Alice’s Shameless Spinster’s Society

by Charlotte Stone

  Then Francis took Genie, though Alice noted it was Genie who’d crossed the room to him, wearing a smile in the face of the temper he was obviously holding back.

  Julius gave a mocking laugh that caught and held her attention.

  “Enough,” Calvin warned without looking at him. Calvin was still looking at Isaac and Isaac was still looking at Calvin.

  Julius lifted his hands and said, “I only came to watch.”

  Morris took the next woman. Alice had met the Duke of Cort when he’d become a member of Wilkins’ but when Calvin had left, so had he. He was tall, broad, and dapper and always wore an intense expression that made her believe he took everything seriously. He turned his blue-green eyes toward both Maura and Jane, gave them a vexed look, and said, “Come on.”

  Maura had the wisdom to hang her head before leaving while Jane marched out with her head held high.

  The last man Alice had seen in the club numerous times. The dashing Mr. Franklin Lockwood was Calvin’s older brother and both men shared the many of the same handsome features. He said nothing to Sophia, simply jerked his blond head toward the door, lifted a brow, and boldly started out. Alice wasn’t even sure Franklin had looked at her and, for some reason, Alice didn’t think well of that.

  Sophia rolled her eyes but followed silently and Alice found herself left alone with two angry men, one good humored gentleman, and a very confused Tabitha.

  Tabitha broke the tension by addressing Calvin. “You’re not allowed to be here, Mr. Lockwood. You were blackballed months ago.”

  Calvin’s heated gaze fixed upon her and even Alice backed up in her chair. She noted the way his hands had fisted and how his shoulders and chest seemed to have grown larger with his anger.

  Tabitha shut her mouth and took a step back.

  Julius turned to Alice. “Hello, love.”

  Alice smiled at him and her voice was breathy. “Hello.”

  He grinned.

  Calvin said, “Hanford.”

  “Lockwood.” Isaac stood and dropped Alice’s jaw only to take a position at her back. “I believe you’re not welcome here.”

  Calvin crossed his arms. “I don’t recall your name being Wilkins.”

  “Then you probably don’t know that my father is part owner of this club. Therefore, I have the power to dismiss you, which I am doing as we speak.”

  Alice was surprised and turned to look at Isaac. “My father has more than paid any credit he took from your father years ago.”

  Isaac looked down at her but said nothing, and Alice suspected he was keeping something from her.

  “Isaac?” she whispered. “I recall my father telling me he’d paid his debts.”

  “He had new debts, Alice,” he told her.

  “Since when?” she asked. And why?

  “Since three years ago,” he told her.

  Alice shook her head and wondered why her father hadn’t told her of his new debts. He told her almost everything. She even knew the names of a few of his paramours. It seemed strange that he’d keep such a detail from her, though she knew she wouldn’t inherit the club. Ralph had made it clear she wouldn’t. She was a woman. She understood that a woman couldn’t own a gentlemen’s club but she’d still have liked to know something this grand.

  Calvin said, “I will not leave without Alice.”

  Alice stared at him in surprise.

  Isaac’s voice carried over her head. “You will because she isn’t going anywhere.”

  Alice turned around and glared at him. “Isaac, I told you I was all right. There’s truly no reason for you to—”

  “There’s every reason, Alice.” Isaac’s eyes were speaking to her but Alice had no clue what they could be saying.

  “She should be allowed to make her own decision,” Calvin said.

  Alice turned back to him and smiled, appreciating Calvin’s confidence in her ability to think for herself.

  Then Isaac’s words shook the very foundation of Alice’s world. “I haven’t had her dressed in work woman’s rags for two years just so you could have her.”

  Alice couldn’t move or speak. She finally turned to Isaac and said, “What?”

  Isaac wasn’t paying attention to her. He was still speaking to Calvin. “I saw the way you’ve been watching her for years and took matters into my own hands.”

