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Teresa Grant

BOOK: Teresa Grant
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Also by Teresa Grant
 
 
 
Vienna Waltz
Imperial Scandal
TERESAGRANT
KENSINGTON BOOKS
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
For Jennifer, with thanks
. . . war and lechery confound all!
 
—Shakespeare,
Troilus and Cressida
, Act II, scene iii
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, any errors of research or plotting are entirely my responsibility, but I am grateful to a number of people for assistance, support, and inspiration in the writing of this book.
My editor, Audrey LaFehr, and my agent, Nancy Yost, offered invaluable support, advice, insight, and friendship and helped make this book what it is. I could not have done it without them. Thanks as well to Natanya Wheeler of Nancy Yost Literary Agency and Martin Biro of Kensington Books for answering questions, sending out ARCs and coverflats, and generally helping make a writer’s life easier. To Paula Reedy for shepherding the book through copyedits and galleys with an eagle eye for detail. To Barbara Wild for the careful copyediting. To Kristine Mills-Noble and Judy York for another sumptuous cover that evokes the hectic glamour of pre-Waterloo Brussels and once again really looks like Suzanne. To Alexandra Nicolajsen for the superlative social media support. And to everyone at Kensington Books and the Nancy Yost Literary Agency for their support throughout the publication process.
Thank you to Gregory Paris and jim saliba for creating and updating my Web site. To Raphael Coffey for the best author event photos a writer could have. To Bernard Cornwell for answering my query about his research on the Duchess of Richmond’s ball for his magnificent novel
Waterloo.
To Robert Sicular for a fabulous custom album of Brussels pictures that was the next best thing to actually going there myself. To Jayne Davis for the grammar advice. To Patrick Wilken for recordings of Korngold’s “Pierrot’s Lied,” which to my mind achingly evokes Harry’s feelings about Cordelia.
To Jami Alden, Bella Andre, Catherine Coulter, Barbara Freethy, Carol Grace, Anne Mallory, Monica McCarty, Penelope Williamson, and Veronica Wolff for writer lunches and e-mail brainstorming, and always being there to share the fun and headaches of a writer’s life. And to Monica for introducing me to Scrivener, which made the writing of this book inestimably easier. To Veronica for wonderful writing dates during which much of
Imperial Scandal
was written and revised (and during which many words of encouragement were exchanged). To Penny for always being there to talk through book issues and for being the most supportive friend imaginable. And to Kate Perry for suggesting (during a writing date with Veronica) that a brothel would be a good location for an action scene.
To Lauren Willig, wonderful friend and equally wonderful fellow writer of Napoleonic spies, who understands plot and research issues I can’t explain to anyone else. To Kalen Hughes for answering questions on the intricacies of early nineteenth-century clothing, and to Candice Hern for the wonderful fashion plates on her Web site, which inspired the gowns worn by Suzanne, Cordelia, and the other female characters. To the History Hoydens for insights, fun, and being a font of information on period detail. To Tasha Alexander, Deborah Crombie, Catherine Duthie, C. S. Harris, and Deanna Raybourn for their support and the inspiration I find in their own writing.
D
RAMATIS
P
ERSONAE
*indicates real historical figures
Allied and Prussian Commanders
 
*Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, commander of the British and Dutch-Belgian Allied army
*Marshal Blücher, commander of the Prussian army
*William, Prince of Orange, commander of the I corps of the Allied army
*Henry Paget, Earl of Uxbridge, cavalry commander
*General Peregrine Maitland
 
 
French Commanders
 
*Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France
*Marshal Ney, commander of the left wing of the French army
*Marshal Grouchy, commander of the right wing of the French army
*General d’Erlon, commander of the I corps of the French army
*General Flahaut, aide-de-camp to Napoleon
*General de la Bédoyère, aide-de-camp to Napoleon
 
 
The Rannoch Family
 
Malcolm Rannoch, British attaché
Suzanne Rannoch, his wife
Colin Rannoch, their son
Addison, Malcolm’s valet
Blanca, Suzanne’s maid and companion
Valentin, their footman
Brigitte, their housemaid
Aline Blackwell, Malcolm’s cousin
Dr. Geoffrey Blackwell, her husband
Edgar Rannoch, light dragoons, Malcolm’s brother
 
 
The Davenport Family
 
Lady Cordelia Davenport
Colonel Harry Davenport, intelligence officer and aide-de-camp to
Wellington; Cordelia’s husband
Livia Davenport, their daughter
*Lady Caroline Lamb, Cordelia’s childhood friend
 
 
The Ashton Family
 
Lady Julia Ashton, Cordelia’s sister
Captain John Ashton, British Life Guards, her husband
Robbie Ashton, their son
 
 
The Chase Family
 
Major George Chase, aide-de-camp to Lord Uxbridge
Annabel Chase, his wife
Captain Anthony Chase, 95th rifles, George’s brother
Jane Chase, his wife
Violet Chase, George and Anthony’s sister
Watkins, George’s batman
 
 
Allied Staff Officers and Family
 
*Lord Fitzroy Somerset, military secretary to Wellington
*Emily Harriet Somerset, his wife
*Sir Alexander Gordon, aide-de-camp to Wellington
*Colonel Canning, aide-de-camp to Wellington
*Baron Jean de Constant Rebecque, chief of staff to the Prince of Orange
*Sir William De Lancey, quartermaster general to the Allied army
 
 
The Richmond Family
 
*Duke of Richmond, commander of the reserves in Brussels
*Charlotte, Duchess of Richmond, his wife
*Lord March, their son, aide-de-camp to the Prince of Orange
*Lady Sarah Lennox, their daughter
*Lady Georgiana Lennox, their daughter
*Lord George Lennox, their son, aide-de-camp to Wellington
*Lieutenant Lord William Lennox, their son
 
 
Others
 
Raoul O’Roarke, guerrillero leader from the Peninsular War
Lord Carfax, head of British intelligence
David Mallinson, Viscount Worsley, his son
Simon Tanner, David’s lover
*Sir Colquhoun Grant, head of British military intelligence
*Sir Charles Stuart, British ambassador to the Hague
*Baron Müffling, Blücher’s liaison officer with Wellington’s Headquarters
Jean La Fleur, French soldier and British agent
*Mr. Creevey, British expatriate
*The Misses Ord, his stepdaughters
*Lady Charlotte Greville, British expatriate
Comte de Vedrin, Belgian aristocrat
Captain Dumont, Dutch-Belgian army
Henri, Vicomte de Rivaux, lieutenant in the Dutch-Belgian army
*Comtesse de Ribaucourt, Belgian aristocrat
Rachel Garnier, prostitute at Le Paon d’Or
Colonel Mortimer, 95th rifles
Pierre, son of one of the women at Le Paon d’Or
Madame Longé, dressmaker
Lucille, her assistant
Captain William Flemming
Major Hamish MacDermid
Philippe Valery, French agent
BOOK: Teresa Grant
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