At first, Mercy had been scandalized, but then she realized that it wasn’t such a strange occurrence. In fact, when she thought back to when she’d been younger and had ventured into the village of Croydon with her parents, she glimpsed the sight of two women looking rather cozy in the alley near the butcher’s shop. When her mother had noticed her interest she’d sharply told her to look away. Now it all made sense. Either way, she didn’t see the harm in it if someone was content. And Margaret was a brilliant vision of happiness.
“Beth told me of this gathering at the ‘Mansion,’ as everyone keeps calling it. I hope you have a grand time. Of course, you’ll forgive me if I’m scarce some of the time. I daresay you shouldn’t worry. I have an old friend that’s come to town and I am looking forward to spending some time with her.” She smiled broadly. “I was actually on my way out but wanted to greet you properly before I left.”
“I appreciate that, Lady… er, Auntie,” Mercy corrected with a grin.
She patted her cheek. “Good girl.” With that, she swept out the front door.
When she was gone, Beth grabbed Mercy’s hand. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room and then we can begin our adventures!”
***
Mercy stood at the balcony railing of her terraced room and glanced out at the gentle waves of the English Channel beyond. The water sparkled like diamonds as the sun began to set, turning everything into a brilliant orange. She imagined that she could glimpse France just on the other side, and her lips curved in delight. After a soothing bath, during which Lady Franson’s servants saw to her every need, Mercy changed into a white Grecian robe. After her hair had been styled into a series of ringlets and a wreath of ivy placed on top of her head, courtesy of Beth’s ladies’ maid, she looked at her reflection and colored slightly. It was one of the most scandalous things she’d ever worn, as it showed off her curves to the best advantage, but Beth had insisted upon it. It was one of her friend’s “special” gowns that she’d ordered from the modiste before she’d left London to embark on this adventure.
“I had to use my pin money and have it sent to Auntie’s townhouse so mother or father wouldn’t find out, but it was totally worth it!” Beth had gushed. “Thank goodness we’re of a same size and I had the foresight to order a second one because I knew you never would.”
Now, all Mercy yearned for was the moment she might slip under those glorious blue waves in the distance and allow all of her cares to disappear. At least for a time.
With a sigh, she started to move away from the railing, but paused when the sound of masculine laughter reached her ears. She glanced below and her breath caught when she saw Freddie walking along with the same two men from earlier that day. She’d tried to tell herself that he wasn’t quite as appealing as she’d imagined, but with that confident stride and dressed in fashionably tailored black and white like his comrades, there was no longer any doubt. She still found it odd that, as a valet, he was being treated as an equal, but perhaps they had an understanding like Margaret did with her friends.
But when he suddenly glanced up at her, as if sensing her presence, she could tell by his sharpening gaze and the set of his jawline that he was anything but uninterested. She quickly stepped back out of his line of vision and put a hand to her pounding heart. She never imagined that he would be at the same gathering, but of course, why wouldn’t he? Most of Brighton would likely be at the Mansion.
“It’s time, Amphitrite,” Beth said in amusement from the doorway.
Mercy turned and rolled her eyes and joined her friend. “Lead the way, Hebe,” she mocked. “Really, must we employ these ridiculous names?”
Beth raised a brow as they strode out into the mild evening. “As if we would dare to give out our real names and have it reach the ears of the London gossips! Besides,” She shrugged one shoulder. “What’s a costume ball without a certain air of mystery?”
Mercy had to admit that Beth had a point so she relented and decided that she would enjoy this evening, reminding herself that after she wed Westbrook that it would be a long time before she would have the chance to be mysterious again.
As they approached the Mansion, Mercy’s spirits began to lift considerably. It was like walking into some sort of fairy tale. Torches lined the drive to the front door where a footman in a powdered wig and dark blue and white livery greeted the guests upon their arrival. He handed them each an envelope, but instructed them not to open it until the stroke of midnight.
Mercy tucked it into her reticule, but glanced at Beth whose expression of anticipation likely mirrored her own. By the time they followed the crowd up the stairs to the large ballroom, her blood was racing through her veins. It was already so different from London society. Their Grecian costumes were tame compared to some of the ones showcased among the assemblage, and they weren’t announced, there was no host or hostess to greet.
A grand orchestra was set up in the balcony and the sounds of their stringed instruments carried down over the guests, which, if she had to make a guess, were more than three hundred.
Beth leaned over and said, “Didn’t I tell you this would be an event to remember?”
Mercy just nodded, words abruptly escaping her.
They hadn’t even made it three steps into the ballroom before a man dressed as Romeo bumped into them. “Oh, I do say, I’m terribly sorry.” He was young, but his smile broadened when he glanced up and saw them. Mercy also took note that his breath carried the strong scent of brandy as he looked Beth up and down. “My dear goddess,” He placed a hand over his heart. “Might you forgive my error by granting a poor lovelorn fool a dance?”
Beth smiled. “I would love to.”
Mercy’s mouth went slack as Beth offered her a wink and was whisked away on the arm of the tragic hero. She thought she might have a bit more time with her companion before she disappeared, but it seemed she was to be left to her own devices.