  Alice stood and moved away from the entire group until her back hit the window. Then she stared at the three men and the only other woman in the room. Both Julius and Tabitha looked amazed. Isaac and Calvin were still glaring at one another, and Calvin did not seem surprised at all by the news.

  But Alice was struggling to breathe, much less understand. Her father had been the one to change her wardrobe. Ralph had been the one to convince her to wear unflattering garments. He’d said it would protect her from the men. Had it been a lie? Had he done so for Isaac? Why?

  “Isaac,” Alice called.

  Isaac turned to her.

  “Why?” she asked him.

  Some of the anger seeped from Isaac’s eyes. “Alice.” He paused then tilted his head. “We’re engaged.”

  Julius threw his head back and laughed.

  Tabitha gasped.

  Calvin neither said nor did anything.

  Alice stared at Isaac. “We are not engaged.”

  “Yes, we are,” he told as he walked toward her. “We’ve been engaged since you became a woman.”

  She pressed into the glass but felt her mouth fall open. She was not sure at exactly what age he’d begun to consider her a woman but he was only Isaac to her. He could never be more.

  He pressed into her and cupped her cheeks, tilting her head up to meet his eyes. “Darling.”

  Alice closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to shake him off. “No.”

  “Alice, I didn’t want you to find out this way. I intended to court you first.”

  “When?” Her eyes opened so she could look at him. “When would this have been? I’m three and twenty, Isaac,” she whispered.

  He frowned. “My book is complete. I intended to begin next Season, followed by a short courtship. We’d have been married by the fall.”

  He had her entire life planned for her. He and her father. If she married him, she’d never have to worry about money or helping run a gentlemen’s club. Her daughters would be heiresses, and she’d have her friend at her side and feel safe.

  But friendship was not what she wanted. During Isaac’s speech, she’d not heard him express one word of love or even any sort of feeling. There’d been no depth.

  So, she asked, “Why?”

  He narrowed his eyes and studied her. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Why do you wish to marry me?” she asked him.

  “Alice,” he began.

  She waited.

  “We suit.”

  Her eyes widened. “We suit?”

  “Yes,” he said, staring at her as though she’d grown an additional head. “We suit. You and I have been friends for over a decade. There’s no reason we should marry anyone else. We enjoy the same books and share a fondness for harps.” He lowered his voice and whispered, “Or how we only drink milk in our tea cups and no one ever takes notice? Don’t you remember?” Isaac's family could always afford tea but he’d never cared for it. Thus, the two of them would drink milk.

  She smiled. “I do remember but I drink tea now.”

  Isaac’s head went back as though she’d struck him. “What? Since when?”

  “Two years now?” she whispered.

  He stared at her as though he hardly knew her, as though she’d let him down. “Alice… Tea?” They shared a grand fondness for milk and for each other but Alice wanted more.

  “I like milk.”

  Alice turned to Calvin, laughing at what she believed to be the silliest comment she’d ever heard. The intense look in his eyes as he swept her body and came back to rest on hers stopped her laughter and she recognized what that look meant. He liked milk but he
also very much liked her, which was more than what Isaac had to offer.

  Calvin winked. “I like tea, too.”

  She locked her knees to keep standing.

  “Alice,” Isaac called.

  “I can’t marry you,” she answered while still holding Calvin’s eyes. Then she turned to look at Isaac. “I can’t marry you, Isaac.”

  “Alice—”

  “I don’t love you.”

  Isaac opened his mouth again but Calvin cut him off and he did it while standing close. Alice had not seen him move. His hand managed to slip around her waist and his eyes were on Isaac when he said, “She loves me.”

  Isaac cut his eyes to Calvin and Alice found herself being hauled across the room. Her feet left the ground as Calvin secured her up into his arms and carried her from the room.

  “Calvin!” Alice cried as she placed her arms on his shoulders and pushed away to stare at him. His expression was determined and fixed on his departure.

  She heard laughing as she left the room, a sound that could only belong to Julius. Then she heard rushing footsteps and saw Tabitha around Calvin’s shoulder.

