by P J Perryman
Chastity turned back to Lady Ashworth. Eager to return the compliment about her dress, she looked enthusiastically at her sister-in-law’s person, intent on finding something of genuine praise. Like all the other women present, Lady Ashworth was simply attired as was fitting for an excursion into the country, yet she wore an exquisite cameo brooch on her bodice.
“What a fine brooch that is,” Chastity said.
“Indeed, my mother gave it to me on the occasion of our marriage, and though we venture into the wilds today, I couldn’t quite bring myself to part with it.”
“Damned foolish woman,” said her husband. “If you lose it on the journey we won’t hear the end of it.”
Lady Ashworth laughed, clearly unafraid of upsetting her husband. “Oh, pooh, I shall do no such thing you old worry wart.” Still she looked down and checked the clasp just the same, “I must say I did have some bother with the thing this morning. This French lace is so dense the clasp just wouldn’t close properly. Oh well, I got it secured in the end.”
“Come on now lords and ladies, my meadows await. Grabs your husbands and lets all get to it.”
The grounds of Tom Warren’s estate, like his house, were excessively pretty. It all surprised Chastity, who had been expecting something much finer and grander, but instead she met with simple elegance and charm that she found much more to her taste. In spite of the natural beauty of her surroundings, she noticed the men in the field didn’t tip their head toward Tom Warren as they did on her husband’s estate. Instead the working men just bowed their heads low, as if afraid to catch their landlord’s eye.
Tom Warren had chosen his picnic site well, and they spread their blankets at an elevated spot that overlooked the valley below for miles. Chastity opened the picnic basket prepared by their kitchens. Not knowing what to prepare, her husband had overseen the order for her, and she gasped in wonder at the provisions within.
“A little step up from inn food I would imagine,” said Tom Warren. His cutting comment drew a sneer from Lady Sudbrooke, but in other regards the joke seemed to fall flat. Lord Esher, who was lazily spread out on a blanket, accepted a small sandwich from his wife, then lay back to enjoy the warm sun.
“It’s certainly different,” said Chastity. “But I find over indulgence in super fine food results in a vulgar paunch on the belly, and that is something I wish to avoid.”
Tom Warren did have a bit of a tummy, which he generally took great pains to cover up, but which was far more apparent when he was squatted down on the floor, as he now was. At this Lord Esher laughed heartily, and while still chuckling, reached familiarly across to his wife for another sandwich. “Quite right, dear, quite right. We wouldn’t want to see too much flesh on your fine figure before your time. Let’s push out a few son and heirs before you go that way.”
This time Lord Esher lay back and cradled his head in his wife’s lap. Chastity stroked him affectionately, and then bent down to kiss his forehead. Robert reached up and stroked her cheek fondly. When Chastity looked up she noticed Tom Warren watched them both closely. His eyes were not smiling.
“So, Lady Esher, how are you settling into your new life? Is Lord Robert here being a charming husband?”
“I think I’m settling in rather well. It’s an adjustment of course, but Lord Robert is helping me, and I’m learning to read.”
“And your father, will you be inviting him to dine any time soon?”
Lady Sudbrooke snorted into her glass of wine, and Lord Esher raised himself up onto one elbow.
“Careful Warren, you go too far.”
Tom Warren’s eyes opened wide in mock surprise. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“I’m sure you do.”
Lady Ashworth stood up and ushered the two other ladies to join her. “Come, bring your baskets. There’s some very fine flowers just beyond and I’ve a mind to pick some.”
Although Chastity suspected her husband’s attentions were a deliberate attempt to annoy Tom Warren, she relished in them just the same. So it was with a heavy heart that she got up - for she was sorry to leave her husband in such a contented mood. Though Lady Sudbrooke sighed, she also climbed reluctantly to her feet. The gentlemen remained seated, as the women gently raised their skirts, and went for a short stroll across the meadow.
