The Lady and the Rake_A Scandalous Arrangement

by Penelope Redmont

  The Lady And The Rake: A Scandalous Arrangement

  The Eardleys Of Gostwicke Hall, Book 1

  Penelope Redmont

  Contents

  Title

  1. Summer, 1815, Gostwicke Hall, England

  London, the establishment of Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, Principal Royal Goldsmiths & Jewelers

  The Oaks

  2. The ball

  The announcement

  Pierce

  3. The eavesdropper

  Outrage

  London

  4. Christobel

  Lord Linton

  Cruelty

  5. The Captain

  Vauxhall

  Far Crossing

  6. Newmarket

  Catherine

  A kindness

  7. Betrothal

  Richmond Park

  Major Grove

  8. Scandal

  Watton Park

  Warning

  9. The plan

  Durham Ward Lodge

  Countess

  10. Feelings

  A kiss

  Pretense

  11. Peter Partridge

  Abduction

  Henry

  12. The hunt

  A confession

  The bargain

  13. The carriage

  The inn

  Escape

  14. Return to Linton House

  Love

  Randall

  15. The dress

  Crying off

  Love

  16. A picnic

  Mine

  A wedding

  Autumn, 1816, Gostwicke Hall

  Lady Saville’s Lover

  London, 1810

  Also by Penelope Redmont

  About the Author

  Title

  The Lady And The Rake: A Scandalous Arrangement

  The Eardleys Of Gostwicke Hall, Book 1

  Penelope Redmont

  Copyright © 2017 by Penelope Redmont. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Book cover design and layout by Ellie Bockert Augsburger of Creative Digital Studios: www.CreativeDigitalStudios.com

  Description

  Sometimes it's better to say nothing, no matter how much your heart hurts...

  "Pierce, unless you wish me to tell your mother and Lady Christobel about Mary in the village, and her eldest child, and the reason she was married off to the blacksmith in a rush —"

  Oops. Melisande Eardley has a temper.

  To save her family from scandal, innocent Melly agrees to a pretend engagement to a notorious rake. But he's a family friend, so Melly's convinced that Lord Linton is unfairly maligned, and that his reputation is mere ton gossip.

  She hopes that's so, because she soon fears that she's becoming attached to Linton.

  Randall Ward, Lord Linton, is determined to avoid a family feud between the Eardleys and the Wards. Although he's drawn to Melly's beauty and innocence, marriage isn't on his mind. He tells himself that a faux betrothal is necessary, because he's spiking the guns of Melly's sister, vengeance-loving Catherine Grove.

  Neither Melly nor Linton is prepared when disaster strikes.

  1. Summer, 1815, Gostwicke Hall, England

  Summer arrived at Gostwicke Hall, the large family estate of the Eardleys, and Melisande Eardley, a sensible young lady of just 20, known to her family as "Melly", rejoiced.

  Not only did she love the Hall almost as much as she loved her mother and sisters, this summer promised to be the best summer of her life.

  Pierce was finally coming home.

  She laughed aloud as she stood at her open bedroom window, feeling the sun warming her, looking across the lawn and gardens, to the fields, and the wood beyond. Three miles away, on the other side of the wood, was The Oaks, an estate almost as large as the Hall.

  "Ma'am?" Her maid asked. She was holding Melly's day dress.

  Obediently Melly unpinned her hat from her golden curls, and divested herself of her riding habit.

  The Oaks was the home of her husband-to-be, Pierce Ward, Lord Talverne. Pierce had secretly asked her to marry him. She'd considered herself betrothed to him for over five years.

  Pierce was her best friend. They'd been together every day of their childhood, until he'd gone up to Oxford. In his first years as a scholar, he came home regularly. Although she'd expected and hoped that he'd come home more often, she hadn't seen him for almost two years.

  She refused to feel sad, even though she couldn't recall his face clearly. He's busy, she told herself. She knew that Pierce had finished at Oxford, and was now staying in London, at the home of Lord Linton, his fashionable uncle.

  Ton gossip said that Linton was a rake, but Melly knew how unkind gossip could be. Her temper rose when she recalled the whispers about her sister, Anne. Imagine suggesting that Anne had married Lord Kingston only because she knew he was old and ill, and sure to die in months!

  It was horrid gossip, because Kingston had died in a fall from a horse — nothing to do with his age.

  Now Pierce was coming home to celebrate his birthday.

  Lots of guests were coming too. The large party would stay for several weeks. Carriages and carts rolled past Gostwicke Hall to The Oaks daily.

  Melly had marked the days off a calendar.

  "Pierce will be here next Saturday," Melly told her mother and eldest sister Catherine when she skipped into the breakfast room a few minutes later. "Just seven more days."

  She shook her head at the footman who came over to serve her. "It's all right, I know what I want." She piled two sausages, two eggs, and creamed mushrooms onto a plate, then slid into her chair beside her mother.

