Florence’s Stupendous Spinster’s Society

by Charlotte Stone

  “Me? You see ghosts.”

  “I see one ghost,” Maura corrected, “but I haven’t seen him for some time.”

  Alice stared at Maura and thought once again that the woman was a puzzle. Her father had locked her away at Bedlam for a decade before her mother had finally released her before the doctors could do their very worst. Since then, Maura hated hospitals, but when Alice had needed her to accompany her there, Maura had stood firm in spite of her fears. Maura was like her cousin Lorena, sweet and full of goodness, but where Lorena was like a raging waterfall, Maura was like a stream that flowed effortlessly.

  “Whether you marry him now or later does not affect your father’s chances of surviving the war,” Maura told her. “The only thing waiting does is make you wait.”

  There it was. The truth. Alice did feel that giving up on her father and leaving the name he’d given her behind to take on a new one could mean the very end for him if he wasn’t there to give her away, almost as if his purpose in life hung on the chance to give his daughter away. It was silly, and Alice knew Maura was right. “But I’d feel terrible if I married Calvin and something happened to my father.”

  Maura sighed. “But if something happens to your father, wouldn’t it be better to have a husband’s strong shoulder to cry on?”

  Alice grimaced. “Can’t you simply say that nothing bad will happen to my father?” For some reason, if Maura said the words, she would believe them.

  Maura shook her head. “I can’t make that promise to you.”

  Alice took her hands back and covered her face.

  Maura whispered, “I can tell you what I do know.” When Alice didn’t respond, she went on. “Calvin loves you, Alice. He’ll wait if it is your wish. He’d do anything for you.”

  He would. She knew it in her soul. Calvin had been pressing William for news about her father not only so they could wed but because he cared about her feelings. He wanted her happiness above all else.

  Shouldn’t she feel the same about him? And Maura was right. She’d want Calvin as her husband if things went wrong. She took a deep breath and stood, prompting Maura to stand with her.

  She started for the door, and Maura asked her no questions. She knew where she was going. Her destination wasn’t far, and she could hear male voices coming from the bedchamber before she lifted her hands to knock.

  Franklin opened the door. He was Calvin’s brother and while they had some of the same features, Frank’s looked more deliberate, which seemed to fit him well, since he was the more serious of the two. His eyes were hazel like Calvin’s though greener than his brother’s. They were both blond and handsome, but while Frank’s smile could bring out her own, Calvin’s smile set her heart to dance at a fierce tempo.

  Frank smiled and opened the door wider. He turned to Calvin, who stood on the other side of the room. “I’ll speak to you later.” He touched Alice’s cheek in an affectionate way before leaving. The touch meant much to her since in the beginning, Frank hadn’t approved of the match. Now he treated her like a sister.

  It was time she truly became his sister.

  She entered the room and shut the door behind her.

  The room was a good size with a large fireplace, two windows against the far wall, and a large bed. Two chairs and a table were in the corner. The decor was minimal, like the rest of the house, but painted a rose color with rich dark wood accents.

  Calvin stood on the other side by the window; the inquisition in his lifted brow made his face all the more captivating. He leaned on the window sill and didn’t move. His ankles crossed in a relaxed position. His jacket was off. His white shirt was still closed tightly to ward off the cold that came from the window. The position made his tan breeches spread tight against his front.

  “Alice.” His voice was a warm whisper that made her flush after realizing she’d been staring at his breeches for too long.

  She looked up at him and heat leaped from his gaze and set her blood aflame.

  He cleared his throat. “What are you doing here?”

  She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. “I’m ready.” She watched his body stiffen as he came to his full height, but he didn’t move from the window sill. She pressed forward anyway when he didn’t come to her. “I want to marry you.”

  He swallowed visibly and looked at the floor before he crossed his arms. He still didn’t come to her.

  Panic licked at her, fresh as though lightning had struck right in her veins. “You still want to marry me, don’t you?”

  His head snapped up, and he was across the room in three swift steps. He wrapped his hands around her arms. “Of course, I want to marry you, but…”

  Her body shook.

  “Alice, there’s nothing I want more than to marry you.” He pulled her in and cradled her to his body, which was so much larger than her own. He was so warm and smelled divine. The way he held her banished her fears. She’d missed this, and Maura was right. If things didn’t turn out the way she wished them to go, she wanted to be this man’s wife without the restrictions Society’s rules would put on them when they returned to London.

  She wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m ready.”

  He pulled away and lifted her chin to meet his eyes. “I love you. You mean the world to me.”

  She laughed. “You don’t have to woo me, Calvin. I’ve already said yes.”

  He grinned. “I know, but now I think we should wait.”

  Her body went like stone against him, and her eyes widened. “What?”

  His smile grew, and he cradled her face. “I think we should wait. You’re right. Your father should be there. I see that now. It was selfish of me to push as I did.” He tightened his hold and kissed her forehead. “I’d wait an eternity for you.”

