Her Secret Lover

by Sara Bennett

  “A letter that her protector gave her to keep safe! And now she plans to use it to ‘persuade’ Appleby into allowing her to leave him for the duke. She’s frightened of Appleby, Madame; I can see it in her eyes.”

  “And you want to protect her,” Aphrodite murmured. “You are on dangerous ground, Gabriel. She could hurt you very badly.”

  “I don’t know how good a shot she is—”

  “No, no, I did not mean with a bullet. I meant she could break your heart.”

  Gabriel opened his mouth to argue, to declare himself completely heartless, to deny such a thing could ever happen to him. And closed it again.

  He was more confused than ever. His instincts were telling him one thing about Antoinette and his mind was telling him something else. Suddenly he had a clear image of her rowing away from him, her hair wild, her face white, her eyes big and frightened but determined, too. That was bravery. She was a courageous woman. She had refused to yield when he held up the coach, and although he’d convinced himself that for a woman like that to be threatened with being stripped naked and searched would mean little, he knew it wasn’t true. She must have been very frightened, and yet she didn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing it, not until right at the end when she’d wept in his arms.

  But later, when they came together in the woods, she had yielded. She’d given her body to him. Not for any payment or desire to gain something from him, but for the sheer joy and abandonment they found together.

  Gabriel groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

  “What will I do, Madame?”

  “So now you are asking me for advice, Gabriel?” she teased, but gently.

  Outside the room there was a loud rapping on the front door and then footsteps hurrying to answer it. Gabriel could hear Jemmy Dobson’s deep voice, and then more steps. Someone tapped on the sitting room door, and then it opened a crack and Jemmy stuck his head around the corner.

  “Lady to see you, my love,” he said quietly. “Put her in your office, will I?”

  Aphrodite smiled. “Thank you, Jemmy. I’ll be there in a moment.”

  The door closed again.

  Gabriel gave her a quizzical look. “I thought this was a club for gentlemen,” he said.

  “You’d be surprised how many gentlewomen find their pleasure here,” she replied. “There was a very special client I dealt with not long ago, and very happy she is, too. But I must not talk about matters that are confidential.”

  “You’re a very wicked woman, Madame. I always knew it.”

  Aphrodite laughed. “Perhaps. A little.” She rose to her feet, her black silk skirts rustling. “I must see my visitor. You will stay here tonight, Gabriel? I think we should talk again. You know I think of you as the son I never had.”

  “Of course I will stay.” He laughed.

  “You are residing in London’s most select and famous house of pleasure. You are a very fortunate man indeed.” Aphrodite tapped him gently on the shoulder as she left the room.

  Antoinette was standing by the window. When she was first shown into the room she’d sat down in the chair before the desk, but she had felt too much like a new girl waiting for an interview, so she stood up again.

  The idea of living such a life made her uncomfortable, and she knew she would be completely unsuited to it. If she’d any doubts that her love affair with the highwayman might have changed her or corrupted her, then she was reassured now. Lying in his arms was special and magical, and no one else could ever make her feel like that.

  Anyway, it was over. He was probably sailing away across the sea with Marietta. She could picture them toasting each other with champagne and dancing naked under the stars.

  “You wished to see—”

  Antoinette jumped, as if the other woman might be able to read her shocking thoughts. Madame Aphrodite had entered the room so quietly she hadn’t heard her, and now here she was in her black dress, her graying hair piled loosely upon her head, so much jewelry about her throat and wrists and on her fingers that it made Antoinette blink.

  “But I know you,” she said with her French accent.

  “Yes, we have met before, but we have not been introduced. I am Antoinette Dupre.”

  Madame Aphrodite closed the door.

  “Miss Dupre,” she said, curiously. “I remember you, of course I do. If I seem a little surprised to see you here, then you will understand why. Lord Appleby and I are not the best of friends at the moment.”