  Tabitha was smiling. “I forgot to mention how I adore your dress. You look lovely. It’s a pity that Mr. Hanford always made you wear such somber cuts and colors.”

  “She’s right,” Calvin said. “You do look lovely.” Then his fingers inched up the back of her dress and caressed her skin.

  “Thank you,” Alice whispered, though she had no idea how she’d managed to speak at all. They descended down a flight of stairs.

  Tabitha stopped at the top and said, “Don’t worry about the club. I’ll see to it all.” Then she waved Alice away and turned back toward the offices.

  Calvin went toward the back door, out into daylight that managed to penetrate the back alley and into a carriage. Instead of placing her on the seat, he held her on his lap and her attempts to rise were met with resistance.

  “That took long enough.”

  Alice turned to see Lord Ashwick and Lady Lorena on the other bench. Lorena was in a similar position as Alice but her arms were around her fiancé’s neck, not fighting his hold.

  Ashwick turned to Calvin. “Where’s Julius?”

  Calvin grumbled, “I didn’t invite him to come so he can find his own way home.”

  Lorena smiled. “Oh, Alice. You must tell us everything when we return to the house. I’m calling a meeting of the Society.”

  “No,” Ashwick cut in. His gray eyes held so much displeasure that Alice found herself pressing into Calvin. “You and I will have a talk when we return to the house.”

  Lorena bit her lip and ducked her head as the carriage started to pull away.

  Alice realized then that she should have come to the club on her own. She didn’t wish to cause trouble between the couple. “I’m sorry, my lord. It was my idea to allow them into Wilkins’. I didn’t think. I—”

  “Oh, god,” Ashwick groaned and glared at Lorena again. “Now you’ve got the woman lying for you when we both know it was entirely your idea. Tell me, what is it about you that gains a person’s loyalty so quickly?”

  Lorena looked up at him, lifted a hand, caressed his cheek, and said, “I don’t know, Emmett. Why not tell me why such a handsome man as yourself is so very loyal to me?”

  Ashwick’s anger seemed to fall away under Lorena’s touch and his lips twitched though he refused to smile.

  Alice smiled and turned to look at Calvin. She found he was smiling at them as well. Then that smile turned to her.

  Her heart stopped.

  His hands squeezed her.

  She pulled in a breath.

  “Since it seems your presence will have some permanency in our lives, call me Emmett.”

  Alice opened her mouth to tell him that she and Calvin were not what they seemed, but then she thought of his words and realized he’d not asked her to call him ‘Emmett’. It had been a command. So she smiled and said, “You may call me Alice.”

  He smiled and said, “We already do.”

  We?

  She turned to look at Calvin and saw he was still grinning at her. Alice felt her world falling apart like walls of a house being stripped away and painted a vibrant shade… she wasn’t entirely sure she should oppose the new design.

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  CHAPTER ELEVEN

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  When Emmett had suggested a talk between him and Lorena, Alice has assumed she’d return to her room at Lorena’s home and wait.

  This was not so.

  Once the carriages came to a stop, Alice quickly found that she would be included in the ‘talk’ along with the other Spinster Society women and the discussion was to be led by not only Emmett but the entirety of the Men of Nashwood.

  The women had been taken through a back door of Francis’ house so that their presence would not be seen by the members who were occupying themselves in Francis’ club. From what little she saw, Alice caught her breath at the structure of the Valdeston residence. It had always seemed slightly different on the outside, with windows in odd places and parts of the structure that protruded while others receded but one could not appreciate the true beauty of the home until they walked inside.

  Unlike Lorena’s home, which seemed to be fully and artfully decorated, the bare walls of Francis’ home were art themselves. Alice paused in the upstairs hallway to stare at the painted ceiling but the hand that Calvin held wrapped around her uninjured arm urged her forward and she remembered she was not there for pleasure.

