Innocence and Impropriety

by Diane Gaston

  ‘I’ll alert Madame.’ The man left.

  Flynn unfastened Rose’s cloak and unwrapped it from her body. He pulled off her elbow-length gloves and removed her shoes. Lastly he took the pins from her hair, combing out the tangles with his fingers.

  There was a brief knock on the door, and Madame Bisou entered. ‘What has happened?’

  ‘She was in the company of a man who must have drugged her wine. I found her in time,’ he told her.

  ‘Mon Dieu,’ she cried. ‘I thought we taught her of such dangers! Was she not listening?’

  Flynn did not understand, but this was no time to ask what she meant. ‘May she stay here?’ he asked. ‘It was her father who arranged this meeting with the man, you see. I cannot take her back to him.’

  ‘That ruddy bastard,’ she mumbled, French accent gone. ‘Of course she may stay here.’

  The door opened, and Katy burst in the room. ‘Cummings said Rose was sick!’

  Madame Bisou put her finger to her lips. ‘Shh! She is not sick. She’s been drugged.’

  ‘Drugged!’ cried Katy, so loud Rose stirred on the bed. ‘What happened?’

  ‘I think we should give her water,’ Flynn said. ‘To dilute what she has ingested.’

  ‘I’ll fetch some.’ Madame Bisou rushed out.

  Katy knelt at the bedside. ‘What happened, Mr Flynn?’ she asked more quietly.

  ‘Her father arranged for her to take supper with Lord Greythorne. I—the marquess, I mean—was suspicious of him, so we put a guard on her. Greythorne paid her father for her company. He put something in her wine and tried to take advantage of her.’

  Katy looked directly at him. ‘Greythorne,’ she repeated in a low flat voice. ‘To the devil with him.’

  ‘Indeed,’ Flynn agreed. ‘We—Lord Tannerton, that is—must protect her from him.’

  Katy glanced away. ‘Well, it is about time the marquess did something. Where is his lordship? I did not see him here.’

  ‘I am here on his behalf,’ Flynn answered her.

  She turned her attention back to Rose. ‘Let’s get her clothes off so she can rest comfortable.’

  He did not move. Undress her?

  She smiled. ‘Do not fear, Flynn. I’ll do the undressing. You do the lifting.’

  Katy removed Rose’s stockings and they rolled her over on her stomach. Katy wore elbow-length gloves on her hands, so it was difficult for her to unfasten the tiny pearl buttons along the back of Rose’s dress, the same dark red dress she’d worn when Flynn first set eyes on her. Flynn undid the buttons.

  ‘This is a Paris dress,’ Katy said in admiring tones.

  Where had Rose purchased a Paris dress?

  ‘Now lift her a little.’ Katy bunched the skirt in her hand. ‘I’ll pull it over her head.’

  Rose murmured when Flynn lifted her and Katy pulled the dress off. Katy unfastened her corset next. Flynn could not help but watch. Katy caught him looking, but merely grinned.

  ‘She’s a beauty, our Rose.’ She sounded proprietary. ‘The prettiest one.’

  Flynn lifted her again, her curves soft underneath her thin muslin shift. Katy turned down the bedcovers. They soon had her tucked into the bed.

  Madame Bisou returned. ‘I’ve brought some water.’

  Flynn sat on the bed, propping Rose up with one arm and putting the glass to her lips, giving her a little at a time.

  Madame Bisou regarded her with pursed lips. ‘We shall watch over her well, Mr Flynn. No need for you to stay.’

  He felt stricken. How could he leave her without knowing for certain she would wake in the morning and be recovered?

  ‘Oh, let him stay, if he has a mind to,’ Katy said.

  Flynn hastily added, ‘I think Lord Tannerton would insist upon my staying.’

  Katy winked at him.

  ‘Very well.’ Madame Bisou looked around the room. ‘If you need anything, Katy can get it for you. I had better return to the card room.’

  ‘Thank you, Madame,’ he said.

  After she left, Katy stood. ‘Something tells me you would fancy a tall tankard of ale, am I correct? And maybe some bread and cheese?’

