Scandalous Brides

by Annette Blair

  “I must say, Lydia,” Kate offered, “your hair looks uncommonly good tonight.”

  Lydia beamed at Anna. “Anna’s Colette arranged it for me.”

  “They will do well by you, Lydia,” Haverstock said.

  “Tomorrow Anna and I will go to Madam Devreaux’s for my trousseau.”

  “Do you mean Anna knew about the engagement before your very own mother?” the dowager demanded.

  “I am afraid, Mother,” Haverstock intervened, “the close friendship between Anna and Lydia excludes most of us. The two share many things we are not privy to.”

  The dowager gave a snort. “Like those afternoon romps. One would think they were going to a leper colony.”

  “I feel so very fortunate Anna has come into our family,” Lydia said.

  Squire Ainsley lifted Lydia’s hand and placed a kiss on it. “Not nearly so fortunate as I that you are coming to mine.”

  Color rose to Lydia’s cheeks.

  Following dinner, they rode in two carriages to the Taylors’ ball. Lydia and the squire rode in Haverstock’s, and Kate, Cynthia and Charlotte rode in Mr. Reeve’s.

  “I beg that you not ask me to stand up with you, squire,” Lydia said on the way to the ball. “I am a most deplorable dancer.”

  Taking her hand in his, the squire said, “Please, call me John. And I am pleased you are not partial to dancing because I fear I have two left feet.”

  Looking at the pair across from her in the dimly lit carriage, Anna wished Lydia wore a more lovely dress. The drab green was serviceable, but a special night like this called for an elegant dress.

  “I wonder if Captain Smythe will be at the ball,” Lydia said.

  “One wonders if he will ever come up to scratch with Cynthia,” Anna said. “What do you think, Charles?”

  In his brooding mood again, Haverstock hugged the side of the carriage, not even allowing his leg to touch her skirts. He met her gaze. “Pardon?”

  “Do you think Captain Smythe will offer for Cynthia?”

  “I don’t know that I’ve ever given it a thought,” he said stiffly. “I daresay the matter is between Cynthia and the captain.”

  “I think he’s behaved shamefully,” Lydia said. “All these weeks he’s been leading Cynthia on. Everyone expects a declaration any day. As pretty as she is, no other man will even come close to her. And now the captain’s become conspicuously absent.”

  “Shameful, indeed,” the squire uttered.

  ~ ~ ~

  THOUGH IT WAS LATE in the Season, the crowd at the Taylors’ was the largest Anna had seen. Haverstock and Anna led the newly betrothed couple around, introducing the squire to everyone as Lydia’s fiancé.

  After spending over an hour on introductions, the gentlemen settled Anna and Lydia at chairs against a wall in the ballroom and went to procure refreshments.

  Vigorously fanning herself against the room’s stifling heat, Anna did not notice Sir Henry had walked up to claim her for a dance. A frown on her face, she slowly closed her fan and rose to her feet, stiffly offering him her hand.

  “How delightful it is to see you tonight, Lady Haverstock,” Sir Henry said, leading her on to the dance floor.

  Anna did not respond.

  Since the dance was a waltz, he gathered her into his arms and whispered, “Have you found out the information we need so desperately?”

  “My husband tells me nothing, and if he did, I would not tell you.”

  “What about Ralph Morgan? I see you two together every afternoon at Hyde Park. I think you could get anything you want from the man.”

  “You mistake the matter,” Anna said with vehemence. “Mr. Morgan escorts me out of friendship to my husband.”

  “Mr. Morgan is noted for having an eye for beautiful women, Anna. And in case you have not looked in your glass lately, you are incredibly beautiful.”

  “I assure you Mr. Morgan is completely oblivious to any beauty I might possess.” Anna saw her husband return to where she had been sitting, holding two drinks. He scanned the dance floor until he saw her. Then he stiffened.

  At that moment Lady Jane, wearing a heavily embroidered ivory gown, walked up to him, bowed low to say something to Lydia, then straightened up again and spoke to Haverstock, an angelic smile on her face. Anna’s stomach plummeted when she saw her husband give Lady Jane the drink he had brought for her.

