Alice’s Shameless Spinster’s Society

by Charlotte Stone

  Alice looked at Maura. “I like it very much.”

  “Thank you,” Maura whispered.

  Alice turned to Lorena. “Why do you think they were hidden?”

  Lorena took the tea a maid passed her and said, “Because my father’s family was mad.” She wore a smile as she sipped her tea as though she’d made comment about expecting light rain in the evening.

  Alice blinked and again wondered if perhaps when she’d been struck in the arm she’d gone unconscious and had yet to wake up from a very long sleep. Her life was nothing like it had been yesterday morning. It was all overwhelming.

  Genie leaned forward in her seat and gained her attention. “You must tell us everything that occurred yesterday evening and what occurred after we left your father’s office today. Then we’ll know the best way to help you.”

  “I’m not sure how you can help,” Alice whispered.

  “You said Calvin hurt you,” Sophia said. “What did you mean by this?”

  Alice looked at her and remembered saying those words. She looked at the other women and took note of their interest, realizing that none watched her more closely than Lorena. Deciding to withhold nothing, she started from the very beginning, telling them of the moment she’d met Calvin, the kiss that had come years later, and then finding him and Rose at the party. There was surprise and anger on their faces. Surprise at Calvin’s words when he’d kissed her six weeks ago, and anger, even visible pain, she’d found him and Rose. She told them about running to the gardens and of her return to the house, then the woman who’d shot her before she'd fled. Then she told them about Isaac, their friendship, and what she’d discovered that afternoon.

  “That is much going on there,” Maura whispered.

  Alice thought her correct.

  “Let’s start with yesterday. Did you see your attacker’s face?” Sophia asked.

  Alice shook her head. “No. The room was dark. The light only showed her to be a woman. She wore a dress. She was not very tall. Thin. I believe her hair to have been blond.”

  “That’s not enough to narrow the women down,” Sophia said.

  Genie leaned back in her chair. “From what we know about Calvin, that could be many women of his acquaintance.” Then her eyes saddened as they settled on Alice. “Sorry, my dear.”

  Alice shook her head. “No, I understand that men…” It was hard for her to get the words past her lips but after living on the top floor of a gentlemen’s club, she knew many things about needs of men and knew it went beyond spirits and gaming.

  “He’ll be faithful to you.” Lorena’s eyes were still intense. “Calvin has made his intentions known. He’ll not hurt you again.”

  Alice lowered her head. She was not yet ready to have that much faith in a man as beautiful and charming as Calvin. Even the men whose only attraction was the size of their purse were unfaithful to their wives.

  “Alice,” Lorena called.

  She lifted her eyes to Lorena’s very stern blue ones.

  “Calvin will not hurt you that way again.”

  Alice spoke before she could think better of it. “I’m a working-class man’s daughter. Calvin’s family will never approve of me. Franklin does not approve of me.”

  “Franklin will come around once he sees just how much you and Calvin care for one another.” Lorena would not be dissuaded.

  Alice sighed and dropped her shoulders. “He will never see this because I will not marry Calvin.”

  “Will you marry Isaac?” Genie asked. Then she smiled. “He was quite handsome.”

  Lorena straightened in her seat and glared at Genie. “Did you not see his satchel? He’s a Cambridge man.”

  Genie frowned with disgust. “Oh.”

  Alice shook her head and laughed. “I forget that all the Nashwood men went to Oxford.”

  “And our fathers,” Lorena told her before shouting the motto. “Dominus illuminatio mea!” The Lord is my Light.

  Genie said, “Francis detests Cambridge men. They were his competition during his races for Oxford. He won every one. He’s the best equestrian in the world.” Her pride for Francis shone once more.

  Maura spoke in her lovely quiet voice. “Whether or not you marry Calvin, you do wish to keep him alive, don’t you?”

  If the wrap about her arm were not evidence enough. “Yes,” Alice replied.

  “Then we must find the woman who shot at him,” Lorena announced.

  “But where do we start?” Sophia asked.

  “Perhaps we should visit your uncles,” Genie suggested to Sophia. “We could ask the servants if they saw the woman who ran.”

  “Excellent idea!” Sophia said.

  Alice watched as the women continued to form a plan before shouting, “Wait!”

  They all turned to look at her.

  Alice stood. “Are we all seriously planning to find a woman who is running around London with a gun?”

  “Yes,” Lorena said.

  “Why would we ever do such a thing?” Alice asked.

  “Because you love him,” Lorena told her.

  Alice opened her mouth to protest.

  “And because I love him,” Lorena went on.

  Alice stared at Lorena as she slowly regained her seat. “You love him?”

  Lorena nodded and smiled. “And I want Calvin to be happy and to remain alive. Is that what you want?”

  It was what she wanted, though her mind could not move past the knowledge that Lorena loved Calvin. She wondered at the depth of that love and wondered if Calvin returned the affection. Jealousy took hold of her and she saw Lorena for what she was. A very beautiful titled woman… who was engaged and who knew her fiancé could be forthcoming but what did this mean for her love for Calvin? Had there been something shared between them?