  He gave her an appreciative smile. ‘You are indeed correct.’

  When she brought back the food, they sat at the table, eating and watching Rose.

  ‘I did not realise I was hungry and thirsty,’ Flynn said. ‘Thank you, Katy.’

  She gave him a pleased expression. ‘Figured you had not eaten, if you were watching out for Rose.’

  ‘I had not even thought of eating.’ He’d thought of nothing but of keeping Rose safe from Greythorne.

  Rose stirred, and they both waited until she settled herself again.

  Katy spoke. ‘You are worried about her?’

  He did not quite meet her eyes. ‘Well, yes. I mean, Lord Tannerton has charged me with her care. I would be remiss in my duties—’

  She grinned over the rim of her tankard. ‘Duties my mother’s uncle. You look at her as if your breathing is about to stop, Flynn. You don’t do that because your marquess told you to.’

  His gaze returned to Rose, but he did not speak.

  Katy persisted. ‘My guess is that you’ve fallen head over noggin for her, haven’t you?’

  He tried to keep his expression impassive.

  Her eyes softened. ‘Must not be a treat to fall in love with the woman your employer wants you to procure for him.’

  She made it sound so sordid. He was not procuring Rose for Tanner. If anything, he was trying to ensure her future. To protect her through Tanner.

  He stared at her friend.

  ‘Very well, don’t admit it, but I know it’s so.’ She glanced back to Rose. ‘She’s lucky, she is. Our Rose. Lucky you were there to save her from that blighter.’ Still watching her, she went on, ‘You know, of all of us, Rose seemed the most—what’s the word? When you don’t listen but look like you are thinking about something else?’

  ‘Distracted?’ he suggested.

  ‘Yes! That’s it! Distracted.’

  Flynn took a sip of his ale, trying to make some sense out of this. ‘What do you mean by “of all of us”?’

  She reddened. ‘Lawd, I meant nothing. Nothing at all.’

  He peered at her. ‘Come clean, Katy. How do you and Madame Bisou and Rose know each other?’

  She merely stared at him.

  He persisted. ‘You told me before that you went to school with Rose, but it doesn’t fit. Rose has not been in England for very many months, and I would wager a pony you have never been to Ireland.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘I’m not supposed to tell.’

  ‘Tell me, Katy. If I am to help her, I must know about her.’

  She tapped on the table, still staring at him.

  He glanced away and back again. ‘If you believe what you do about me, you must know I would do nothing to hurt her or anyone she cares about.’

  She took a long time thinking, squirming in her chair, eyes darting about the room. Suddenly she leaned forward. ‘Well, it is a secret, and you must swear on your mother’s grave that you won’t tell anyone.’

  ‘My mother isn’t in her grave. She’s alive and well in Ballynahinch.’ At least he hoped she was. She was when her last letter arrived three weeks ago. Flynn promised he would reply to the letter this very day.

  Katy puzzled over his words. ‘Well, then, swear on your mother’s grave for when she’s in it. Some day.’

  He was Irish enough to think that would bring bad luck. ‘How about I swear on my grandfather’s grave? He’s the sort who would rise out of it if I broke my word.’ Flynn had a flash of the old man giving him a tongue lashing that stung worse than a switch to his buttocks.

  ‘Very well.’ She screwed up her face as if it would be hard to force the words out. ‘Me and Rose did go to school together. It was not that Irish school of hers. It was a…’ she paused and took a deep breath ‘…a courtesan school.’

  ‘A what?’


  ‘A courtesan school. A school to teach us to be courtesans and not merely girls in a bawdy house. This lady—and I’ll never give her name, I don’t care how many graves you swear on—she started the school, so as we would wind up better than we was—I mean, than we were.’

  Flynn was not certain he heard correctly. ‘A lady ran this school?’

  Katy nodded. ‘Right in her home on—never mind what street. See, her maid was wanting to run away to a bawdy house, but the lady did not want her to. She said girls were better off to be courtesans, like Harriette Wilson. We met Harriette Wilson, too. She came to the lady’s house.’