  When she met her mother's gaze, and glanced at her sister Catherine, she realized that the two women weren't smiling. She grinned. "Oh no. Tell — what have I done? Or do I have a smudge on my nose?" She reached for the stack of toast.

  Catherine, her eldest sister, a matron of 26, lived at Gostwicke Hall. Her husband was away with his regiment. She frowned. "Melly, Pierce won't be as you remember him — he's a man now. He'll be changed. You haven't seen him in years."

  "Not in years," her mother agreed. Mrs. Eardley had the habit of parroting statements with which she agreed.

  Melly buttered her toast, and forbore raising her eyes to the ceiling.

  Of course she knew Pierce that would be different, but he'd still be Pierce.

  "She's headed for a disappointment," Catherine said to Mother.

  Mrs. Eardley sighed. "It will be a disappointment."

  Melly refused to rise to the bait. She was happy, she told herself. And in seven days, she would be even more happy.

  Melly took a deep breath, and took a vehement bite of toast so she wouldn't be tempted to answer. Responding wouldn't help. This was an old argument.

  Instead, she looked at her two rabbits, in full view through the long breakfast room windows. Melly had shut the gates on the enclosed garden, locking the dogs out. She'd released her two plump white rabbits into the garden to crop the grass, but watched them carefully. The dogs were cunning, and might find a way in.

  She'd clip the rabbits again in a couple of weeks. Their wool grew quickly; a woman on the estate was spinning the wool for her; it was wonderfully soft.

  Although she tried to focus on her rabbits, rather than on Pierce, she couldn't help worrying. Catherine was right. Pierce be different. Doubtless Catherin
e meant that he'd become fashionable. Lord Linton was known as one of the most elegant men in London.

  Oh no, she suddenly realized. She wasn't fashionable at all, and Pierce had been part of the fashionable world. "I need new clothes," she said. She set down her toast, and stared at her mother. "Mother —"

  "Of course you do, I'm glad you're finally realizing that," Catherine said with some satisfaction. "That's why Mrs. Carter's making you two new dresses."

  “No, no. Not Mrs. Carter. I need London clothes, not village clothes. Pierce is staying with Lord Linton, and Linton is a dandy. He's called one of the best-dressed men in England… aside from Beau Brummell."

  "He's not a dandy, he's a sportsman, but he dresses well, I grant you." Catherine turned to Mrs. Eardley. "Melly should have had a season last year," she scooped up a pat of butter for a muffin, and nodded at Melly. "Then she'd have London clothes."

  "I wasn't well last year," Mrs Eardley protested mildly.

  "You should have sent her to me," Catherine bit into her muffin. Her teeth were very white. She chewed and considered the situation.

  Melly waited. Mrs. Eardley always deferred to Catherine.

  Finally Catherine finished her muffin. She nodded. "Melly's right… She must present a good appearance. Several ton matrons will be at The Oaks. Whoever Melly marries, she needs to shine." She waved at a footman to replenish her hot chocolate. "As I said, you should have sent her to me last year."

  Catherine was a bully, Melly thought, not for the first time.

  "We've enough relatives, heaven knows, someone could have chaperoned her," Catherine said, determined to have the last word.

  Melly had heard this argument before. "I don't want a season, I just want fashionable clothes. Pierce and I are engaged. Why would I want a season?"

  Catherine nodded meaningfully at Mrs. Eardley. "You heard her. I told you, Mother — you should have sent her to me," she repeated yet again. "I've nothing against Talverne, and I would be the first to celebrate if he'd offer for Melly, but —"

  Melly set down her toast and glared at her sister. "How could you imagine that Pierce would play me false? He asked me to marry him. He did."

  "Dearest," her mother reached across the table to her. "Pierce was very young, and young men change."

  Catherine rolled her eyes and laughed lightly. "Shall we not discuss this again, please? I'm tired of the topic."

  She lifted her hand when Melly opened her mouth to speak, and continued speaking to her mother. "Melly's built Talverne up to be a pattern of perfection in her mind. An engagement? The very idea, Melly… Think. Talverne was 18, and you were just 15… He was amusing himself — if he'd meant to become engaged, Linton would know, he was the boy's guardian — and Linton would have spoken to Papa at the time. Not that Papa would have allowed it, with you so young."

  Catherine didn't understand, that was all.

  Melly wished that she hadn't told her mother that Pierce had asked her to marry him. Pierce had asked her to keep their betrothal a secret until he was of age. She wouldn't have told, but her mother had read one of Pierce's letters. Then Catherine had questioned her, and questioned her, nagging and sniping at her until she finally admitted the truth.

  "There you are Anne," her mother said, relief in her voice when her second eldest daughter entered the breakfast room. She knew that Catherine and Melly wouldn't want to disturb Anne by arguing.

  Melly eyed her beautiful sister, Lady Kingston, and sighed. Where Catherine nagged endlessly and worried about everyone, Anne rarely spoke, buried in her grief.