  Antoinette clutched her reticule in front of her and spoke earnestly. “That is why I am here, Madame. I believe your house is the only safe refuge for me in London. I am in dire trouble and I need your help. Will you listen to my story…please?”

  The courtesan’s eyes were as dark and intelligent as Antoinette remembered, and now they held a warmth and compassion that gave her hope and drew her closer. Aphrodite gestured for her to sit down and moved to a chair behind the desk.

  “So you have come to me because Lord Appleby is an enemy of mine?” Aphrodite said curiously. “Has he spoken of me?”

  “No. But I overheard what he was saying to you, the day you came to see him. I thought you were very brave to stand up to him.”

  “I hate him,” she said, with a glitter in her eyes.

  “I think you have heard the gossip about me, Madame. That I am Lord Appleby’s mistress?” Antoinette lifted her chin high.

  Aphrodite bowed her head in acknowledgment.

  Antoinette leaned forward, her gaze on the other’s face. “It is a lie. Lord Appleby arranged for certain rumors to be spread about, and then he planned to have us caught in a compromising position. Afterward everybody believed it was true, but I swear to you I was never his mistress. He was a friend of my uncle, and when my uncle died he began to visit me and my sister, pretending sympathy, pretending to be our friend.” She spat out the last word bitterly. “He does not know what it means to be someone’s friend.”

  Aphrodite said nothing, watching her face and listening intently.

  “He has done such a good job of convincing everyone that now no one believes me,” she went on, clearly upset.

  “But why would he do such a thing, Miss Dupre? Has he formed a passion for you?”

  “He is a wicked man, Madame. He wants my money. He wants me to marry him so that he can take my fortune and use it in his manufacturing business. That is why he has destroyed my reputation, so that I will have no friends to believe me. They will advise me that marriage is the only solution, and Lord Appleby is quite a catch.”

  Her voice broke and she looked away, steadying herself. This was not a time for tears; Aphrodite needed to hear the facts.

  “And yet you came to his house,” Aphrodite reminded her.

  “He invited me to London from my home in Surrey. He knew I was eager to see the Great Exhibition, and because he had a part in building the Crystal Palace, he said he would be able to bring me to the opening ceremony. I was flattered, and although I had my doubts, I allowed myself to be persuaded. At first all was well, and then I began to hear rumors that he and I were engaged, or in love, or some such nonsense. I felt uncomfortable and approached him about it. That was when he proposed to me.”

  “And you rejected him?”

  “Yes. He seemed to accept it calmly enough, but that was when he must have decided that more direct means were needed if I was to agree. I wanted to go home but he begged me to stay on for his dinner party. He needed my help, he said. That was when he staged the moment when his guests saw us together…But it was a trick. He caught hold of me moments before and I was struggling, but he held me so tightly, and…Well, I knew then the gossips would ruin me. I demanded he explain and apologize, but he laughed and said now I would have to marry him. And that was when I saw for the first time the real man behind the smile.”

  Aphrodite stood up and went to ring the bell for a servant. She went to the door, and when there was a soft knock, opened it and spoke quietly for a moment, before return
ing to her seat.

  “I am listening, my dear,” she said evenly.

  Antoinette tried to read her face but she could see nothing to give her a clue as to what the courtesan was thinking, as she went on with the rest of her story, how she was sent away to Devon.

  “Ah, Wexford Manor,” Aphrodite said, when she was finished, and smiled. “But then you escaped, I think, Miss Dupre? You are a very resourceful young lady.”

  “I…yes, I did escape.”

  “On your own?” Aphrodite asked her innocently.

  “Ah, no. There was a man.” Antoinette covered her face with her hands. “I don’t even know his name! He’s lied to me ever since we first met and yet…” She lowered her hands and her face was pale, determined and honest. “He’s the most exciting man I have ever met.”

  “Cats in the night,” Aphrodite murmured cryptically.

  “Pardon, Madame?”

  Aphrodite smiled knowingly. “This exciting man, Miss Dupre, I think you fell in love with him.”

