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 Pierce, she couldn't help worrying. Catherine was right. Pierce be different. Doubtless Catherine 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."
"Oh for heaven's sake, no. 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."
"You were carrying, and I didn't think it right that you should —"
"She should nevertheless have come to me." Catherine's voice rose slightly.
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. She was certain that Pierce wouldn't recognize her.
Lord Linton
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 hea
rt-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 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?"
"She is, and I am. She and Catherine are waiting for Mr. Bridge." Linton made her uncomfortable. She didn't want to speak with him. He was much older, and he intimidated her. It took all her strength to keep her back straight when he stared at her. "I'm looking for a locket," she explained, and indicated the display case.
"To contain a miniature of your lover, I suppose," Linton teased, his grey eyes smiling. In the showroom lamps, his eyes appeared greenish.
"In memory of my father," she said stiffly.
Abruptly, something occurred to her. She glanced at the door of the small room into which the fashionable lady had disappeared. Her eyes widened. She felt heat moving up her throat, and turned away so that he couldn't see.
He cleared his throat again. "Shall we choose one for you?" The two words sounded forced, as if he were suppressing laughter.
He knew what she was thinking, the wretch. He enjoyed discomfiting her.
Well, if he didn't have the decency to be embarrassed, she wouldn't be, either.
She turned to the display case, and sighed. "I don't know which to choose. I only need a small locket. Perhaps another shop, not Rundell, Bridge & Rundell."
He looked over her head, and lifted his hand. Instantly a shop girl was at her side. "Miss Eardley wishes to see the lockets… That one, if you please." Linton's voice was soft, but commanding.
He pointed at precisely the delicately filigreed, heart-shaped locket that Melly would have chosen, had it not had a small diamond in its center.
The diamond would make it much too expensive. "No, not that one…" She pointed to a small, very plain locket. "May I see that one, please."
"Linton!" Suddenly Catherine was beside Melly, frowning up at Linton.
"Mrs. Grove," he bowed to her. "You are well? And your husband, Major Grove?"
They continued their pleasantries. Melly turned away, and focused on the small heart. It was tiny, perhaps the smallest in the case, but she loved it.
"Let me show you, Miss Eardley, it has a truly cunning little hinge. There's plenty of room inside it, even though it's small."
"Melly, do leave that — you don't need another locket. Anne gave you one for your birthday, did she not?" Catherine scooped the locket from Melly's palm, and handed it back to the shop girl.
Melly opened her mouth to protest, but she heard the feminine, musical voice again.
"Linton, what do you think?"
Linton's lovely friend strolled across the showroom, proudly touching the glittering showers of diamonds which cascaded down her bosom.
A shop man hovered behind her. A necklace with so many strands of diamonds had to be worth thousands of pounds, Melly thought. But it was lovely.
She glanced at her sister. The look on Catherine's face was priceless.
Melly looked back at the shop girl, and shook her head. Catherine wouldn't allow her to buy the locket. What a shame. Perhaps she could visit the shop again, when she next came to London. Without Catherine.
"Come, Melly," Catherine snapped. "Come at once."
Catherine grabbed her hand, then shoved her back into the small room where her mother waited. She had no time to protest.
Slamming the door, Catherine rested against it. "That man," she gasped. "Mother, Linton is lost to all propriety, utterly."
She rounded on Melly. "Perhaps now you see why I'm utterly against you having anything to do with Pierce Ward! He's staying with that man. It's indecent."
"Linton is here?" Mrs. Eardley asked. "What —?"
"Linton, with one of his chères amies. He was speaking to Melly — ! Melly, if you please. A disgrace. He should not have acknowledged Melly while he was with one of his tarts."
"Catherine, you're making too much of it," Melly protested.
"We're leaving," Catherine picked up her reticule.
Mrs. Eardley frowned at her eldest daughter. "Sit down, dear, and calm yourself. I'm sure that Lord Linton would never do anything which was not good ton. You're too nice in your attitudes, you always have been."
She smiled brightly. "Mr. Bridge and I have chosen Melly's pearls, and I want Melly to wear them tonight." She turned to Melly. "The most darling strand of pearls, my pet, so elegant. Smaller pearls for the string, with large Oriental pearls descending. More than I wanted to spend, but they'll be lovely for your season."
Perhaps because her mother rarely asserted herself, Catherine obeyed and sank into her chair. "I still say pearls won't suit her. My sapphires would be better."
"You'll lend her your sapphires if you wish. But every young lady needs pearls… My mother bought me pearls for my come-out, and I bought pearls for you, Catherine."
Why was Catherine so outraged? Melly wondered at her sister.
Then she realized. She remembered the gossip about Major Grove, who had an expensive chère amie of his own. One didn't speak of such things, or even acknowledge that men had — friends.
The door opened, and Mr. Bridge entered. He bowed to Melly, and presented her with a jewelry box. "Miss Eardley — your pearls. I wish you all happiness in wearing them."
Melly opened the box, touched the smooth pearls with delight, and forgot all about Lord Linton and chères amies.
Later that evening, after dinner in their London house in Grosvenor Square, Melly wrote a letter at a small desk in the library.
Catherine passed her on her way to ring the bell for the servants, and glanced at the page. "You can't write to Talverne. Give me that." Catherine held her hand out for the letter Melly was composing.
"But Pierce is my friend. He's in London, and —"
"No my dear," Mrs. Eardley looked up from the large library table where she was writing her own letters. She smiled at Melly gently. "It would not do at all, for you to write to Lord Talverne."
"Indeed not, the very idea." Catherine read the letter, which was short, and shook her head.
"I was just asking Pierce to call…"
"If he wants he call, he will. No doubt Linton will tell him that we're in London." Catherine tossed the letter into the grate.
The Lady And The Rake: A Scandalous Arrangement, is available now.
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