  The dance seemed interminably long, and Anna discouraged conversation with Sir Henry. She could not take her eyes off Haverstock and Lady Jane. Why wouldn’t the woman leave? Now she was fanning herself. The next thing Anna knew, Lady Jane acted as if she were going to swoon. Only Anna was sure it was feigned to solicit Haverstock’s interest.

  He gently took the slim blond by her elbow and led her from the crowded ballroom.

  “I see your husband’s marriage has done nothing to cool his feelings toward the lovely Lady Jane,” Sir Henry said.

  So Lady Jane did have a claim on Charles’s feeling, Anna thought morosely, unable to respond to Sir Henry.

  When the dance was over and Sir Henry restored Anna to her seat by Lydia, Lydia greeted Anna wryly. “Would that I’d had a banana peel to throw at Lady Jane’s delicate feet.”

  A smile crossed Anna’s face. “How wicked you are.”

  “Not as wicked as she. I have never seen a more unbelievable attempt at fainting.”

  “So I’m not the only one who thought so,” Anna said.

  “I hope my fool of a brother can see through her.”

  Anna felt a tap at her shoulder. She turned and saw Mr. Churchdowne.

  “May I have the pleasure of this dance, Lady Haverstock?”

  Anna gracefully rose.

  ~ ~ ~

  HE KNEW THAT SHE didn’t love him. He knew that she never had. He knew she was responsible for Pierre Chassay’s death. And she was an enemy of his country. So why did it hurt so badly to see her in the arms of Sir Henry and Harry Churchdowne?

  Haverstock smirked at Jane. She had always fancied herself a marchioness. His marchioness. And she had always annoyed him. She was no more faint than he was. After giving her a suitable amount of time to cool off, he asked, “Do you feel up to standing up with me for the next set?” Something in his pride made him want to show Anna other women could be attracted to him.

  “Oh, I’m quite refreshed now, my lord,” she said, setting a possessive hand on his arm as he led her to the dance floor.

  He swept by Anna, ignoring her while giving a curt nod to Churchdowne. He gave his full attention to acting as if Jane were the most important person in the room. He made a great deal of seriously looking into her eyes. He laughed and smiled at everything she said. He squeezed her hand. All the while he watched Anna from the corner of his eye.

  It was as if there were no one else on the dance floor except his beautiful wife. He watched her lovely body moving gracefully beneath the soft drape of her sky blue gown. And with a bitter rage, he watched Churchdowne’s face as his earnest eyes caressed Anna.

  Damn that Churchdowne! Haverstock kept thinking. Did he have to hold Anna so close? And how dare he dance with Anna after the scene at White’s. It might give Anna a bad name.

  “Since you’ve gone and married,” Lady Jane said, “I have decided to marry, too.”

  “And who is the fortunate man?”

  “I cannot tell you since I have not yet received the offer, but I expect it within the week. I will say that he outranks you.”

  Haverstock raised a brow.

  “And he’s quite old, so I may have to take pleasure with a younger man like you, Charles.”

  Somehow, with all her faults, Haverstock could not imagine Anna speaking as Jane just did. Jane of the impeccable lineage, he thought disgustedly.

  TWENTY-TWO

  MADAM DAVERAUX ran her discerning eyes along the sizable length of Lydia and spoke to Anna. “I have not seen this sister before, no?”

  Anna shook her head. “This sister’s tastes run to riding habits more th
an ball gowns, but now she will need a trousseau.”

  Within minutes, the modiste’s assistants scurried around Lydia, measuring her, holding lengths of various shades about her face. All the while Madam Devreaux exuded excitement.

  Anna realized the dressmaker extraordinaire was not just counting the generous sums she would receive for the commissions, but she was also being challenged creatively to transform Lydia from the ugly duckling into the beautiful swan.

  “Do you not agree, Madam Devreaux, that Lydia’s breasts are one of her best assets and should not be covered?” Anna asked “To be sure,” the woman said, leading Lydia into a dressing room. There, Lydia disrobed, and Madam Devreaux draped a bright white sarcenet from just over her bosom to the floor.

  Anna stood back and gazed. Lydia looked almost pretty. Certainly striking. “You are a positive genius, Madam. Lydia looks quite lovely.”

  Lydia gave a skeptical glance into the glass. “Do you not think the bodice is too low?”