  Antoinette’s eyes widened. “Of course I didn’t,” she said sharply. “My life is complicated enough without him in it.”

  Aphrodite raised her thin eyebrows. “But the heart doesn’t always obey as we would want it to. Love is not always tidy, my dear.”

  But Antoinette shook her head and refused to be drawn. “I was speaking of Lord Appleby.”

  “Very well, tell me why you have come to me, Miss Dupre.”

  “Because Lord Appleby is not the wealthy and successful businessman everyone thinks he is. He owes a great deal of money and has borrowed more to complete his contract for the Crystal Palace. He is relying upon my fortune to set things right, otherwise he will be ruined. He is a sham, Madame.”

  Aphrodite smacked her palm onto the desktop. “He is a monster! A man of such self-importance that he cannot bear to admit to failure, or to be slighted. The smallest insult must be repaid over and over. Do you know why I believe he took my club from me? Because long ago he wanted me in his bed and I turned him down. I was not very flattering in my refusal, but in those days I was young and beautiful and I did not take account of other people’s feelings. He never forgot, and when the chance came to revenge himself upon me he took it.”

  Antoinette nodded. “Yes, that sounds like His Lordship.”

  “My club is closed. He wants it all and he has decided the way to get it is to force me to sell my share, so he has arranged for complaints to be made. There are some gentlemen in Parliament who like to decide what others should or should not do. He has taken a stick and stirred them about, like a nasty boy an ant’s nest, and now he has them dancing to his tune. Can ants dance? Well, it does not matter. My club is to remain closed until it is decided whether or not I am a moral danger to the innocents of London.”

  “Can they do that?” Antoinette was shocked.

  “They have.” Aphrodite lifted her hand. “Listen. Do you hear the silence? I do not know how much longer I can bear it.”

  “I’m sorry, Madame.”

  “I have a friend who is also in danger of being ruined by Lord Appleby,” Aphrodite said, watching her closely.

  Antoinette wasn’t surprised. Appleby must have hundreds of slights to repay.

  So far the courtesan had listened to her politely but she’d said nothing about helping her, and Antoinette could see she had problems of her own. Antoinette wouldn’t blame her if she said so in her refreshingly blunt manner.

  “You have somewhere to stay here in London?” Madame said.

  “No.” Antoinette smiled bitterly. “I came to find my sister but he has her, you see. I think the only way I will be able to free her from Appleby is to return to him and agree to marry him. He knows that. He won’t let her go. I confess, Madame, that at the moment I am very desperate.”

  Aphrodite stood up and came around the desk, holding out her hands. Startled, not knowing what to expect next, Antoinette rose and allowed the courtesan to grasp her fingers in her own heavily ringed ones.

  “Be assured, Miss Dupre, you have come to the right place. You are safe here. I have sent a servant to prepare a room for you where you can rest and restore yourself.”

  “Oh.” Antoinette blinked rapidly, touched and grateful. “Thank you.”

  “I am your friend, Miss Dupre, believe me. No harm will befall you in my house, and when you are rested we will talk again. We will defeat this evil man, and all will be well again.”

  Antoinette had thought to find an ally in her struggle, but Madame Aphrodite was offering more than that; she was offering her friendship.

  “Thank you,” Antoinette said again, squeezing her fingers. “I don’t have the words to adequately…”

  “There is no need. You are tired, child.”

  “Yes, I am tired. I have not slept in…” She frowned. “A very long time.”

  Aphrodite gave a little laugh. “If you cannot remember, then it is far too long. Come with me and I will see you comfortable.”

  Antoinette followed along in the courtesan’s wake.

  Chapter 28

  Antoinette bought her ticket and entered that triumph of glass and iron, the Crystal Palace. Or to give the event its formal name: the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. She was as fascinated as she’d been when she was there last time, as a guest of Lord Appleby. Then a choir had sung Handel’s Hallelujah chorus, there had been speeches and congratulations, and visitors from all over the world pronounced it a great success.

