title: Countess of Scandal (The Daughters of Erin)
author:  Laurel McKee 
description: Countess Eliza Clare knew becoming involved with the United Irish cause was dangerously close to treason, but she didnt realize just how hazardous politics could be until Major William Denton arrived in Dublin. Years ago, Eliza and Will had indulged in a harmless flirtation, but after Will joined the British Army, they lost contact. Now Eliza is a widow, whose new friends just happen to be radical pamphlet writers and Catholic lawyers, while Will is one of Her Majestys officers, assigned the mission of crushing any hint of rebellious activities in Dublin. Suddenly entangled in a risky game of deception and desire, Eliza and Will are equally determined to be the one to win this battle of wits. McKees intriguingly nuanced characters and deliciously subtle sense of humor provide the ideal counterpoint to the perfectly executed historical setting that gives Countess of Scandal its refreshingly different literary flavor. --John Charles
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  > > > > Countess of Scandal
  
  Laurel McKee
  
  Prologue
  
  County Kildare, Ireland, 1790
  
  Lady Eliza Blacknall slipped through the front doors of her home, Killinan
  Castle, easing them shut behind her. The drive was quiet, the length of white
  gravel gleaming under the moonlight Her slippers whispered over the stone, her
  muslin skirts held close to still their rustle as she ran toward a small
  walled garden. Free at last! Her parents' dull party, and the dull fiance they
  intended for her, were left behind
  
  The evening was still and clear but cool, and she wrapped her arms tightly
  around herself as she sat down on a marble bench. The moon was a fat, silvery
  crescent set in the purple-black velvet sky, outlined in twinkling stars.
  
  Certainly that must be a magical Irish moon, Eliza fancied, thinking of old
  tales her nanny once told her, tales of nights when all the humans were gone
  home to their beds and everything was silent. That was when tiny battalions of
  fairies would cree