  “No.” She pulled away from his hold and glared. “I don’t want you to wait an eternity. I don’t want you to wait at all. I want to marry you now.” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her obnoxiously persuasive fiancé now wished to wait when she was ready to let go of the wedding she’d always dreamed of and simply be his wife. “We’re getting married.”

  He frowned. “Yes, when your father returns.”

  “But I don’t want to wait anymore.” She moved toward him again and wrapped her arms around him. Then she smiled sweetly. “Let’s leave tonight. The village isn’t far.”

  He laughed. “Alice, we can’t. Not yet.”

  Sweet wasn’t working. She moved her hands to the front of his breeches and cupped the part of him that had started to grow the moment she stepped into the room, rubbing it firmly and feeling it jump to life. “Tonight.”

  Calvin groaned. “Alice, damn you.” He grabbed her shoulders before throwing his head back, holding onto her as she gripped and fondled him against his small clothes and breeches. His breathing became rushed, and delicious need swept through her. When his eyes returned to her, they were a dark glittering topaz. He grabbed her hands, shocking her. “No.”

  She froze. “No?” Where their hands met, she could feel him trembling. She knew he wanted her. He always wanted her.

  Calvin backed away from her and turned away. “We should wait.”

  Alice thought to throw something at his head but instead fell into one of the chairs by the table. She looked at the table and saw the stack of cards before an idea formed in her head. “I’ll play you for it.”

  He turned to her. “What?”

  She grabbed the deck and began to shuffle. “Vingt-et-un. If I win, we wed.”

  Calvin lifted a brow and stared at her. “You wish to play me?” He laughed. “You do know I’ll win, don’t you?”

  She placed the deck down and met his eyes. “When we return to London, I’ll want to live in my father’s club.”

  He smirked and crossed the room to the table and sat across from her. “We’ll not live there. I’m getting us a house, but we won’t be living there until your father walks you down the aisle.”

  She
smiled and picked up the cards. “We shall see.”

  The game of twenty-one started and Alice concentrated on Calvin, watching his every move because she knew how he liked to play even if he’d never played her with the same ruthless passion he’d played men. As the game went on, he lost a hand only to win the next and the one after that, but in the end, it was a draw.

  He looked up at her and narrowed his eyes. “How is this possible? I cheated.”

  She smiled. “So did I.” She hadn’t grown up in her father’s club and learned nothing.

  Calvin stood, moved toward her, and pulled her into a brutal kiss. They ripped each other’s clothes off impatiently as the hunger of the flesh vibrated between them. They’d waited too long, dangerously too long. He took her on the table and then later in his bed, using lips, teeth, tongue, hands, and that most spectacular part of him that she enjoyed the most. Alice smiled and laughed with joy as her body was rocked through one orgasm after another as she vowed Calvin would be her husband by week’s end.

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  CHAPTER TWELVE

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  Rollo stared at the hand where his father’s ring had sat for the last few years of his life. The ring, along with the coin and some other objects, had been returned to him, along with some of his father Gile Kerry’s other belongings after his parents had gone on an excursion. Their intended location had been unknown, as Giles enjoyed letting the wind take him where it wished. He believed strongly in his luck and his wife believed as well.

  His parents were in love and while he’d known in his heart that his parents loved him, he also knew that the love they shared was so strong that Rollo had been very much secondary. They’d sent him to school so that they could be alone. Holidays were nice, but even then, he’d felt like an outsider when in their presence. He’d never fit anywhere until he’d met the others in the brotherhood. Still, he’d always stared at his father in awe just as the rest of the world had.

  King Kerry. He had the love of his wife, was wealthy, and seemed to enjoy life like no one else.

  And he was lucky.

  Rollo leaned back in his chair and cast his eyes to the window in his bedchamber that overlooked the forest beyond, the treetops covered with a blanket of snow though their pine’s limbs retained their green. His thoughts returned to his father. He’d always questioned how a man like Giles Kerry could have gotten lost in Greece. It had no vast jungle, though it did have wooded parts, great deep forests, though knowing his father, he didn’t believe the man would have gone there.

  It made more sense that he’d have gone to Egypt. Getting lost there seemed easy if one traveled through its deserts.

  He sighed as an ache began in his head, his mind twisting with one thought after another, trying to fit pieces together that simply never fit. With this latest discovery, he had more questions for the man who’d returned with his father’s belongings but not his father.

  Mr. Matthew Caney. He’d been Giles’ best friend and had been the one to deliver the news that his parents were missing. Thanks to Florence, he finally had his first clue.

  The lady’s maid never failed to amaze him. He smiled and decided thinking about her a better way to spend his time. While he was unable to woo her, he thought himself clever to request her friendship. This way he could keep her close until the time was right.

  He could still feel her kiss on his lips. The bold move had almost pushed him over the edge. He’d been seconds from taking her in the sitting room, never caring who came their way, but at the last moment, he’d thought about Aaron and his plight and had all but wrenched himself away from her before he did something he’d regret.

  Rollo had never wanted a woman so badly; that was the truth of it.

