A Lady Compromised (The Ladies)

by Pennington, Ava

  As she gazed at herself in the mirror, Lady Harriet grimaced at her appearance. She wore a white dress with small, capped sleeves that puffed and came high across the chest, emphasizing the roundness of her shoulders. It betrayed none of her substantial bosom and the result was that she looked quite terribly plump. The gown, which she knew was unflattering, was last year’s, made for an even younger lady and one with fewer curves than Lady Harriet currently possessed. She had not the wherewithal to visit a modiste for the first time in her life, mere days after her ordeal, and had elected instead to have the seamstress at Durham House add a few silk ruffles to an old white gown. All of she and Lady Delia’s speculations about gowns to wear to the engagement ball had disappeared when she was rescued. She could not bear to think of it.

  In Lady Harriet’s opinion, the ball at Lady Burke’s was not in honor of her in any way, and, as a young miss in the schoolroom, she was unlikely to be permitted to speak to or dance with any gentlemen. She would be leaving shortly after the announcement of the betrothal, and before the main ball. Her reflection in the mirror prior did not surprise her, but neither did it please her. Rather, it filled her with the vague distaste and indifference that had plagued her since the kidnapping. She disliked her over-large breasts and they contributed to her not inaccurate appearance of plumpness. Her waist was not the slender line it ought to be. Lady Harriet looked once more in the mirror and then looked away. Her appearance tonight did not signify. What did it matter if she had lovely skin and glossy dark curls and the big, beautiful blue eyes that had skipped her brother, who had black ones, if her figure was so plump and she had no collarbones or cheekbones in all that flesh?

  The ball itself was a rush of introductions and announcements, none of which she noted, until she found herself on the arm of her brother, being whirled around the ballroom in her first dance in so public a space.

  “My dear Harriet, you are looking very grown up this evening,” Mason Broadstone, the Marquess of Durham, said, smiling down into her face.

  “Dear Mason,” Lady Harriet replied, “You are always so kind to your baby sister. At least in public,” she added saucily. But his brother’s good humor at his engagement ball could not be disturbed by her teases and his smiled broadened.

  “I am kind to you always, little sister, even when you behave like a fishwife. Now I regret that I have scarcely seen you this past sennight. Has Delia been taking good care of you?”

  Her future sister-in-law had indeed rarely been out of Lady Harriet’s chambers in the past week, as she had requested that Lady Harriet temporarily stay with her, at Lady Burke’s, due to what Delia had deemed her “delicate sensibilities” following the kidnapping. She had been most grateful to be in the company of only women, and, Lady Delia also having been through the ordeal, could understand Lady Harriet’s fears like no other.

  “She has been immeasurably wonderful,” replied Lady Harriet, “which is why I shall be so sorry to lose her company next month.” Her brother looked at her quizzically and she took a deep breath.

  “Well, you know how very kind it was for you and Lady Delia to ask to accompany you on your honeymoon trip to Italy,” she began, “But it is absolutely impossible for me to impose on your privacy.” At her brother’s imperious look, she continued quickly. “I intend to travel with you and my future sister as far as Florence, but then I shall stay with Augustine’s cousin, a Miss Testavaglia, who—“

  “Augustine? My dear Harriet—“

  “He has told me to call him that!”

  “The new Earl of Ellsworth is indeed an Original!”

  “He is quite wonderfully charming and Delia and I quite adore him.”

  Augustine Harcourt was Lady Delia’s father’s heir, the new Earl of Ellsworth, and Lady Delia’s cousin. He had been much at Lady Burke’s since his return to England two weeks’ prior, to assume his title and responsibilities. The new Earl was a few year’s older than his cousin, Lady Delia, and had been out of England since the tender age of eighteen, when his father had sent him abroad out of frustration over his refusal to join the army. Augustine had always been a more bookish and intellectual sort, with interests not in line with the ones he must contemplate as a member of His Majesty’s Army. After his elder brother had died and it became clear that Lady Delia’s father would have no sons and thus Augustine would be heir to the Earldom, his father attempted to bring him home, but the prodigal son refused to return. It was only after he was contacted by his solicitor with information that he had acceded to the Earldom that he deigned to make the journey back to England.

  “And who, might I ask, is the oddly named Miss Testavaglia?”

  “She is Augustine’s cousin on his mother’s side. As you know, Augustine’s father was Lady Delia’s uncle. Well, Augustine’s mother had a sister who did not take as they used to say, in England, due to the fact that she wished she could be an opera singer and so the family thought it wise to take her down to Italy. She sang at the inaugural season at La Scala, Mason! Just think!”

  “I am quite at a loss to see what any of this has to do with your staying in Italy with an unknown female, without my permission, or in fact, even knowledge—“

  “I’m getting to that if you would stop interrupting me!” Lady Harriet retorted and furrowed her brows up at her brother. “Anyway, she was a marvelous singer but the family here in England did not approve given the usual reputation of opera singers,”

  “Of that I can offer my full support.”

  “Do stop being so prudish. She married a Milanese man, named Testavaglia, and had a daughter, whom none of the Harcourts had ever met until dear Augustine was sent away and discovered them in Florence. He says he finds her absolutely delightful and she has a charming house in ‘Firenze’ and I can live with her and travel about and perfect my Italian.”

  “And this is your plan, dear Harriet, to remove from England and live with a woman you do not know instead of your brother and new sister-in-law?”

  “Brother, do not pretend to be so distressed! You and Delia will need privacy and some time to set up housekeeping! You know I quite adore you both and I shan’t be gone for that long. But it’s simply a great waste of time for me to stay in England, do you not agree?”

  “I do not.”