***
Lady Sudbrooke was most reluctant to leave the gentlemen. She was determined to make a good impression on Tom Warren, for her own sake, as well as her father’s. On the occasion of her coming out, he had taken her to one side and told her in confidence that all the family money had gone. It therefore befell on her, as the eldest daughter of the house, to make what amends she could through marriage.
On her visit to Devonshire House, she had been introduced to many potential beaus, and though Tom Warren did not carry a peerage as did many of the other young men did, he had something far more important, a most significant annuity, one that would set her and her family fortune back on track. She cared nothing for his foppish reputation, and disregarded any whispers regarding his choice of friends. No, in spite of all this, Lady Sudbrooke was determined to have him for a husband, and it was the sole reason she had agreed to join the picnic party today.
“How are you finding my brother, really?” said Lady Ashworth. “Is he being very brutish, I always remember he was so as a child?”
“No, not really,” said Chastity. “In the beginning he was perhaps a little rough. I guess this whole business has been hard on him, hard on us both in fact, but it gets better and better every day. Though I was purchased for him, I find I’m growing exceedingly fond of him.”
The last remark withdrew a snort from Lady Sudbrooke.
Lady Ashworth raised her eyebrows.
“Really,” said Lady Sudbrooke. “We all know where you came from, Lady Esher.” She said the name very pointedly. “I can’t imagine a few harsh words from your husband count as any great hardship. If I was in your shoes, and I’m thankful that I’m not, I’d be singing his praises night and day, and thanking God for my deliverance.”
“I thank God daily, though it was not for my deliverance. I didn’t come from some cesspit in Tooley Street, I came from a respectable working family. I see no blemish that smears my name.”
“No, perhaps you don’t. But Tom Warren was right, what of your family? Lord Esher moves in the first set, he can hardly bring your father into the fold. This marriage does not so much elevate you as denigrate him. I am sorry for it, for he was a handsome man of good fortune and would make any other lucky lady of his class an excellent husband.”
“Like yourself?” sneered Lady Ashworth. “We all know why you’re here.”
“Oh, and why is that?”
“You’re husband hunting and Tom Warren is the mark.”
Lady Sudbrooke had thought her mission a secret, and her cheeks flared red at this new discovery. Still, she would not be put down by Lady Ashworth, who was famed for such a marriage herself. “Perhaps this is the proverbial kettle calling the pot black.”
“Come ladies,” said Chastity. “As women it befalls on us to better our families through marriage. In this regard we are all one and the same, are we not? Come, let us put these ugly words behind us and set about the business of gathering flowers, as we all set out to do.”
Lady Sudbrooke scowled, but she said nothing more. She disliked Lady Ashworth, but she totally despised Lady Esher. To have to consort with a woman of her class was unthinkable. How could a creature of such low birth get herself such a husband? Lord Esher was not only a very wealthy man, but he was easy on the eyes as well. Fate could be cruel. Here was she, a daughter of a respectable and ancient family, forced to fight for a husband such as Tom Warren, whereas this little guttersnipe tavern whore had the cream of the crop fall directly in her lap. It was too much to bear.
Lady Ashworth had found an exceptionally pretty clump of flowers growing in the shade of a hedgerow. The lady was bent there now, breaking the little stalks and adding a colla
ge of color to her wicker basket. Having exhausted the supply, she moved to stand straight but somehow lost her footing, and fell into the hedgerow for her trouble.
Forgetting their differences, both ladies immediately rushed to her aid, and hearing the commotion, the gentlemen were soon running across the meadow to come to their assistance. Lord Esher was the first to make it, and he carefully disentangled the distressed lady from the foliage.
In spite of her difficulty, Lady Ashworth laughed good-naturedly. “Oh my, that was an adventure!” she said.
“Are you quite alright?” said her brother. Lord Esher looked her over and pulled some small loose twigs from her hair.
“Yes, yes, just a few scratches, no real harm done.”
“Perhaps you should try a glass of wine. It will settle your nerves and help you recover.”
“A most excellent idea,” said Lord Ashworth. He pushed past Lord Esher, and taking his wife’s arm in his own, led her back to the picnic spot.
