Wars. They meet again at a ball and sparks fly, not to mention a few tempers, since Jane has grown up quite a bit in the past 11 years. Blackburn is immediately smitten and they find themselves in another compromising position, only this time Blackburn agrees to marry Jane in order to save her reputation.

A great book overall and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves the Regency period.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strong Female character enlivens the Regency world, November 18, 2002

By 

K. Newman "krazykmcd" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: That Scandalous Evening (Mass Market Paperback)

Christina Dodd and indeed many of her contemporaries delight in bringing us female characters who show strength and independence in the mans world that was the Regency era. But here that truly is the best thing about the very enjoyable story that is `That Scandalous Evening'.

Jane Higgenbothem was completely ruined 11 years prior to the opening of the book, when as a result of a nude sculpture she made of the man she worshiped as a god (Jane's words, not mine), her subsequent behaviour and the resultant public scandal, Jane fled the fashionable ton. He sister died shortly after, and Jane has spent the intervening years sketching, painting, bringing up her niece, and spending a miserable time as unpaid housekeeper to her penny pinching brother in law. With the exception of the joy of spending time with her niece, she has generally lived in a state of near poverty and dependence on an unwilling relative. Now, however, it is time to launch Adorna in society, and her brother in law has told Jane that she will not be welcome in his house once Adorna is safely married.

The object of her desire, Lord Blackburn, more than any embarrassment at the scandal per se, was scandalised instead by a singular inaccuracy of the statue, that made him a laughingstock. Now hardened and saddened by his experiences at war, he has returned to London a more weary, more mature individual. He meets up with Jane and is intrigued by her, but more than that recognises that the protection of the resurrection of their scandal may enable him the breathing room to scour the ton for a suspected traitor and spy.

I knew I'd like the book, because Dodd wrote it and I've enjoyed every other that I read. That turned out to be the case of course, but I enjoyed it even more than I thought. Jane is such an intense person, who feels things so deeply, so passionate in her rages and hurts, so intense about her art (she has not sculpted since That Scandalous Evening. As soon as she does, she gets into trouble again). The call of the art of Europe is a genuinely strong one, and her love for Adorna, her beloved dead sisters child, is all that holds her to England. Even as she falls in love again with Blackburn, she is torn by her love for and joy in her art.

We get inside Blackburn's head on occasion, which was necessary for me to like him (otherwise I'd have to wonder what Jane saw in him). Jane's view of him is remarkably perceptive, except of course that she has little idea of the depth and warmth of his feelings for her.

It is delicious to become so involved in a character, and caught up in the emotional storm with them. I very much enjoyed this book for that reason, and highly recommend it to all readers of romance.