  “Not at all!” the modiste said. “We only see the top of what promises to be exquisite endowments. Your husband-to-be, he will be enraptured.”

  Lydia’s face clouded.

  Madam Devreaux had undoubtedly said the wrong thing, Anna thought. The idea of intimacy with the squire was not welcome to Lydia. Anna remembered with deep longing every torturing touch from her own husband. Despite the pain of losing him, she would do it all over again. Better the pain than going to her grave never having experienced their magical blending.

  Anna watched the young assistants work. “Tell me, Madam Devreaux, are your helpers good needlewomen?”

  “But of course. Only the best.” The dressmaker wrote some measurements down on paper.

  “What kind of wage do they receive?”

  “I pay a generous wage,” she defended, not mentioning a sum.

  “Have you need for another employee?”

  The woman nodded. “This season we have been so terribly busy. My poor girls, they work into the night. I could undoubtedly use another.”

  “Sally!” Lydia exclaimed.

  Anna’s eyes danced with delight. “Exactly.”

  “You have someone?” the modiste asked.

  “She has no great experience,” Anna said, “but her work is good, and she is an excellent learner. To compensate for her lack of experience, I propose to pay her wages during her apprentice period—without her knowledge, of course.”

  Madam Devreaux smiled broadly. “Of course.”

  “Oh, Anna, what a delightful plan,” Lydia said. “I cannot wait to see her face when we tell her.”

  “I say, Lyddie,” Morgie said on the way to the East End that afternoon, “you look different.”

  “It’s her hair,” Anna said.

  “Oh, yes. Quite becoming,” he said.

  “Lydia is to acquire a new wardrobe for her trousseau,” Anna announced.

  With shaking hands, Morgie reined his horse, pulling to a complete stop, then turned wide eyes on Lydia. “Your what?”

  “My trousseau,” she answered. “Did you not know I am to be wed?”

  “I did not!” he snapped. “By all that’s holy, I see you twice every day, and you don’t even have the consideration to tell me something as momentous as your wedding plans. Just who in the bloody hell is it you’re marrying?”

  Anna’s gaze shifted from Morgie to Lydia, and her long-standing belief in their affection for each other was confirmed. A pity Morgie did not realize the depth of his feeling for Lydia.

  “Squire John Ainsley,” Lydia said.

  Morgie took up the ribbons and began to canter, avoiding Lydia’s gaze. “Never heard of the man.”

  “He lives quite near Haymore. He’s a widower,” Lydia said.

  “I am sure you don’t have to explain the man to me,” Morgie said, his lips compressed.

  An uncomfortable silence filled the carriage. Unconsciously, Anna listened to the clopping of hooves, the cracking of whips, children at play. A fog horn on the Thames.

  Presently, Morgie said. “This is the second cannonball wedding betrothal I’ve heard of today. You’ll never guess the other one.”

  “Enlighten us,” Lydia said dryly.

  “Blassingame has offered for Lady Jane Wyeth.”

  “But the old duke must be eighty years old!” Lydia said.

  “He is but five and seventy,” Morgie corrected.

  “Do you realize how this could affect Kate’s plans?” Anna asked.

  Lydia’s hand flew to her mouth. “Goodness! If the duke and Jane have a son, poor Mr. Reeves will have no prospects, and Kate will never be a duchess!”

  “Delicate subject, I know,” Morgie stammered, “But the babe might not even have to be the duke’s, if you know what I mean. Men of a certain age have difficulties with that sort of thing, I am told. He’d be pleased as punch to have everyone think him capable.”

  Lydia blushed and purposefully looked away from Morgie’s direction.

  A throbbing torment raged through Anna as she remembered her husband with Lady Jane the night before. Had they been planning to become lovers once Jane married the old duke? As much as she could picture Jane scheming behind her husband’s back, Anna could never imagine Charles denying Kate her heart’s desire.

  “Anna,” Lydia said, “Kate’s wedding’s only two days off. I fear she will stop it if she learns the duke’s plans.”

  “That might not be a bad thing,” Anna said.

  “But Kate deserves to be miserable. She’s such a schemer. It’s either her being miserable or poor Mr. Reeves—whose only mistake is falling in love with Kate.” Lydia set her chin forward. “I shall not tell her about Blassingame.”