Mercy walked about the fringes of the ballroom, but the crowd made it rather difficult. So when she spied an alcove that was out of the way, she took a deep breath.
However, her freedom wasn’t to last long.
***
Malcolm had been standing in the shadowed corner of the balcony opposite the orchestra, sipping on a glass of port when the object of his desire appeared at the top of the staircase. He watched her descent and the blood pounding in his ears effectively drowned out everything Devon and Crawford were saying.
When he saw her wandering alone, he knew it was time to intercede. “Excuse me, gentlemen.” His friends merely shook their heads as he departed.
He found his goddess shortly thereafter, standing in solitude in a shadowed alcove. He grinned. What a perfect place for a tryst.
“Let me guess, Aphrodite?” he murmured from behind her.
She started and spun to face him. After a brief laugh, she said, “Amphitrite, actually.” She gestured to his simple attire. “It appears you decided not to participate. That’s not very sporting of you, Freddie.”
He held up a finger. “On the contrary, I’m Mr. William Elliot.”
She rolled her eyes, and he suddenly yearned to kiss her until they were both breathless. But he had to get that out of his head, didn’t he? In fourteen days he’d be forced to leave her behind and pay his addresses to another, so there was no point in letting it go further than a light flirtation.
And yet…
“Of course, you would be Captain Wentworth’s rival for Anne’s affections.”
He grinned unabashedly. “I thought it only suitable since you were reading Persuasion just this afternoon.”
“You’re incorrigible, Mr. Elliot,” she teased.
Enraptured by the mischievous sparkle in her hazel eyes, he murmured, “And you are a vision, Amphitrite, goddess of the sea and all of its beauty.”
The tension instantly sparked, lingering between them until she turned her face away. “You shouldn’t say such things. You don’t know anything about me.”
She slowly lifted her eyes, surrounded by thick, dark lashes. At first he thought she was going to tell him to go away, but then she surprised him by saying, “You’re right.” She closed the distance between them and set her hand on his chest, directly over his thudding heart. “I think I want you to kiss me.”
Malcolm was quite sure that he lost all sense of reason as he reached for her almost without conscious thought and lowered his head to hers.
He groaned, for she tasted like the sweetest wine. She overwhelmed his senses, the most potent alcohol he’d ever imbibed on, and he was instantly smitten. He pulled her flush against him, his hands grabbing at the material at her back, yearning to rend the material in two so that he might see her in all her luscious glory. Without the hindrance of any undergarments, he could feel the curves of her body. She tempted him beyond reason, and Malcolm was quite happily lost in her spell.
Both of her hands gripped the lapels of his jacket, and by the hitch he felt in her breathing and the way she leaned into him, he could tell that she was just as affected by their embrace as he was.
Everything faded around them as they kissed. He wouldn’t remember the orchestral music as it faded into the background, nor the people mingling around them. Nothing but this woman and this moment would live on his memory. It would carry him through the days when he married a chit he’d never even wanted.
Desperation for his future drove him to deepen the embrace, daring him to lift a hand until it brushed the underside of her breast. This might be the last time he would feel such a strong urge to lay with anyone and he intended to make the most of his passions.
She moaned against his lips, so he dared to flick his thumb across her taut nipple, finally palming it fully. It fit perfectly, just as he had known it would, just as he’d known she would.
He pulled away from her long enough to whisper, “Come back to my rooms with me. I want to be with you tonight, my sweet Amphitrite.”
Her eyes fluttered open, still glazed from their torrid embrace, but as the sounds of the ball around them began to close back in, he saw the instant their grand illusion was shattered.
She pushed out of his arms and he reluctantly let her go. “I’m… sorry. I-I can’t,” she stammered, and then she fled.
Chapter Two
“You missed a lovely party last night,” Beth said as she sailed into Mercy’s bedchamber the next morning. “At midnight, we were all tasked with opening our sealed envelopes and inside was a dare. Mine said to kiss the person to my right, and well…” A rather comely blush splashed across her cheeks. “I couldn’t very well decline, even if it was a female. I just wish I hadn’t received that note from the footman telling me you’d decided to part early.”
She sat down across from where Mercy was curled up in a chair next to the fire, still attired in her nightdress and reading a novel. Her terrace window was open, and she had been enjoying the salty sea air while she’d lost herself in the perils of Anne Elliot, even if the man Mercy had been paired with last night was more like Captain Wentworth than he might have imagined — utterly handsome and utterly unattainable.
“I’m glad that you had a good time,” Mercy murmured.
“I wish you would have stayed. It was your purpose to come to Brighton to ignore your future responsibilities for a time, wasn’t it? The same as me?”
“It was. It is,” she corrected hastily. “I’m just not quite daring enough to entertain such a torrid affair without any sort of qualms.”
“You do realize there is a way to trick your husband into believing that you were a virgin, right?” Beth pointed out. She always had been rather direct, like her Aunt Margaret. “You merely gasp as if in pain and then sneak a bit of pig’s blood onto the coverlet. It’s what I plan to do, for I daresay my maidenhood has long since sailed. But then, the man my father has chosen for me is sixty, if a day.”