Lord Esher turned to Chastity, who had knelt down to recover her sister-in-law’s basket. She was putting back the flowers which had scattered during the fall.
“You seem to have cut yourself,” he said. Chastity looked down and they both examined the raw scratches on her hand.
“Oh it’s nothing, really. I just caught myself on some thorns as I tried to help her.”
“Nevertheless.” Lord Esher raised his wife to her feet and kissed the affected spot. “Come, let’s get this looked at.” And then they too walked back arm in arm, closely followed by Tom Warren who clearly wanted to stay close to the drama.
Abandoned, uncared for, and alone, Lady Sudbrooke glared as she watched the departing company. “What a waste of a perfectly good afternoon,” she scoffed. At her feet were many of the abandoned flowers, and she kicked them to one side, as if making a path for her own retreat. Something under the broken stems glistened in the sunlight and caught her eye. On the floor by her feet was Lady Ashworth’s cameo brooch, and were it not for the sunlight on the clasp she might have overlooked it. She bent down, and was about to run after and restore the gem to its rightful owner, when another thought entered her mind. For the first time that day, she felt fortune had favored her above the others, and a wry grin twisted her pretty face. She slipped the cameo inside her pocket, and with a renewed sense of purpose, strolled back to join the party.
THE CAMEO BROOCH
Tom Warren knew Lady Sudbrooke had designs on making him her husband. She wasn’t the first, and if he had his way she wouldn’t be the last. However, his mother, a vain and proud dowager, was determined to purchase a peerage for her son. Rumor had it had it that the Sudbrooke family had squandered their fortune, but since money was not their chief object, they could purchase the Sudbrooke nobility and their influence at court for a song.
That said Tom was disinclined to marry just anyone. The whole purpose of the picnic was to get a better look at her. Her physical person was acceptable, though nothing out of the ordinary, and she was certainly nothing like Lady Esher, who had the form of a Goddess and the mouth of a slut. She was certainly intelligent and well-informed, but that was nothing, hardly the best attributes required in a wife.
He had intended to flirt with Lady Esher, to stoke the debutant’s passions, and was pleased to see she had a jealous and sullen streak. This made her interesting. Since he knew he would make a terrible husband, and knowing his wife was less than perfect would lessen the guilt of his likely ill-treatment.
Still, Tom wondered if it would be enough. The picnic was over, and his guests had gathered in his dining room to enjoy some light refreshments in preparation for the journey home. The excitement from Lady Ashworth’s fall had abated, and his guests were huddled together, talking over the events of the day.
Lady Sudbrooke stepped away from the party and joined Tom over by the window.
“You have no love for your friend’s new bride, I see.”
“And what makes you think that?”
Tom Warren sipped on a glass of burgundy, pretending her thoughts were of no interest. Yet inside he was dying to hear whatever it was the malicious girl had to say. “Your eyes follow them both constantly. The rest of us may as well not be here. With Lord Esher, despite your jibes, you admire him immensely. Love him, perhaps? Lady Esher you find beautiful, yet her humble origins repel you and you would love to do her mischief.”
There was a triumphant look on Lady Sudbrooke’s face, and for once Tom Warren did not counter. She had summed up the situation beautifully. He turned to look at her a little more closely. There was a mischievous artfulness about her, and of all the qualities in a woman, that was the thing he found attractive above all.
“What a delicious little observer you are,” he said. “Go on.”
“Word is that the union was engineered by some folly of yours but it seems your plan has backfired. Perhaps you had hoped that by a ridiculous marriage your friend would abandon his wife and spend his days in the company of friends in general, you in particular. But your plan has backfired. Your friend turns out to be a man of honor and is standing by his humble wife in spite of you. A bitter light glows in your eyes, my friend, and it grows brighter and more hateful by the hour.”
Tom Warren rested his hand on her neck and caressed the skin, fondly. Then his fingers tightened, just a little, and he leant forward close to her ear. Any onlooker would think they were sharing a confidence, just two lovers whispering sweet nothings.
“What do you know of hatred, my little dove?”