  The women were seated on the couches in the center of a room and Alice caught her first look at all ten of the Men of Nashwood. Their unmatched beauty and broodiness made her stomach flip right before it fell to her knees. She felt as though she were on trial and every man present was ready to see her swing from a rope, collectively being judge, jury, and executioner.

  A hand squeezed hers, and she turned her head to meet Sophia’s eyes.

  “Breathe,” her friend whispered.

  Alice released the breath she’d been holding and squeezed Sophia’s hand in return before glancing around. The room was beautiful, dark green, with every other window being painted in mosaic colors. It was masculine in a way and since it seemed to be near the family apartments, Alice guessed it to be Francis’ cabinet, the duke’s dayroom.

  There was a desk, the couches, and a windowed wall with bench seats. A few of the men she didn’t know sat in two of them, two others stood by the fireplace, and others were positioned at the door and Calvin was one of them. He and a few others wore muted expressions but Alice could tell he was not pleased.

  Lorena stood and said, “I shall begin by stating—”

  “Sit, Lorena,” Francis said. He was leaning against a desk that faced the couch with his hands planted on the edge of the surface on either side of him. He looked large in his stance and his expression was one of complete vexation.

  Lorena, being wise, took her seat but she did so with her chin held high. At Lorena’s side was Genie and she seemed the only one who dared to smile in the face of Francis’ heat. She was deeply in love and just how unashamed that love was made Alice’s heart warm.

  Francis’ cold tone cooled her swiftly. “You went to a gentlemen’s club.”

  “Yes,” Lorena said. “But—”

  Emmett cut in. “It was barely two months ago you swore to me you wouldn’t do exactly what you did today.”

  Lorena tilted her head. “I recall saying that everyone had a right to their own privacy but we were never close enough to hear words, therefore I’ve not broken my promise.”

  He narrowed his gray eyes.

  Lorena went on. “We only went to support our newest sister. As you know, Alice was shot last night. We didn’t wish her to go anywhere alone and since her home is a club, it isn’t fair that we must avoid it. We
didn’t tour the gaming room or the parlor, though I must at admit I was quite intrigued—”

  “Lorena,” Francis warned.

  Her words didn’t slow. “But we used the back entrance, went straight to the floor where her father’s office was located, and that is where you found us. I see no reason for this meeting, especially since it is taking place at yet another gentlemen’s club.”

  Maura covered her mouth, though it was clear to see she was holding back a laugh.

  Genie let hers slip out before clenching her lips together.

  Sophia pointed her face at her lap to hide her smile.

  But Alice realized at Lorena’s words she was sitting in the room of her competition and had to admit that if the rest of the house was as lovely at Francis’ cabinet then there was much to fear.

  Emmett pulled a hand through his hair. “Never again.”

  “But, Emmett—”

  Alice looked between the two and had the feeling this was not the first time a conversation of this sort had happened.

  Emmett walked over to his bride, leaned over the couch arm, and lowered his head close to hers. “Never again.”

  Lorena held his eyes and whispered, “Never again.” Then she turned and stood. “Is this meeting over?’

  “Hardly.” Francis motioned for her to take her seat again.

  Lorena sat back down once more and Emmett straightened.

  Francis’ eyes moved to Alice. “Since you were injured on behalf of one of us, we want you to know that if there is anything you need, you only need to ask. Calvin is our brother, and last evening we could have lost him. You risked your life for him, so you can expect the same from us.” The words were kind even if his expression still held some heat.

  Alice’s heart warmed again nonetheless. “Thank you, my lord.”

  “Francis,” he corrected. “And the others would like to introduce themselves to you so that you know who they are and know whom to speak to if trouble ever arises.”

  Alice smiled and looked over to see the other women smiling at her as well. Then, one by one, the men came over to her, taking her hand, and giving her permission to use their given names. Alice felt like a queen as her hand was grabbed by one man after another. By the third kiss to her hand and darkly whispered introduction, Alice was sure that her face looked like a cherry. She was embarrassed, flattered, and slightly mesmerized by them all.