Mercy sighed. “I wish I knew for certain what Lord Westbrook was like, for then I could toss caution to the wind as well, but I haven’t even met the man.” She frowned. “Perhaps I should have just gone to London…”
“Nonsense,” Beth chided. “You are here to have fun and that is what you shall do.” She stood and held out her hand. “The first thing you are going to do is quit moping about thinking that you are some terrible person for wanting to live a bit and then we’re going to have some breakfast and go to the sea! And you should be happy, for the men are separated from the ladies, so there is no chance you should run into your Freddie.”
Mercy laughed as she rose. “Whatever would I do without you?”
“Likely keep your nose in a book all day.” She sniffed. “How dreadfully boring.” With a little push, she ushered Mercy toward the dressing table. “Now, get ready. I’ll send my maid in, so I expect you downstairs in no less than a half hour!”
Like the whirlwind Mercy always knew the girl to be, she left the room.
Twenty-eight minutes later, Mercy was doing the same. Dressed in a simple peach muslin, she entered the dining room and performed a mock pirouette for her friend.
Beth clapped in approval. “Very nice! Although I do hope that you packed a bathing dress.”
“I did,” Mercy returned as she headed for the sideboard. Her stomach growled at the sight of the ham, eggs, and scones laid out like tantalizing fare. “It was probably the first thing I chose.”
“I believe that,” Beth chuckled. “You’ve always adored the water, so I decided to have mercy on you.”
Mercy sat down and gave her a look. “Funny. You should perform on the stage.”
“I should, oughtn’t I?” Beth tapped her lower lip thoughtfully.
Mercy didn’t reply as she ate her food in silence. But then, it was Beth’s bold, forward thinking nature that had always endeared her to the girl. They’d first met at Mercy’s debut ball and had struck up a friendship almost instantly. It was probably why Mercy was starting to become a bit more daring with her own decisions and why she’d embarked on this journey to Brighton to begin with.
After breakfast, Beth wanted to do a bit of shopping, so Mercy trailed along after her. As they left, she couldn’t resist glancing at the terrace house next door, knowing that Freddie and his cohorts were inside.
For some reason she wondered if he’d retired alone and then decided that it shouldn’t even concern her what the man did. He could have a trail of ladies tromping to his bedchamber and it wouldn’t bother her in the least.
However, when the door abruptly opened as they passed by, a thrill of excitement shot through her heart. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Freddie, but one of the other men. He tipped his hat and smiled in a devil-may-care manner as he acknowledged them and then strode the opposite direction.
Mercy told herself that she wasn’t disappointed, and yet, the day had darkened considerably. She later realized that it wasn’t just her spirits that were starting to sink, but as they began their return back home, a line of heavy gray clouds began to move in off the sea. Shortly after they arrived home it started to rain, and Mercy realized that there would be no sea bathing that day.
Beth decided she would take a nap, and since Auntie hadn’t yet arrived home from wherever she had been the night before, Mercy headed for the library to continue reading the book she’d brought on the journey from London.
She’d just become engrossed in the story when there was a knock at the front door. She lowered the book to her lap as the butler’s footsteps began to head in her direction. He paused in the doorway. “Lady Mercy, there’s a gentleman here that insists on seeing Miss Faith Albright, but I told him that there is no one here by that name—”
Mercy instantly shot to her feet. “I’ll take care of him.”
He inclined his head and moved aside while she stro
de toward the foyer. She passed a mirror in the hall and patted her hair to make sure it was still in place. Vanity. She shook her head and yet, she couldn’t help but paste on a smile when the man standing by the front door turned to glance at her.
“Why, Freddie. What a surprise.” She hoped he didn’t hear the slightly breathless tone of her greeting. Wearing a dark greatcoat, his shoulders looked impossibly broad, and he was entirely too intimidating for her peace of mind.
He bowed slightly. “Miss Albright. I was starting to think that I’d arrived at the wrong house since it didn’t appear the butler believed you existed.”
She laughed, albeit a bit shakily, and silently begged pardon for betraying the loyal servant for her own selfish reasons. “He gets confused. I fear he’s not entirely…” She gestured to her head. “But Lady Franson is too kindhearted to let him go. He’s been with the family for some time.”
He grinned. “I see.”
Mercy clasped her hands together and hoped she wasn’t struck down with a rogue lightning bolt for all these lies. “How can I help you?”
He reached into his jacket and withdrew a small package and held it out to her. “I wanted to give you this.”
She blinked. “I can’t accept—”
“You can and you will,” he said firmly. “It’s my way of atoning for my behavior last evening. I was out of line with such a forward… request.”
Mercy was touched by his apology, so she hesitantly stepped forward and took the present. “Thank you.”
They stared at each other for a time until he glanced down. “Aren’t you going to open it?”
“Oh, yes. Of course.” She cleared her throat and told herself to stop making a cake of herself as she tore off the twine and brown paper. A wooden box was revealed, and when she removed the lid, she gasped at what was inside. Lying on a red velvet interior was a delicate silver necklace with a silver charm fashioned as a sand dollar.
In Love With a Charming Brunette Page 2