by Claudy Conn
The duke sighed. “Scott, our first duty is to our ladies. The scandal regarding this incident, if it becomes known, would be rife with speculation, and it is to us to spare our ladies that sort of gossip. We don’t want their names bandied about, or rumors started about them … being handled by such scoundrels. Come on then, Scott. We had better get them home now.”
“Aye, but are we coming back with the beadles?”
“Yes, but we shall tell them that they tried to rob us near Kensington, and we chased them down, got off a couple of shots, and—” He grinned at Scott. “—you beat one senseless. We shall keep Felicia’s and Becky’s names completely out of this.”
“Aye … right then,” Scott said and climbed inside. At the sight of his Becky trembling, her poor face once again battered, he hugged her close and spat, “I should have beat him to death. Aye, that I should have.”
Felicia agreed, “Yes, I think we should have just shot them both dead.”
The duke, relieved to find his Felicia, although bruised, dirty, and with her fine clothing black with soot and torn, still in spirits, began a low rumbled chuckle that set them all to laughing.
PART TWO
~ Twenty-Four ~
All on that magic list depends:
Fame, fortune, fashion, lovers, friends:
‘Tis that which gratifies or vexes.
All ranks, all ages, and both sexes.
If once to Almack’s you belong,
Like monarchs, you can do no wrong;
But banished thence on Wednesday night,
By Jove, you can do nothing right.
—Henry Luttrell
LADY DEPHNE ATTEMPTED to explain the importance of the vouchers she had obtained to Almack’s for both Rebecca and Felicia.
They sat having their after-dinner sherry near the fire and were, thought Felicia, so wonderfully comfortable with one another. She smiled to herself. It had been such a natural and easy progression, and the attachment to Daphne that she felt was sisterly.
Two weeks had gone by since their harried experience with the swine that had tried to abduct them. Their bruises were healed and their spirits intact. Bean had been installed as her own private groom, and Freddy’s elderly head groom had taken him under his wing.
Felicia found she adored him and was forever looking in on him to see how he went on, but her real concern had been about Becky, having gone through this latest brutal handling.
Becky, though, had surprised her and bounced right back from her injuries, managing to put it all behind her. Felicia suspected that Scott had something to do with Becky’s wonderful spirits.
At the moment, they had their heads together and were giggling over Daphne’s attempts to describe the various people that would be attending Almack’s that evening.
Felicia had never been one for pomp and ceremony, and she simply did not understand what all the fuss was about. Becky was of a like mind. Felicia’s eyes glittered with the tease as her dear Daffy, as she had come to think of her, struggled to show them why they needed to think differently about Almack’s.
Felicia squeezed Daffy’s hand and dispensed with her lecture by saying, “Stuff and nonsense.”
“Ungrateful madcap,” Becky said and laughed. “Don’t worry, Lady Daphne, I shall keep her in tow.”
“Yes, I depend on your good sense, my dear, to do just that,” her ladyship said with an affectionate smile and then sighed as she regarded Felicia sternly. “You do know what all this fuss means, don’t you?”
“Yes. We are about to walk into a club with high sticklers’ notions and may not waltz until the Jersey herself sanctions it.”
“Or the princess,” her ladyship stuck in.
“Indeed, or the princess. We shall be hampered by rules and regulations, and this is certainly not my idea of a fun evening ahead,” Felicia said on a heavy sigh. “I so dislike rules and regulations.”
“You shall not allow anyone to hear you say such things tonight, though.” Lady Daphne frowned.
Felicia laughed. “No, I shall not. I may be a rough and tumble chit, but I would never do anything to mortify you. Oh, Daffy, you are everything that is good and kind and have been a wonderful and patient teacher.”
Daffy hugged Felicia briefly and sniffed. “There … we must not muss one another, for my hairdresser would have a fit.”
“And so she should.” Becky laughed. “She spent hours on us, and thank you for having her arrange my hair.”
