Naughty Earls Need Love Too (That Wicked O'Shea Family Book 7)

by Merry Farmer

  The line moved forward again, and again she picked up the suitcase and took a few more steps with Ryan.

  “Fishies?” Ryan asked, pointing at the water. For a moment, he struggled to get out of Alice’s arms. “Fishies!” he insisted.

  “Hold still, darling,” Alice said, trying to manage both Ryan and the suitcase as the line inched on. “Once we’re on the ferry we can look for fishies.”

  “Fishies!” Ryan insisted.

  Alice laughed, though she was starting to lose her breath as she juggled her son and all of her earthly belongings.

  She felt bad enough that Maeve had given her so much—both second-hand clothing and new clothes, shoes, hats, underthings, and toiletries, purchased yesterday for their trip today. Maeve was the best friend a woman could have. But she was also married now and so deeply in love that it was obvious to everyone.

  As grateful as Alice was for Maeve’s and Lord Carnlough’s hospitality, she had already made up her mind that she would only rely on it for six months at the most. Six months, and she would strike out on her own with Ryan, no matter what that meant, no matter what her resources, no matter how it happened. She would let her friend take care of her while she got her bearings in London, but then she would provide for herself. Whatever it took.

  “Mama,” Ryan complained, struggling even more to get out of her grasp. He’d spotted seagulls now and apparently wanted to go after them. “Mama!”

  The line was moving even faster now, which made it next to impossible to manage everything she had in her arms. It was only a matter of time before she dropped the suitcase, because she certainly wasn’t going to drop Ryan and let him get way.

  “Mama!”

  Ryan kicked and struggled hard. The suitcase slipped out of Alice’s hand…but instead of crashing to the dock and breaking open, someone caught it.

  “Whoopsie daisy,” a warm, slightly familiar male voice said.

  Alice made certain Ryan was secure in her arms before twisting to see who had caught her suitcase. As soon as she met his eyes, she gasped.

  “Mr. Rathborne-Paxton,” she said, giddy and breathless and thoroughly distracted as Ryan continued to squirm. “I didn’t realize you were traveling back to England today.”

  “Miss Woodmont?” Mr. Rathborne-Paxton looked as startled to recognize her as she was to see him. He smiled, but not for her, for Ryan. “Is this the famous bastard child I’ve heard so much about?”

  Alice’s jaw dropped as panic welled within her. He’d seemed like such a charming gentleman at the party—and he was the son of a marquess to boot—but with a comment like that….

  Mr. Rathborne-Paxton’s expression dropped to one of horror a moment later. “I am so terribly sorry,” he said in a rush. “That was unforgivably rude of me. Can you ever forgive me?”

  Alice eyed him warily, not sure if she could.

  A moment later, the man standing in line behind both of them cleared his throat loudly and said, “Move on, will you?”

  Alice jumped and noticed that the line to board the ferry had gotten away from her. She clasped Ryan tightly against her and rushed to catch up. Mr. Rathborne-Paxton hurried along with her.

  “Thank you for your help,” she said, trying to grab her suitcase back from him, now that Ryan was distracted by the boat again. “And yes, this is the famous bastard child you’ve heard so much about.” She glared at him as she spoke.

  “Again, I am so sorry,” Mr. Rathborne-Paxton said. “Unforgiveable of me, really. Let me carry your bag as penance, as you clearly have enough to manage with your handsome and I’m sure quite intelligent son.”

  Alice laughed in spite of herself. “He has never been on a boat before,” she confessed as they moved to the gangplank and walked across into the ferry. “This is all quite new and exciting for him. For both of us.”

  “Yes, I was at the wedding,” Mr. Rathborne-Paxton said with a wince. “I was quite proud of my friend, Lord Carnlough, for the offer he made to resituate you in London.”

  “It was generous of him,” Alice said, mostly distracted as she searched to see where Maeve and Lord Carnlough had gone off to, and where she might find a seat with Ryan.

  “As it happens, I am returning to London myself,” Mr. Rathborne-Paxton went on. “And I do feel terrible for my comment just now. Perhaps you will allow me to assist you on the journey, since it is likely we are taking the same conveyances?”

  Alice considered it. She knew the look of interest in Mr. Rathborne-Paxton’s eyes. She’d seen that sort of interest before. The man already knew about Ryan, and if he was the son of a marquess, she knew full well it wasn’t the consideration a man of his stature gave to a woman he could hope to know in public.

  But he was handsome, and he seemed genuinely sorry for his comment. And Lord help her, she did need assistance while traveling with Ryan.

  “Thank you, Mr. Rathborne-Paxton,” she said.