  Flynn gave her a sceptical look. The famous courtesan received in a lady’s home? It was not to be believed.

  ‘Anyway,’ Katy said. ‘Mary and me—Mary and I—ran away from the house where we were working because we heard the lady talking about it to Mrs Rice and we found our way to the lady’s house where she had the school.’

  ‘Mrs Rice?’

  Katy narrowed her eyes. ‘The abbess who ran the bawdy house. She was a bad lot.’

  ‘Rose was in a bawdy house?’ He did not want to believe this.

  ‘Not in our bawdy house,’ Katy replied. ‘Truth to tell, I’m not sure where she came from. Ran away from her father, I think. She heard Mary and me talking on the street, and she came with us to Miss H—’ She clamped her mouth shut.

  ‘So the three of you went to this lady’s house because she had a courtesan school?’ He was still trying to comprehend this.

  She gave him a patient look. ‘Well, there was her maid and that made four of us. The school was started for us, and Madame Bisou was hired as our tutor.’

  ‘But…why?’

  ‘I told you why.’ She sounded exasperated. ‘Because the lady thought a courtesan had the best kind of life. A courtesan could pick and choose what men to bed, and make lots of money, too, and no man could take her money away from her, like a husband can do.’

  There was some logic to this. It was, after all, the excuse he made to himself when he’d negotiated with Tanner’s mistresses in the past.

  Flynn took a long sip of his ale, trying to digest this still incomprehensible information. He’d only fleetingly harboured the illusion that Rose was an innocent—she’d too often alluded to a past, after all—but if she had so single-mindedly pursued the life of a courtesan, why did she hesitate to accept Tanner’s interest? Tanner was a courtesan’s dream.

  He looked at Katy. ‘How is it that Rose did not come here with you? Why was she with her father?’

  Katy threw up her arms. ‘You ask me that? I cannot know. You might as well ask me why the others chose to get married. Especially Mary, running off with that numskull, Du— I mean, getting married was one of those things we were taught not to do. Why shackle yourself to some man who takes your money and then goes off and gives it to a mistress? Better to be on the other side.’

  Another all-too-true statement, Flynn thought.

  They fell silent until Katy said, ‘Come to think of it, Rose met up with her father that night we all went to Vauxhall. That’s when Mr Hook let her sing. I think the old man talked her into coming back to live with him. If she’d asked me, I’d have told her she was daft.’

  They finished eating, and Flynn moved his chair closer to Rose’s bedside. He gave her more water, propping her up again with his arm. Her eyes opened and she smiled.

  ‘Flynn,’ she whispered.

  She drank a few sips, licking droplets from her lips. He returned the glass to the bedside table and helped her settle under the covers again. Her eyelids soon grew heavy again, fluttering closed finally in sleep.

  He glanced up to see Katy watching him, sympathy in her eyes.

  Rose struggled awake, eager to escape disturbing dreams of dark shadows and sinister creatures.

  She forced her eyes to open, though the light from the window hurt them. She blinked. The room was strange. She sat up in alarm.

  Flynn was there, rising from a chair next to the bed. ‘It is all right, Rose. You are safe.’

  ‘Flynn!’ She reached for him and he enfolded her in his arms. In his embrace, she indeed felt safe.

  He released her and gestured to the table in the centre of the room. Katy, head resting on her arms, was fast asleep.

  ‘I brought you to Madame Bisou’s,’ he told her. ‘I could think of no other place.’

  ‘Greythorne?’ she rasped.

  ‘I am certain he cannot know where you are.’ He brushed her hair away from her forehead.

  There was so much she could not remember. She recalled the supper box and Greythorne asking her to dance. She recalled feeling dizzy, then all was dark and she struggled to free herself.

  ‘You rescued me.’ She remembered the masked face that had been Flynn’s.

  His expression acknowledged this. ‘Greythorne does not know who rescued you, although he may suspect. We must decide what to do about him, but that can be attended to later. How do you feel?’

  She grabbed his hand and held on to it. ‘My head aches.’ She took in his face, the stubble of beard shadowing his jaw. He was dressed only in his shirtsleeves, neckcloth untied, waistcoat unbuttoned.