  Anna hated to see Kate locked in a loveless marriage, but it was of her own choosing. Whether or not Mr. Reeves became a duke really had nothing to do with winning Kate’s love. That he would never be able to do. Perhaps Lydia was right to keep the news of Blassingame’s plans from Kate.

  Morgie ran a skeptical eye over Lydia but said nothing.

  At the sewing school, Morgie stayed with his equipage, as he usually did. Anna, Lydia and Colette divided themselves among the students. Sally sat at the end of one of the tables with her two little girls, who wore patched dresses. She was putting the finishing touches on a new dress for her eldest girl.

  “I think the dress will be the very thing to show your new employer,” Anna said.

  Sally’s blue eyes lifted hopefully, a slow smile coming to her lean face. “You mean I’ll ’ave a proper job?”

  Anna nodded.

  By now Lydia had come, all smiles.

  “You will be an assistant to Lady Haverstock’s dressmaker,” Lydia said. “The most fashionable women in London are patrons of Madam Devreaux.”

  Sally reached down to her toddler, swept back the little one’s blond ringlets and hugged her, tears brimming in her eyes. “I don’t know what to say, me lady. I’m so excited.”

  “During your apprentice, you will earn two shillings a week.”

  The young mother’s eyes nearly popped from their sockets. “Oh, I can’t thank you enough!”

  “No thanks are needed. It is your own skill and determination that have won you the position,” Anna said.

  A dreamy smile on her face, Sally said, “Some girls may have wanted to be a princess, but all I’ve ever wanted was to be a fine dressmaker.”

  “That you are,” Anna said.

  When they met Morgie outside, he introduced a skinny lad who could not have been over nine years old. His body was bruised, and his hair and tattered clothes were dirty. It actually surprised Anna that Morgie of the meticulous dress would allow himself so near the urchin. Most men of his station would not.

  “This is Andy,” Morgie said, placing a hand on the boy’s scrawny shoulders. “Got a fancy over horses.”

  “Master Morgan’s been letting me work with ’is ’orses,” Andy said.

  “In fact,” Morgie announced, “he’s going to become m
y groom.”

  Andy hopped on back the coach, the others got inside, and it took off.

  Lydia lifted approving eyes to Morgie. “How wonderful of you to take in the boy, Morgie.”

  He shrugged off her praise. “He’ll make a fine groom. Loves animals.”

  “What of his parents? Isn’t he awfully young to leave them?” Lydia asked.

  “Poor lad has no family,” Morgie said. “I’ve been throwing coins at him from time to time for helping with my mounts, and I believe that has been his only means of survival.”

  “That is so good of you,” Lydia said, admiration in her eyes that swept over his pensive face. “I do not understand how a young child like that could not have a family.”

  “Too many mouths to feed. No home. No known father and a faithless mother. Any number of reasons,” Anna said lowly. “And though we cannot repair the problem, we can lift the load from a few to make their lives easier. Hopefully, others will do so also.”

  “Mr. Hogart and Charlotte, I do believe, mean to do good works in their lives—that is if Charles will allow them to marry,” Lydia said.

  “You must know Charles sets no store over rank and riches,” Anna chided. “And besides, Mr. Hogart has failed to ask the question.”

  “He’s not going to,” Lydia said. “He is much too gallant to ask Charlotte to share a life of poverty.”

  “They will not have to be poor, I assure you,” Anna said. “I will make a settlement on them. It would please me to see them continue his work.”

  Lydia hugged Anna. “I will say it once more. We are so very fortunate to have you for a sister.”

  “Pooh,” Anna said.

  “When do I meet this squire of yours?” Morgie asked.

  “Come to Haverstock House tonight. We’re staying home. I would love you as my whist partner, since the squire—I mean, John—does not play,” Lydia said.

  “What kind of man doesn’t play whist?” Morgie murmured crossly.

  ~ ~ ~

  IN A SMALL FAMILY ceremony at St. George’s Hanover Square, a sobbing Kate became the wife of Mr. Reeves. Anna observed the ceremony from the front pew, her attention focused almost entirely on her very handsome husband standing beside the nervous bridegroom. Haverstock wore gray pantaloons with a rich black coat adorned with diamond buttons that matched his spurs. His very virility made Anna catch her breath.