  The door opened, and Frank and Hugh came through carrying one of the small servants’ beds. Then they left, and Frank returned with a pillow and quilt to cover it.

  Rollo spoke first. “Did you and your brother manage to have a row?”

  Frank speared him with a glare. “Calvin has found another roommate, and she’s got more curves than I do.” He walked over to where Rollo was sitting and took the chair opposite him, a small smile on his lips. “I believe he’s won.”

  Rollo gave a sigh of relief. “Finally. I was prepared for him to throw a child’s fit if Alice didn’t marry him.” Three down, one to go. There would be a wedding by the end of the month it appeared.

  Frank laughed. “They all threw a fit in their own way.”

  Rollo thought that true. The men were all stubborn when it came to most things, but this was the first time any of them had truly fallen in love… except for Hugh. “I find it peculiar that so many of us are marrying after our first Season in so many years.”

  Frank nodded as he stared at the window; he had one knee crossed over the other and his hands gripped the chair arms. “It was time, I suppose.” He looked at Rollo. “We all have a duty to perform.”

  Rollo nodded slowly, though wasn’t sure the words applied to him. Until his father returned, he wasn’t sure what his duty was. Even now, Matthew Caney oversaw all his family’s business affairs, just as he had since before Rollo was born, while Frank’s father had made it very clear that one of his sons had to marry a titled lady and since Calvin’s heart had chosen the daughter of a man who owned a gentlemen’s club, the burden lay on Frank’s shoulders.

  “Did any lady catch your eye last year?” Rollo asked.

  Frank averted his gaze as he truly pondered the thought. Though untitled, Frank’s family had vast holdings and wealth, which made it quite easy for the man to have his choice of any lady. “No.” Frank shook his head. “No woman caught my eye, but I don’t believe it matters.” Frank had already resigned himself from a love match, especially since his greatest love had become the workings of the human mind and how thoughts become actions. When they returned to London, he planned to learn and practice under teachers of the new science of the mind. “How goes your pursuit of the lady’s maid?”

  Rollo sighed. “Aaron has forbidden me from trying to sleep with her for a month, since he needs her to assist with the girls, but I do plan to keep her close. We’ll be friends.”

  Frank lifted a brow. “Friends. There’s nothing more dangerous than an attractive friend.”

  Rollo dismissed the comment. “She’s a lady’s maid. We’ll have fun and then it will end.”

  “Why not simply choose another woman when you return to London?” Frank asked, his hazel eyes narrowing.

  Rollo made his face blank and stared at Frank. “Are you trying to doctor me?”

  Frank smiled. “No, I’m simply asking a question.”

  Rollo didn’t believe him and neither had he liked the question, because it was a very good one. While he was stuck in this house in Scotland until his friends convinced their women to marry them, pursuing Florence had been an easy choice since there were no other women around, but since he couldn’t have her now, what did it matter if he could have her later? Wasn’t she like any other woman he’d met?

  The flexing of his hand made the ring catch the light.

  No, she wasn’t like other women at all. She was a mystery and until he solved it, his mind would never be able to focus on another woman.

  The door opened, and Rollo sagged with relief until he noticed who it was. Emmett stood at the door, grinning wildly, his black hair mussed and his breathing heavy. His gray eyes fell on both men. “We meet now.”

  Rollo stood. “Lorena has consented?” He was surprised. He’d noticed the woman’s slight temper at dinner the previous night as she made mention of how restlessly she’d slept without a bed of her own. Everyone had been sure Lorena would not bend, but Emmett’s confidence seemed to fill the air.

  “Not yet,” Emmett said, but before Rollo managed to feel any pity for his friend, he met his eyes and smi
led. Whatever was going on in Emmett’s mind would work. Rollo could feel it.

  “We meet in the hour,” Emmett said before leaving and closing the door.

  Rollo looked over at Frank.

  “He’s gone mad,” his friend said in the quiet.

  Rollo grunted. “He went mad months ago.” Yet another reason to delay marriage for as long as one could. They left together to find the rest, and the planning for the future began.

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  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

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  Lorena gasped as Genie yanked the ribbons on the back of her dress tighter. “Truly, Genie. Is it necessary? I don’t need to try on one of my own gowns on to see which one I will wear for the wedding.” She was set to tell Emmett that in three days she would finally join him in holy matrimony, and with each passing day, she admitted to her growing excitement… if only to herself.

  Genie finished setting the skirts and came around to look at Lorena; she was also dressed in the gown she’d picked out for the special day. “It’s not only the dress, but we had to see how we would style our hair as well.” Genie grinned. “You look perfect.”

  Lorena moved to the mirror and agreed. Though morning sunlight would have a different effect than the current lamps that cast darkness from the room, the ivory dress was becoming on her pale skin and the matching ribbons made her hair seem more gold. She smiled at Genie and had to hold back tears. “How unfortunate that our parents won’t be there.”

  Genie grabbed her hand and took a steadying breath as her green eyes began to glitter. “Just think of how fortunate we are. With the Spinsters and the men combined, we’ve a much bigger family than before. That will see us through.”