  “Samuel, please,” he said with a smile. “Or, my close friends call me Sam. Only the very close ones, though.”

  Yes, the man most definitely had an interest in her. And if she were honest with herself, Alice wasn’t entirely opposed to that interest. There were more ways to make a new life in London than in the ballrooms and drawing rooms of polite society.

  “I accept your offer for help, Sam,” she told him with her best, flirtatious smile. “And if all goes well, I may call on you for more help once we reach London.”

  “I would be honored to be at your service, my lady,” Sam said, touching the brim of his hat.

  Alice smiled as she found a place for her and Ryan near the ferry’s rail, where he would be able to look out at the sea as they left their old home for a new one. A whole new life lay before her, and if men like Mr. Rathborne-Paxton were any indication, it could be a very interesting one indeed.

  I hope you’ve enjoyed Maeve and Avery’s story! Victorians were really weird about the sexes, that’s one thing I’m pretty sure everyone knows (and it’s actually accurate too!). Overall, Victorian society was deeply concerned with keeping the realms of men and women separate…which was why the friendships that women formed with each other were so vitally important. A woman had to rely on her female friends for everything, and a friend break-up of the sort that Maeve and Alice almost experienced (and that I experienced myself right at the beginning of college) was such a big deal! Women were each other’s first, last, and only line of defense against the slings and arrows of the world. (And for those who were wondering, my friend Jess and I patched things up twenty years later, and we’re close again now. Yay!)

  This was also an aspect of women that men were so utterly clueless about. And yes, I had a ton of fun writing Avery’s, Rory’s, Rafe’s, and Caelian’s cluelessness when it came to female friendships. But by the end of the 19th century, things were starting to change, although it would take a couple of huge wars and a few periods of backsliding before it was considered normal for men and women to just be friends and to hang out together.

  Another interesting, historical point I had fun playing with in this book was the increasingly common circumstance of middle-class women “marrying up” into the aristocracy at the end of the Victorian era. There were several reasons for this. The most important is the fact that, as the Industrial Revolution and the changes it brought shifted wealth from the aristocracy to enterprising men of the middle class, aristocrats like Avery needed infusions of cash to keep their estates running. We all know about the American Dollar Princesses that some of them married (and that, I’ll confess, I love writing about, because historically, so many of them were such characters), but many also married the daughters of these industrial titans, who brought huge dowries with them. On the other side of that coin, marrying into the aristocracy was the biggest social prize a middle-class family could gain at the time, and it carried extraordinary bragging rights with it. I didn’t go into the details of the Sperrin family, but let’s just say they hit the jackpot with Maeve and Avery’s marriag
e.

  Aren’t you glad we don’t marry for social advantage and class value anymore (for the most part)?

  But what about poor Alice? What sort of a life can she expect in London as a ruined woman with a young son? And could the mysterious Mr. Samuel Rathborne-Paxton have something to do with her new life? Find out soon in That’s Why the Lady is a Tramp, the first book in an all-new series, The Unsuitable Brides!

  If you enjoyed this book and would like to hear more from me, please sign up for my newsletter! When you sign up, you’ll get a free, full-length novella, A Passionate Deception. Victorian identity theft has never been so exciting in this story of hope, tricks, and starting over. Part of my West Meets East series, A Passionate Deception can be read as a stand-alone. Pick up your free copy today by signing up to receive my newsletter (which I only send out when I have a new release)!

  Sign up here: http://eepurl.com/cbaVMH

  Are you on social media? I am! Come and join the fun on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/merryfarmerreaders

  I’m also a huge fan of Instagram and post lots of original content there: https://www.instagram.com/merryfarmer/

  About the Author

  I hope you have enjoyed Naughty Earls Need Love Too. If you’d like to be the first to learn about when new books in the series come out and more, please sign up for my newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/cbaVMH And remember, Read it, Review it, Share it! For a complete list of works by Merry Farmer with links, please visit http://wp.me/P5ttjb-14F.

  Merry Farmer is an award-winning novelist who lives in suburban Philadelphia with her cats, Justine and Peter. She has been writing since she was ten years old and realized one day that she didn't have to wait for the teacher to assign a creative writing project to write something. It was the best day of her life. She then went on to earn not one but two degrees in History so that she would always have something to write about. Her books have reached the Top 100 at Amazon, iBooks, and Barnes & Noble, and have been named finalists in the prestigious RONE and Rom Com Reader’s Crown awards.

  Acknowledgments

  I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my awesome beta-readers, Caroline Lee and Jolene Stewart, for their suggestions and advice. And double thanks to Julie Tague, for being a truly excellent editor and to Cindy Jackson for being an awesome assistant!

  Click here for a complete list of other works by Merry Farmer.