  “Alice?” Sophia called.

  “Yes,” Alice said, deciding she would simply tell them the truth and worry about Lorena and Calvin later. Or not at all, since he would never be hers. At that moment, she felt like she didn’t belong around the woman and wished to be where she felt she did. Though she was upset with her father, she knew he could make her feel better. “I need to find my father.”

  “Do you know where he could be?” Sophia asked.

  Alice slowly nodded and thought of the very place her father was most likely to be. “But it’s not a place for women such as yourselves.”

  Genie gasped. “Is it a brothel?’

  Alice slowly nodded her head again. “I’ll go alone.”

  “Alice,” Lorena began. “You can’t go on your own. We’ll go with you and—”

  “No.” She held up her hands and then dropped them into her lap. “I’ve already caused you all enough trouble. I don’t wish your brother to loathe me.”

  “It wouldn’t—”

  “Please,” Alice told her without looking at her. She was finding it hard to look at her, though she was unsure why.

  “All right,” Lorena whispered with defeat in her voice.

  The room fell into silence.

  Sophia asked, “Is it Madame Margaret’s that you plan to visit?”

  Alice lifted her eyes to Sophia and nodded. “How did you know?”

  “My father is a patron,” Sophia said, then added, “And I’ve been there before. I’ll accompany you.”

  Lorena let out a sound of relief.

  Alice’s eyes widened. “Sophia—”

  “You’re not going alone.” Sophia’s green eyes were unrelenting before she stood and turned to the others. “We’ll see you at dinner.” Then she turned to Alice and said, “Let us go retrieve your father.”

  Alice stood but her uncertainty didn’t vanish until Sophia grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. Then they smiled and were gone.

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  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

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  Soph
ia began speaking the moment the carriage rolled into the street. “Calvin proposed to Lorena two months ago.”

  Alice’s heart fell, and her eyes stung at the knowledge that she’d been right. There was something shared between the two but she recalled how happy Lorena seemed in Emmett’s arms.

  She placed herself closer to the door, placed a hand on the edge of the window, and stared out at the traffic on St. James before they made a right on Piccadilly where traffic slowed further. It just past noon and at the speed at which the carriage moved, it would take them at least an hour to get to their destination.

  She concentrated on what she thought the best streets would be, avoiding further thoughts of a man she could never have.

  “Morris, Julius, Aaron, and Hugh also proposed to her that same evening.”

  Alice turned to Sophia. “What?”

  Sophia was staring at her in a way that told Alice she’d been staring at her while Alice had been looking out the window. She wondered what Sophia had seen on her face.

  “They all proposed in an effort to stop the Spinster’s Society. They believed getting Lorena off the market to be the only way to end us.”

  Alice let out a shaky breath and turned to her body in Sophia’s direction. “So, you’re saying there was never anything special—”

  Sophia shook her head. “No, there is definitely something between Lorena and Calvin.”

  Her world shattered again and worse than when she’d found Calvin with Rose because Lorena meant something to him.

  “But whatever it is they share, it is not the magnitude of what you share with him.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because when Lorena told Calvin no, he did not protest, and just this very afternoon, he announced to his closest friends that he had every intention of marrying you. He’s willing to fight for your hand, Alice, and he proved so again when he carried you out of your father’s club, a place he’d been banned from ever entering again.”

  Alice leaned back until her back hit the cushion behind her and allowed Sophia’s words to settle over her but Sophia barely gave her time to come to terms with this latest truth when she continued to speak.

  “Yes, Lorena loves Calvin, but she is in love with Emmett. Lorena met most of them as a child. The men would visit Francis during their breaks from Eton and then later as students at Oxford. Genie was there as well since she was Lorena’s friend. They are all very much family in a way, but Lorena holds a special admiration for Calvin. How could she not when he is the easiest to like of them all?”

  “What do you mean?” Alice asked.

  Sophia crossed her legs under her skirts and tapped her fingers on her knee. “I’ve not known the men very long. Less than two months. But of all of them, Calvin is the one who seeks attention. He enjoys people. He liked to make people happy and paired with his mind for numbers, he was the best choice to run Nashwood London.”

  Alice had always known it was more than luck that allowed Calvin to win every hand. He was smart and still managed to make his competition laugh before the end of the night. Only her father, another charmer, had disliked Calvin for all the money he took.

  Thinking of her father and money took her mind back to Isaac’s claim of owning part of Wilkins’. There was so much to speak to her father about that she barely knew where to start… and one thought bothered her more than all the others.

  That somehow the money was connected to her betrothal to Isaac. Had her father sold her to fix his financial woes? She tried to calm this fear by telling herself that if he’d had to, at least he’d given her to a man he knew would treat her well but that knowledge did little to stop the pain she was feeling.

  She looked up at Sophia and decided to return to her former thoughts. “How did you know that Lorena’s confession of love made me ill at ease?”

  Sophia smiled and said, “Because I’d have felt the same if I didn’t know Lorena well, but what you’ll soon come to find is that Lorena loves everything and everyone she meets. I’m even sure she could love those who no one else could or are willing to. That is her gift. She loves and you’ll find in time that she’ll love you as well. Then you know that where Lorena is concerned, you never have to worry.”

