Proof by Seduction

Proof by Seduction (2010) Courtney Milan

Set in London in April 1838

Jenny Keeble has set herself up as a fortuneteller, and has done well for herself, until Gareth Carhart, Marquess of Blakely shows up with his cousin Ned.

Blakely believes in nothing that he cannot see and touch. And he really does not believe in Madame Esmeralda.

“Ned, how can I assist you today?”

Ned beamed at her. “Well. Blakely and I have been arguing. He doesn’t think you can predict the future.”

Neither did Jenny. She resented sharing that belief.

“We’ve agreed—he’s going to use science to demonstrate the accuracy of your predictions.”

“Demonstrate? Scientifically?” The words whooshed out of her, as if she’d been prodded in the stomach. Jenny grasped the table in front of her for support. “Well. That would be…” Unlikely? Unfortunate? “That would be unobjectionable. How shall he proceed?”

I really didn’t like Blakely. Even when we learn why he was who he was, I still didn’t like him, although I did feel sorry for him.

Then he’d been silent too long, an entire species of error in its own right.

“Very well.” Laura’s voice trembled. “Double it. I don’t care.”

Nothing had changed since she was four except the chairs. He was still ruining everything.

I did, however, like Jenny and her compassion for Ned–that was probably the best part of the story.

This is Courtney Milan’s first book, and I admit that if I’d read this first, I wouldn’t have been tempted to pick up another by her, but I can see glimpses of what I have come to very much like about her writing.

She stiffened in shock. In those first delicate seconds, he almost pulled away. Then she folded into his embrace. To his surprise, he found that the cold really did flow out of him. And it didn’t go into Laura. Instead, her sobs quieted to soft hiccups. They thawed each other. Newton would have been flabbergasted. This kind of energy was not conserved.

It wasn’t horrible, but it also wasn’t for me.

Published by Entangled

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