  Anne nodded to her mother and sisters. She didn't smile.

  Anne hadn't smiled since her ill-fated marriage. Anne had been married less than a year when Lord Kingston broke his neck coming off a green horse. Anne was transformed from a happy, laughing bride, bursting with health, to a pale shadow, with cropped golden curls, dressed in unrelieved black.

  Anne's marriage, to an earl three times her age, had caused gossip, and continued to do so, because the earl had made Anne his sole heir.

  Today Anne's black dress was very plain, fastened right up to her throat, unrelieved by any jewelry.

  "I've finished my breakfast, so if I may be excused, I'll lock up my rabbits, before someone opens a gate and lets the dogs in," Melly said.

  She wanted to think.

  "Remember that we're going to the village this morning, you've another fitting with the seamstress," her mother reminded her.

  "That girl, the way she dresses," Catherine said, "Mother, she's a ragbag, and she's right, Mrs. Carter can't help… I'll take her up to London for a few days. If she wants Talverne, she'll have to smarten herself up. I don't approve of Linton at all, but he's good ton, and if he's known for anything it's his dress, aside from his women —" She paused, and cleared her throat. "Mind you, he's so careless about them that I think they're just fashion accessories."

  "Catherine, really — think of Melly!" Mrs. Eardley protested.

  "Melly is wonderful as she is," Anne said quietly.

  Melly closed the breakfast room door more forcefully than necessary.

  Wonderful? She wasn't wonderful, Melly thought. Anne loved her, so of course she thought that… If only… She reminded herself sternly to stop thinking about Pierce.

  As soon as she entered the garden, the rabbits hopped to her. She scooped them up, locked them in their hutch, and went to fetch their breakfast.

  A few minutes later, Catherine's maid found Melly in the stables, where she was mixing her rabbits' feed. "Ma'am, Mrs. Grove says you're to hurry. She's taking you to London."

  True to her word, Catherine took Melly and her mother to London, and within days had transformed not only Melly's wardrobe, but her entire appearance.

  Melly had a fresh concern. Now she was certain that Pierce wouldn't recognize her.

  London, the establishment of Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, Principal Royal Goldsmiths & Jewelers

  "Pearls, Mother? No — that will not do at all… If you put her in white, with her hair, she'll looked completely washed out — let me lend her my sapphires," Catherine said.

  Melly resisted the temptation to roll her eyes at her eldest sister for the one hundredth time since they'd come to London. "Excuse me, I wish to find a heart pendant." It was the perfect opportunity to buy a locket to wear in memory of her father.

  Catherine ignored her, but her mother nodded, so Melly slipped from her chair. She closed the door on the small room where Mother and Catherine waited for Mr. Bridge.

  She'd noticed a display case of gold pendants earlier, and meant to choose one. Her eyes drifted over them — they were all lovely. She tapped her chin with her finger. There were so many of them, and undoubtedly, all were expensive.

  Surely the smaller pendants would be less expensive? She had only a few pounds. She'd need to choose a very small one.

  "Linton, I must have it!"

  An amused masculine rumble responded: "Must you now? What makes you worth it, my dear?'

  Melly turned when she heard Linton's name, and recognized him immediately, although she hadn't seen him since she was 12. Randall Ward, now Lord Linton. He was Pierce's uncle, and unmarried, so Pierce was his heir. She recognized his deep voice, she couldn't mistake it.

  Was Pierce with him? She looked at the other people in the showroom, but Linton and the beautiful lady with him seemed to be unaccompanied.

  She couldn't help staring. The woman with Linton was lovely, almost as tall as Linton, with a heart-shaped face, and glossy lips. Her mass of chestnut curls was almost hidden by a fashionable blue hat, trimmed with lace.

  The hat was the precise color of the satin dress the lady wore, and the precise color of her shoes, as well. Melly frowned. Was that the fashion — should she ask Catherine whether her shoes should match her gown?

  "Melisande — Miss Melisande Eardley, is it not?"

  "Linton, she's staring at me. How precious," the lady's affected laughter sounded like tinkling bells.
>
  Then he was there, looming over her.

  In the three days that they'd been in London, Melly had seen many fashionable London beaux and had even seen Mr. Brummell, but no one matched Lord Linton for elegance. She looked up at him, meeting his grey-green eyes with a shiver. He was much taller than she.

  When he looked her up and down, she felt as if he could see through her clothes. She frowned, then curtsied. "Lord Linton," she said.

  "Introduce me, do," the lovely lady whispered, winding herself around Linton possessively. Her gaze narrowed on Melly.

  "A moment… Wait for me, Val," Linton briskly untangled himself, and gave the woman a look. He sighed. "All right, you may have the necklace."

  She clapped her gloved hands together in obvious delight, kissed Linton's cheek, and hurried away.

  Linton cleared his throat. "Miss Eardley, your mother is with you, no doubt. You are well?"