  Alice’s heart warmed at the thought of being loved by Lorena. “I’ve never met anyone like her.”

  “How fortunate we are to have her,” Sophia said with a wide smile.

  Alice was inclined to agree.

  The girls changed the topic of conversation to the dinner and other parties that Society would put together. Apparently, it was usual for the women to host the Men of Nashwood as a way to protect them from taking invitations from other members of the ton. It was their way of being a part of society without actually taking part in it. The men all loathed society functions. Therefore, they allowed the women to run most of their affairs.

  Alice realized that if she were to remain a member, she would have to get used to seeing Calvin over the years and didn’t think she’d be able to once he married a woman who was right for him. One his brother approved of. A lady or at least a woman of wealth.

  The carriage eventually stopped a block from the brothel and Sophia turned to Alice and said, “How do you approach Madame Margaret’s?”

  “Through my friend Christine’s townhouse. Her alley is shared with Margaret’s. How do you usually approach the brothel?”

  “At night and through the front door,” Sophia admitted. Then she smiled. “But we shall try it your way.”

  Alice momentarily forgot herself before nodding. Then she stepped out of the carriage onto the street of Convent Garden, knowing it to hold not only coffee shops and taverns but most of London’s brothels. A few members of society still held residence in the area but many had moved to not have themselves associated with what the area had become known to serve.

  Alice led the way to Christine’s house, walked up the front steps, and knocked on the door. Christine’s butler opened the door and smiled at seeing her.

  “Mrs. Potter will be very pleased to see you,” the older man said.

  “Potter?” Sophia asked behind her.

  Alice smiled at her and said, “Come along.”

  The butler showed them into Christine’s beautiful home and into the drawing room. Alice had barely taken her seat before Christine came into the door. She stopped at the entrance of the room and gasped before covering her mouth. “Oh, Alice!”

  Alice stood and closed her arms around her friend, biting back the pain that shot through her arm. “Christine, how are you?”

  Christine shook her head and continued to grin. Her brown eyes tilted severely in the corners, giving her an exotic look. “I’m well.” Then she frowned. “Why are you wincing? What’s the matter?”

  “I was hurt,” Alice told her. “But I’m healing. No need to worry.”

  Christine looked intent to worry for the moment but then turned to stare at who else was in the room. “Oh, hello.”

  Sophia was openly staring at Christine and Alice didn’t blame her for her reaction. Christine’s beauty was known to catch people off guard. Like Alice and Sophia, her hair was dark but so were her eyes and her skin was exquisitely pale. She was not as tall as Alice but had the curves of a desirable woman.

  After a moment, Sophia said, “You must meet my father.”

  Christine’s smile fell away, and she took a step back, which broke her hold on Alice. “For what purpose would your father wish to meet me?”

  “To dress you,” Sophia said. “He’s Mr. Taylor, owner of Tailor and Taylor.”

  Christine’s eyes went their own version of wide, and Alice could tell she was struggling to breathe. “Your father is Mr. Taylor?”

  Sophia nodded and said, “I’m—”

  “Sophia Taylor!” Christine cried and moved forward to take Sophia’s hand. “I read everything you write, and you’ve a fine talent for describing your father’s designs. I find myself envious of every woman who is blessed with the gif
t of his clothing.” Then Christine’s eyes moved over Sophia’s dress before turning to Alice and gasping again. “I hardly noticed you were not in black. You look lovely. That’s a Taylor dress, isn’t it?”

  “It is,” Alice told her.

  Christine jumped on her toes and shouted with glee before turning to Sophia. “Then I would love to meet your father. For a moment, I thought you meant you wished me to sleep with him. As you know, this is Covent Garden and, on more than one occasion, I’ve had a man try and follow me into my home, mistaking me for a prostitute but this house has been in my family for years. I couldn’t dream of leaving, though it would be much more convenient to live closer to where I work. Either way, so long as I’m not being asked to lift my skirts for any other reason than fashion, meeting your father would be an absolute honor.”

  Christine’s energy reminded her of Genie in a way. Christine seemed to lean toward being happy and doing things that would make her smile, including thinking positively on most things and of most people. She’d experience great pain when her husband died a year ago and still more thereafter but since the new year began, Alice had only seen her smile.

  Sophia’s words brought Alice back to the present. “I’m glad you wish to meet my father but he will still want to sleep with you.”

  Christin’s smile fell again. “What?”

  “Oh, yes. My father will take one look at you and try his best to get you in bed. You’re very beautiful. It would be hard for him to resist trying.”

  That Sophia would speak so boldly made it clear that she’d lived a most unusual life, much like Alice’s.

  Christine took a step back and said, “Perhaps I’d rather admire his work from afar.” Then she turned to Alice and asked. “I’m so glad you’ve come but I’m sure you’ve not come to visit. Why are you here?”

  Alice did feel horrible that it wasn’t a social call but she had other pressing matters. “I need to get inside Madame Margaret’s or at least speak with her. I need to find my father.”