Cover of Lord of Scoundrels.
1. “’It seems we have an audience, Miss Trent,’ Dain said. His voice dripped scorn. Coolly he pulled her bodice back up and yanked her skirts back down. There was nothing protective or gallant in the gesture. He made her feel as though, having had a look at and a sampling of what she had to offer, he’d decided it wasn’t worth having. She might have been a trumpery toy displayed upon Champtois’ counter, not worth a second glance.
“And that, Jessica understood as she took in the chilling expression on his countenance, was what he wanted those watching to think. He was going to throw her to the wolves. That was his revenge” (Chase 117).
Why does Dain come across as if he is ashamed of Jessica? Is he more concerned with his reputation than her feelings? Is there a reason why he addresses her as Miss Trent and not Jessica? How do you think Jessica feels about his reaction to the audience?
Rotten Row–a track located on the souther side of Hyde Park in London. Jess and Dain take their carriage (curricle) ride in Hyde Park.
2. “It took her a moment to grasp the implications of the command, and in that moment the world seemed to grow marginally brighter and her heart a cautious degree lighter. She shifted sideways to scrutinize his glowering profile. ‘That sounds shockingly…protective.’
“‘I paid for you,’ he said coldly. ‘You’re mine. I look after what’s mine. I shouldn’t let Nick or Harry near him either.’
“‘By gad—do you mean to say I am as important a possession as your cattle?’ She pressed her hand to her heart. ‘Oh, Dain, you are too devastatingly romantic. I am altogether overcome.’
“He brought his full attention upon her for a moment, and his sullen gaze dropped to where her hand was. She hastily returned it to her lap” (Chase 149-50).
Why does Dain not openly admit his feelings for her? Does her witty comments inhibit Dain from declaring his love? Is there a reason behind Jessica moving her hands so that the focus isn’t on her chest? Is she secretly hurt by his comment of buying her?
Group 10 LM
ENGH 202: Why Women Read Romance 
1. I feel like Dain comes across as ashamed because he is not sure what to do now that they have been discovered. He wants Jessica because he also wants to play off as hard to get in front of her plus in front of his society, Dain does not want people to realize he is head over heels for Jessica. At this point he is still more concerned about his reputation because he knows all of Paris is placing bets on them.
Dain is also concerned because his peers know him as a guy who pays for his pleasure and not a type of guy that is going to be chasing after a girl. During the interruption of their audience he addresses Jessica as Miss Trent, I think he does this because he knows it will make her feel worse about the whole situation they were caught in. Jessica feels really humiliated and thinks Dain set her up because she will be looked down on by everyone in Paris as a girl who let herself be touched by a guy who pays whores for pleasure.
1.a) I don’t ever get the impression that Dain is ashamed of Jessica. I think Dain reacts the way he does because he doesn’t like being watched. We saw earlier how close he was to killing Beaumont after he caught Dain watching him with a whore in Chapter 2 (pg 37).
b) Dain is more concerned with his own reputation. Even though Dain does care about Jessica he hasn’t admitted it to himself, regardless, he would never show it. Showing that a woman has any affect or control over him is emasculating to Dain and would ruin his reputation.
c) As for Dain calling Jessica Miss Trent, I think he’s just trying to distance his feeling for her.
Dain has this constant internal struggle with himself, when he does allow himself to believe that Jessica likes him he always finds a reason to think she is just manipulating him. Afterwards, Dain thinks:
“…When she had kissed his big, loathsome nose, and cut his heart to pieces and put it back together again and made him believe he was not a monster to her. She had made him believe he was beautiful.
Lies, he told himself.
They were all lies and tricks, to trap him.”(ch7, 101)
They both think the other set up the situation to get revenge on the other. Jess to force him into marriage and Dain to ruin her reputation (his grudge being that because of her: “ You’ve made me heartsick, lonely. You’ve made me crave what I vowed I would never need, never seek.” (ch7, 94)
d) Although Jessica was waiting for Dain to ruin her she had let herself believe that he wouldn’t. She also knows “All he’d needed to do was sweep one of his deadly glances over them and tell them they’d seen nothing”(Ch7, 100). So when Dain just leaves her there, she decides she wanted revenge, and that’s why she ends up shooting him.
2. a & b) I don’t think Jessica’s comments have anything to do with Dain expressing his love. That’s just their playful banter. I assume Dain loves her but he has this internal battle with himself. Every time he lets himself believe Jess does love him, something happens to make him think otherwise. To admit that he loved her would be admitting that she had power over him and he isn’t ready to admit that to her yet.
d) Again Jessica isn’t hurt by his comment. She jokes about him sounding protective but she is secretly happy that he feels the need to do so. In the next scene he comments on her weight loss: “She remembered. More important, he did – in sufficient detail to notice a few pounds’ shrinkage. Her mood lightened another several degrees”(ch9, 129) Jess interprets Dain comments as his way of showing concern and she is happy to get any form of reaction from him since he was been avoiding her for the past 2 weeks.