Lady Sudbrooke’s hand slipped between them both. Tom Warren eyebrows arched in surprise. “Really, madam, and you out in society for just a few short weeks? How shocking.”
Ever so carefully, he felt her hand rise up, and in the corner of his eye he saw she held something between her fingers. “Is that, Lady Ashworth’s cameo?” he whispered.
“So many things can be lost in a fall, it’s no one’s fault, some things just happen. But what if it wasn’t lost in a fall? What if someone took it? I wonder, perhaps society would overlook a person’s origins if they had humble beginnings. And with such a winning figure even a prosperous husband might stand by her. But what if that person were a thief? Would they be as accepted then? And would such a husband stand by her? Hmm. It makes one positively giddy just thinking about it all.”
Tom Warren released her neck and stared into her eyes. She truly was deliciously evil.
“I think you might be onto something. If you would permit it, perhaps you would stay behind when the others leave and we can discuss such… hypotheticals… in more detail.”
“I think I would like that Mr. Warren.”
“As would I, ma’am, as would I.”
Lady Sudbrooke had just returned the cameo to her pocket when there was an unexpected shriek from the across the room. Once again all eyes were on Lady Ashworth. Though the two conspirators shot each other meaningful glances, both had guessed at the cause of her distress.
“My love, are you ill?” said Lord Ashworth.
“My cameo, I’ve lost it.”
“Hells teeth,” said Lord Ashworth. “I told you not to bring it.”
“I must have dropped it in the meadow.”
“Darn it, I suppose I could ride back to the meadow before we leave.”
“I would be happy to join the hunt,” said Lord Esher. “The ladies can wait here while we look. Tom, are you with us?”
“Actually, Robert, I have something very particular I wish to discuss with Lady Sudbrooke,” said Tom Warren. “Would you mind if we stayed back a little? I’m sure you and Lord Ashworth together will make an ample search party.”
Lord Esher shrugged. “Whatever you wish Tom.”
The two gentlemen left the room immediately, and Tom Warren bowed respectfully to the ladies. “Please, have some more wine. My business with Lady Sudbrooke will not take long.”
Chastity was too busy looking after Lady Ashworth, and that lady herself was far too distressed t
o pay any attention to the departing pair. Once out in the hall, Tom Warren took Lady Sudbrooke by the hand and walked her into the small morning room, where he knew they would not be disturbed. The room was scantily furnished, with a small desk by the window which overlooked a very natural pond. But Tom was not there for a tour. He turned to Lady Sudbrooke and got straight to the point.
“Well, my dear, you have my full attention. What do you propose?”
Lady Sudbrooke withdrew the cameo from its hiding spot and placed it down pointedly on the desk. “Such a small thing could easily be slipped into her ladyship’s dresser. Her lady-in-waiting could be bribed perhaps, though there’s always a risk when you bring in more people to a scheme. Tongues that are purchased have no scruples about wagging.”
Tom Warren stepped a little closer. He found the lady’s scheming arousing. His voice dropped a little deeper. “Very true that. So, what other option presents itself?”
He noticed Lady Sudbrooke’s own voice had dropped a few decibels too. “An intimate could perhaps do it, a close friend of her acquaintance, someone like you, maybe.”
“I could, or I could simply return it to its owner.”
Tom was so close now, he could almost catch the rhythm of her heart. “But where would be the fun in that,” she asked.
Tom bent forward and his lips met hers. For such a sourpuss she tasted deliciously sweet, and he probed her mouth aggressively with his tongue. Though she received him well enough, he sensed she was still holding back, and knew her hand would come between them any moment to stop him from going too far. Annoying little virgin, he thought. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and he pushed her toward the desk until her backside collided with it and she was forced to drop her hand to the wood to steady herself.
Lady Sudbrooke indulged his kisses for the longest time, but just as he was sensing her total submission, the expected hand shot up between them, and breathless, she pushed him away. “Stop I tell you, this cannot go on. What of my virtue? I am keeping my chastity for a husband, and since no such offer is on the table, I think we’d better leave things there.”