Daffy smiled. “You are both good girls, but it isn’t me alone. I am persuaded Glen would like you to make a good showing tonight as well.”
Felicia laughed and said, “We are not horses at auction.” She saw Daffy’s expression and hurried on to say, “But I shall, for you and His Grace, behave very well, and my Becky always behaves very well.”
“Ah, now that is a concession, indeed,” Becky declared and giggled. “Wait … let me feel your forehead … are you feverish?”
“You know, Felicia, you are totally unaware of your beauty. You have already created quite a stir amongst all the most eligible bachelors. Why, Wingate himself has declared that you were toasted at White’s until Glen put a stop to it.”
“That is quite absurd.” Felicia grimaced. She eyed Daffy. “The duke put a stop to it?”
“Indeed, he said it was not fitting that his ward’s name, even in such a complimentary fashion, should be bandied about.”
“What do you think of such things?” Becky asked Daffy.
“Well … it has been an age, but, yes, I, too, was toasted at White’s, and Frederick landed Cranfield a facer for having done so.” She laughed. “My Freddy.”
They bantered over this for some moments, and then Felicia sighed and said, “Well, that is romantic.” She adored Daffy’s husband, who was she thought much deeper than he allowed people to know. He was all that was good and kind and thoughtful.
“Hmm, yes, Freddy has always been a romantic in his own way. Now … there isn’t much time, we must all go upstairs and change.”
An hour later Becky, who was staying the night, and Felicia descended the stairs to find the duke and Scott standing in the library sipping from their brandy snifters.
She knew that the soft creaminess of her velvet and lace gown accentuated her dusky curls cascading from the top of her head down her back. It was a form-fitted gown, scooped at the bodice, showing, Daffy had said, just enough to intrigue the gentlemen and not raise the eyebrows of the Jersey. Beside her, Becky wore aqua blue, which complimented her tawny curls. They had squealed and hugged one another, and now Felicia could see from both Scott’s and her duke’s stares that they had definitely caught their gentlemen’s attention.
She was scarcely aware of Scott stepping forward for Becky’s arm, hardly realized that Daffy was already wearing her velvet cloak and a secretive smile, because the duke, looking like an Adonis with his black waves negligently framing his face, his silver eyes bright, his lashes black, thick, and flashing, came forward to whisper, “I am undone, my own madcap.”
“Is that good?” she peeped up at him.
“Not for me,” he said with a chuckle.
She pouted. “Oh … is it not?”
“Allow me to rephrase that. A confirmed bachelor, when finding himself undone … is confirmed no more.”
“Oh, I like that. I do so like that, then,” she declared.
As Daffy was ushering everyone towards the duke’s coach, which waited just at the curbing, there was no time for more, but Felicia knew, for her, having the duke at her side had quite made her evening.
~ Twenty-Five ~
ALMACK’S WAS FULL to overflowing. The orchestra played sweetly from its balcony. Corinthian gentlemen walked about, and many sported a toe on the dance floor with the season’s new debutantes.
Gossipmongers sipped their Negus and whispered about the latest ondit. Conversation flowed, and Felicia, fascinated, gazed at everything with wonder and told her friend, “Becky, just look at that w
oman … over there. Is she not the most beautiful creature you have ever seen?”
The duke, standing near Felicia, grinned oddly as she lifted her face to him and asked, “Do you know her?”
“Too well, I am afraid,” he answered truthfully.
“Ah, she was your lover,” Felicia concluded. “Did it end badly?”
“It ended and, for a woman who is not ready for that to happen, my dear, then, yes, badly, but you should not be speaking of such things.” His eyes twinkled at her.
“She has the heart of a tart, and for all her breeding will never be anything else,” Daffy stuck into the conversation.
Felicia giggled. “Who is she?”
“She is the Lady Amkirk. She married a man thirty years her senior and makes no secret of her numerous affairs.”
“Well, at least she is honest,” Felicia said.