  Now crowds still swept through the grand building, amazed at what was on view, from a working spinning mill to a steamship couch that would float in the event of a marine disaster. There were objects from Britain and its Commonwealth, the United States, France, Germany, and Russia…and so many other places that Antoinette lost count.

  It was truly a Victorian triumph, and the British people were justly proud of this view of a new world where anything was possible and anyone could aspire to own the objects on display, from Sevres porcelain to a family photograph to hang in their best sitting room.

  As she made her way up the central aisle, the crystal fountain, twenty-seven feet high, grew larger and more amazing with her every step. It was formed of pale pink glass, and water jetted high into the air, creating rainbows from the light that filled the Crystal Palace. Antoinette, among all the other spectators, stood gazing at it, smiling at the splendid sight.

  Madame Aphrodite had offered to send a servant with her, or even Jemmy Dobson, but Antoinette had declined. She wanted time alone, and she still chafed at her time as a prisoner in Mayfair and Wexmoor Manor, when she’d been followed everywhere. She was enjoying her independence and looking forward to meeting this person who was going to help her defeat the monster.

  “I promise you will thank me for what I am doing. Do you trust me, Miss Dupre?”

  Antoinette had known the courtesan for only a short while, but she knew that she did trust her. There was something so compelling in her gaze and the direct way she spoke, rather like Antoinette herself. Whatever this woman was or however she lived her life, Antoinette believed in her. If she had ever been inclined to take the view that a kept woman was far beneath her own social status, she’d learned her lesson. One’s position on society’s ladder was shaky indeed; that ladder could fall at any time and you would fall with it.

  “All will be well,” Aphrodite assured her. “Go to the Indian exhibit and wait there. My friend will find you.”

  “Can’t you give me a name?”

  Aphrodite smiled. “Better not, my dear. It is safer for you, and my friend, if you meet as strangers.”

  “But how will I know who it is?”

  “You will know.”

  Antoinette found her way to the Indian exhibit. This was one of the most beautiful rooms in the Crystal Palace, and everywhere she looked there were sights to make her gasp. Embroidered silks were resplendent with precious jewels and glittering gold. A stuffed elephant stared haughtily at the gawping crowds. In th
is exhibit, too, was the famous Koh-i-noor diamond, secure in a metal cage hanging from the ceiling.

  She stood and waited. People passed through with cries of wonder, and children wore smiles on their faces or grizzled about the heat. Despite the calico coverings on the glass ceilings, the air inside the exhibit was close and Antoinette felt breathless.

  It occurred to her that Lord Appleby was quite likely to be about. She knew he enjoyed wandering through the exhibit rooms, being recognized and congratulated by visitors, preening in the light of their admiration. The thought of him seeing her made her edge farther back beside a jewel-encrusted throne, even though she knew she was more or less invisible in her plain gray gown and straw bonnet. She was pretending to be a country girl come to the big city, and Aphrodite had supplied the disguise.

  “I have a vast wardrobe. Some of my guests like to dress up. You’d be surprised at what gives them pleasure.”

  Where was the courtesan’s friend?

  Antoinette’s gaze skittered toward the aisle running by the Indian exhibit, and that was when she saw him.

  The highwayman.

  For a heartbeat she stared at him as he stood looking about him, taking in the breadth of his shoulders, the color of his hair, that handsome face and strong chin. And as she stared she felt her senses going wild and her heart jumping about in her breast, and the thought formed in her mind that Aphrodite might be right.

  She did love him.

  Fear caught her by the throat—fear of him and of herself—and she couldn’t breathe. The next moment she was moving, unable to stop herself in her blind panic. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t seen her; she just had to get away from him.

  What terrible luck had brought him here today? She couldn’t risk falling into his grasp again. And all the time she was zigzagging through the crowd, she was leaving the area where she was supposed to meet Aphrodite’s friend. She’d need to double back as soon as possible.