Character Showcase - Miss Melinda Goodheart

In THE DANGER OF DESPERATE BONNETS (Book two of my Regency-era romantic comedy series, The Ladies Most Unlikely), it is Miss Melinda Goodheart's turn to take her bow. And she does so with a very dramatic flourish, as only she can.

The first thing Melinda Goodheart would want you to know about her is that she never, in the whole course of her life, planned to cause any trouble.

 

(Well, I suspect you can guess how that turns out.)

 

The second thing you should know is that this declaration was usually the opening line penned in any letter she wrote. Because any letter she sat down to write was either an explanation, an apology, or a confession. And decorated with a great many blots of ink between the misspelled words, where she was too eager to get her thoughts down and too impatient to mend her pen.

 

The third thing you must know is that despite an unfortunate arrangement of facial features, which, so it had been said, sometimes appeared "devious" and "conniving",  she was not the sort of girl who did anything in a deceitful way. If she disliked you, she made no effort to hide it, and if she liked you then she was the most loyal of friends.

 But this, alas, brings us full circle back to the first item in the list above. For due to that unwavering devotion to friends and causes, and an  indomitable sense of justice equaled only by her courage— which had politely been described as "undomesticated"— Melinda invariably found herself in the thick of that chaos she never planned. She was a girl who went along with the conspiracies of others, especially if she was convinced of a wrong to be righted, and that made her daring, dauntless spirit an invaluable tool to those friends who did plot and scheme.

 Too often ruled by her temper and driven by a desire for thrills and escapades, she might be mistaken for a stupid girl. Occasionally she even mistook herself for one.

 

But is there anyone amongst us who has never been a fool?

 

 

The Danger of Desperate Bonnets (Ladies Most Unlikely 2) coming this month.