“Indiscretion and honesty are two very different things. Ask Daffy, she will tell you that society may forgive her infidelities but not her indiscretion,” the duke answered, very amused.
“Ah, still that makes it a sin that she is honest?” Becky stuck in.
“Touché!” Felicia said and laughed.
They were interrupted at that point by two zealous young men who applied for their hands for the next cotillion.
Felicia gave the duke a saucy look over her shoulder as she left him and heard him sigh and say to his sister, “Were it not for my minx, this would be a sorry affair.”
“Indeed, she is lively and good fun,” Daffy answered happily. “Ah, there is Freddy. I thought he would not miss Felicia’s first night at Almack’s.” She eyed her brother. “Tell me, Glen, is she not absolutely stunning this evening?”
“She is that and more,” he said from the heart.
“Indeed, you know a few beau have already come calling …?” she told him, and he noted an odd look in her tone.
“Really? I hope you have sent them on their way,” he returned with a touch of irritation.
“Now why would I do that? She is here for her season to make a match,” she said quietly and smiled sweetly.
“Because I have seen no one who is good enough for her yet!” he snapped.
“No one, eh? Hmmm,” his sister replied. “Now, you cannot know then that Reinhart—ah there he is now, cutting in to dance with her—has already paid her two morning calls, and, Glen, he makes her laugh right out loud and has sent her flowers every day since he met her at the rout.”
“Does he, by damn!” her brother responded.
“Yes, and he is quite a catch, don’t you think? Titled and wealthy …”
“And a rogue of rogues!”
“As you are,” his sister returned.
He eyed her. “I know what you are at.”
“Do you? Right then, the question is, are you willing to allow the best thing that has ever happened to you to slip right through your fingers because you aren’t making a push to have it?”
“You have no notion what you are about,” he returned softly.
“Yes, I do. What I want for you to do is to ask yourself just what you will do if Felicia makes a match of it with someone you cannot fault. What then?”
“No one is good enough for her,” he answered and sighed.
“No? And you know that is false. What will you do when you are no longer her guardian? It ends in a week’s time. Your part will be at an end, you know, but, never mind. I have told Felicia I want her to stay on with Freddy and me and see the season to its conclusion,” Daffy answered. She then greeted her husband, who nodded to the duke, took her hands, and led her into the dance.
As it happened, the duke noted that James Reinhart had at that moment approached the Jersey. He watched as the Jersey looked at Felicia and nodded. Damn Reinhart’s soul!
Even as the cotillion ended and the waltz began, Reinhart was there, stopping Felicia from leaving the dance floor as he bent over her hand.
“Bloody hell!” the duke said out loud.
* * *
Felicia dimpled at Reinhart and hoped with all her heart that her duke was watching, for the handsome rogue before her had bowed low to say, “This waltz is promised to me.”
“Oh no, my lord,” she started to object. “This is a waltz, and it is promised to no one, not even you.”
“Ah, but I secured the Jersey’s permission to lead you onto the floor,” he said and offered his hand.
She looked towards the Jersey, who nodded to her, and turned back to laugh and say, “Well then, lead on.” She liked James Reinhart. He was entertaining, handsome, and experienced in many things, but he was not Ashton.
He made light banter with her as he moved her around the dance floor and quite a number of heads remarked upon it, for, like the duke, he was not known to bother with the debutantes.
As he twirled her on the floor, Felicia was aware of this and smiled up at his good-looking face and told him, “I am so very glad that my first waltz at Almack’s under everyone’s eye is with you.”
“Are you?” he said in a low and husky voice. “Why?”
“Well, yes. I think you know enough to cover up any clumsy step I might make.”
He threw back his head and roared with amusement. “You are a delight, Felicia, and are far too perfect to take one clumsy step.”
“Oh, well, when you have known me longer, you will see the truth to my words,” she said on a light laugh.
“I mean to know you better, much better,” he told her, and his gaze was intense.