  “But Mason, do think of it! I’ve exhausted the knowledge of all my tutors and poor Miss Henry doesn’t even know a word of Italian. She can’t teach me a bit about art, or the history of anything but Britain. And I want to have a real tutor. And see these works in person. We can travel all over Italy and since this ghastly war with France, no one is properly able to do a Grand Tour—“

  “Young ladies do not do Grand Tours, Harriet,” said her brother with asperity.

  “Mason, you have never yet restricted my education to that thought appropriate for young ladies. I can barely draw or paint watercolors and my pianoforte performance is decent only because I have natural talent. Why did you spend money on teaching me Byzantine history or physics if I am simply to retrench once I am old enough to wish to direct my own education?”

  Lord Durham sighed as he looked down at his sister. He had known this day would come, ever since he decided to give to Lady Harriet the type of education not typical for young ladies of the ton. She would, one day, make requests that were perfectly in line with her prior experience and education and which, despite his best preparation, still tore at his heart. Like this one, where she asked to live apart from her family, in a different country, so that she might see great art and learn a new language.

  “My dear Harriet, you have persuaded me.” The Marquess smiled at her. “I just wish I had a bit more time with you, especially after—“ but at her look, he stopped. “With you and myself and Lady Delia as a family. But I understand your wishes. I shall draft a letter to this ‘Miss Testavaglia’ straightaway and discuss your visit. But you may not travel outside of Italy without first discussing it with me! Is that clear?”

  “Yes, my lord.”

>   “Cease this pretense that you are so formal, or so obedient. I am not fooled.”

  “Yes, Mason.”

  “I will tell you that I do not at all approve of your springing this information upon me during a waltz, so that I am unable to truly react, and I consider it quite devious.”

  “But worthy of me, is it not?”

  “Extremely so. Now, I will take you back to Delia and Lady Burke. You are permitted one additional dance this evening and Simon has already applied to me. Do you find this agreeable?”

  Lady Harriet, looking from the face of Lady Delia, who she and her brother were now approaching, saw the devastatingly handsome Earl of Blackwell smiling down at her. Her gaze instantly fell to her toes, her cheeks flaming red and a tear or two sprang to her eyes. He was so beautiful and after seeing her so hideous in the cellar, she feared he would never admire her.

  “May I have the honor of this dance, Lady Harriet?” the Earl most properly asked and Lady Harriet, on her brother’s arm, was immediately turned over to Blackwell as the Marquess grinned with approval at them both.

  “Lady Harriet is in excellent hands with Simon,” her brother told his betrothed. “She ought not to be dancing with anyone, not being out, but since Simon is such a dear friend, I thought he is practically family. And she ought to be able to have at least one dance with a man not related to her.”

  “Are you quite all right, Harriet?” her lovely future sister-in-law asked as the Marquess shared a moment of conversation with the Earl before the dance began.

  “Yes, Delia,” Lady Harriet replied, looking miserable but refusing to interrupt Lady Delia’s happiness at her engagement ball. “I’m just still a bit…you know…” Lady Delia’s face immediately dropped its smile and drew her close in a hug. Her arched brows flew together and she dropped a kiss on Harriet’s forehead.

  “It was so terrifying, what happened, and I know it’s asking a lot for you to be out in society. Mason should never even have suggested it to you. No one would have thought askance of your absence. But I thought if anyone made you feel safe, it would be Simon?”

  “Oh, Delia,” said Lady Harriet. “Of course! It is nothing like that. I am simply not quite myself yet.”

  “I do understand, my love,” Lady Delia replied compassionately.

  But Lady Harriet could hardly explain to her ravishing future sister that the Earl of Blackwell could not possibly make her feel safe. He could only make her feel inadequate and hopeless. How could he ever look at her now? After seeing her so dirty and exposed? As Lord Blackwell took her hand, she forced a smile up at him and hoped to make it through the dance without completely embarrassing herself.

  “My dear Lady Harriet, permit me to tell you how beautiful you look this evening,” the Earl said as he led her across the floor.

  “Thank you,” she breathed, knowing it was not true.

  “Are you not looking forward to having a sister? It would seem you are to gain a most delightful addition to your family,” he remarked, keeping the conversation light.

  “Yes,” she replied. “Lady Delia is as kind as I could have ever wished.”

  “I must agree with you,” Simon replied. “Many lovely young ladies would be rather unluckily cursed with a new sister-in-law who jealously seeks to keep them out of the public eye.”

  Lady Harriet was not sure she had heard the Earl correctly. Lovely young ladies? It could hardly apply to her. She concentrated on the steps, praying she would not step on his foot.

  “Lady Delia is all that is generous and kind,” she agreed. “But I can hardly believe her to be jealous of me.” Her artlessness was not to solicit a compliment, but rather, as the Earl knew, from youthful insecurity.

  “Soon enough,” the Earl said, looking down into her face with an inscrutable expression, “You will be making as many enemies as you could ever wish in the ton.” Her confusion was written clearly on her face. “But never mind that, now. Will you go with Mason and Lady Delia to Italy?”

  As they continued over the floor, he easily and effortlessly continued to ply her with questions that had nothing to do with their most horrible encounter less than a fortnight previous and eased her self-consciousness with his easy and unflirtatious conversation. When the dance was over and the Earl had spun her gently back to the waiting arms of Lady Burke, she could scarcely believe the time had passed so quickly. And the Earl had been so kind, assuaging her fears and saying nothing about their last meeting, she was unsure how she had managed the whole thing without breaking into tears. It must be because the Earl was such a beautiful and kind person. It made her feel slightly worse, she thought, knowing what a paragon he was and how utterly undeserving she could be of such a man. Perhaps, with a bit of time away, in Italy, she could come to peace with her future. Or, she might just come back ready to bowl him over…

  A Lady’s Education…available March, 2014.