She didn’t want the flirtation to go any further. He was dipping into waters that were too wild for her. To dally lightly was one thing; to take it to the next plane was quite another. She thought it best to ignore his remark and tell him, “Do you know those little sandwiches have left me starving. They are bite-size and watercress! That is another thing about Almack’s they should repair. It wants food.”
He threw back his head and laughed out loud.
* * *
The duke watched the two on the dance floor, and something inside him churned. What it was, he couldn’t say, but it was driving him mad with irritation.
Freddy had returned with his sister and was quietly flirting with his wife when the duke could hold back no longer and blurted out, “That devil is dallying with my ward. I think I shall go put a stop to it.”
“If you look more closely, I think you will see that he appears to be in earnest,” his sister returned quietly. “But do as you must.”
Freddy flicked a speck of invisible something from his black velvet and eyed his brother-in-law. “If it were Daffy and that bloke was openly flirting with her … I would do something about it.”
The duke eyed Freddy. “Yes, you would, wouldn’t you?”
“Oh, Freddy.” His wife swooned happily. “You are so romantic. I adore you.”
He kissed her cheek and said, “Aye, never was so. Never was in the petticoat line, and then you walked into my life … well, it took me a bit, but once I knew what needed to be done, I did it,” he said to his wife and then turned to the duke. “You need to come to an understanding with yourself, Glen … and then perhaps you’ll see what needs to be done.”
“What needs to be done is making sure Reinhart doesn’t hurt her!” the duke snapped. The waltz was not at an end, so he marched right up to the earl and tapped his shoulder.
Surprised, the earl turned his face to stare at the duke, but he politely inclined his head and backed away.
Felicia smiled brightly and told her guardian, “Well, here you are.”
“Indeed, I thought your first waltz at Almack’s would be with me,” he said softly.
“It should have been,” Felicia returned. “However, James was a very good substitute.”
“Was he?” the duke returned, his ire up, his mood taking on a burn.
“Indeed, he is amusing and playful and made me forget to worry about my steps, you see.”
“You didn’t worry about your steps when you waltzed with me,”
he said softly.
“That is quite different. Here, the whole world was intent on watching, weren’t they?” She sighed. “I do like James a great deal.”
“How much is a great deal?”
“Why?” Felicia returned.
“Don’t play coy. Answer me.”
“A great deal is just that,” she said and gazed intently into his silver orbs.
“Your green eyes slay me, love … do you know that?”
“No, but I do like it when you say things like that to me,” she whispered. “Reinhart does.”
“Damn his soul. He isn’t for you,” the duke shot back at her.
“Is he not? Well then, who is?”
“We shall have to wait and see,” he answered.
“I think, in the end, that is my decision to make,” she answered gravely.
“Is it? As I said, we shall see,” he answered quietly as the waltz came to an end and he gave her his arm to lead her off the floor. He could see her mind working. Her face always gave her away—at least to him.
“Well, yes, whether you are my guardian or not … we shall see,” she answered and suddenly added, “Ah, but you won’t be for long, my duke, not for long, and then what?”
He eyed her and saw the laughter in her green eyes. Damn, but it was a good question. Could he see her with anyone else? Could he? “What indeed,” he answered.
~ Twenty-Six ~
FELICIA HAD HEARD quite a great deal about the Drury Theatre and the performances staged therein. On this night, The School for Scandal was scheduled, and Felicia sparkled with excitement as she sat forward in Lady Daphne’s box and took in all the sights.
Below their box was what was called ‘the pit’. It was full to the brim with London’s up and coming ‘middle class’. Overlooking the pit in a semicircle, with the stage at its fore, were the boxes, and they held London’s fashionables, known as the haute ton. Lady Daphne had explained a great deal to her, and Becky and Felicia’s gazes absorbed it all.
The duke sat at her right, and with unconscious glee she grabbed hold of his white-gloved hand and excitedly inquired, “Ashton! Look there … is that the Prince Regent?”