  He sat in the chair next to the bed, still holding her hand. She glanced down at herself and realised that she was dressed only in her shift. She ought to be embarrassed at her dishabille—and his—but she was not. It seemed natural they should be together this way.

  She glanced over at Katy. ‘Katy stayed all night, too?’

  He nodded.

  ‘Is she feeling well enough?’

  He looked puzzled. ‘Yes, she seemed well.’

  Rose tried to clear the muddle from her mind. ‘Did Greythorne put something in my wine?’

  He nodded. ‘Laudanum, most likely.’

  ‘I’m thirsty.’

  He took his hand from hers and poured her some water. She drank eagerly.

  When she handed the glass back to him, she reached up to run her finger along the scratchy beard on his jaw. ‘Thank you, Flynn. For everything.’

  She slid her hand around the back of his neck and urged him toward her, her heart racing at the anticipation of his lips upon hers.

  There was a rustling behind him. ‘Aw, I fell asleep!’ Katy cried.

  Rose let go and Flynn sat back in the chair.

  Katy stretched. ‘Are you awake, Rose?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘But I only just woke. Flynn said you stayed with me the whole night. I hope that was not too much for you, Katy.’

  ‘Naw.’ Katy grinned. ‘I figured you needed a chaperon.’ She stood and stretched again. ‘Anybody hungry? I’m hungry as a duck.’

  ‘Would you like some breakfast, Rose?’ Flynn asked.

  She nodded. ‘Some tea would be lovely.’

  ‘Can we bring her some?’ Flynn asked Katy.

  ‘No,’ Rose said, putting her hand on his arm. ‘I would rather get up.’

  Katy walked over and leaned her elbows on Flynn’s shoulders. Rose narrowed her eyes at this intimate gesture.

  ‘Tell you what,’ Katy said. ‘I’ll find you a nice dress to wear, and we’ll get you fixed up to come to the supper room. Mr Flynn can join us there.’

  Katy breezed out of the room.

  Flynn stood. ‘Forgive my appearance.’

  Rose thought he had never looked so handsome.

  He turned his back and hurriedly buttoned his waistcoat. As he reached for his coat, he caught her gaze again. It was just as if he’d touched her, the sensation was so intense. She wished he would cross the room to her. She wished he would share her bed in the way men share with women, the way he wanted her to share with Tanner.

  Instead he put his coat on and sauntered over to the window.

  Katy returned, carrying a pale pink day dress. ‘Now off with you, Flynn. Ask Cummings to give you a razor. You look a fright.’

  Rose wanted to protest, but he gave a wry smile. ‘I must indeed.’ He glanced at Rose again, a
look that seared her senses. ‘I will see you in the supper room.’

  Before she could form a reply, he left.

  Katy started to help her out of bed. ‘Are your legs wobbly?’

  ‘My knees feel a bit weak,’ she responded.

  Katy laughed. ‘My knees would be weak too, with a man like that looking at me.’

  Rose peered at her. ‘What man?’ she asked.

  Katy looked at her as if she were a lunatic. ‘Flynn, of course. He looks at you like a cat looks at a dish of cream.’

  ‘Oh, Katy!’ Rose leaned against her friend. ‘Do not say it. He merely acts for Lord Tannerton.’

  Katy hugged her. ‘Do not try to flummox me, Rose. The two of you look like April and May. The thing is, what are you going to do about it?’

  Rose sighed, pulling away and walking over to the pitcher of water and washing bowl. ‘There is nothing to do about it. Flynn is employed by Tannerton, and Tannerton wishes to offer for me.’ So long as Tannerton held the key to Flynn’s future success, she could not risk turning him against Flynn.

  Rose dampened a towel and wiped her face.

  Katy went on. ‘Tannerton’s no fool, you know. He’s bound to catch on.’ Katy tapped her forehead. ‘I know! What you do is take Tannerton up on his offer, get a house out of him and who knows what else, and then when he tires of you, you’ll have the all-clear with Flynn, plus a tidy sum to live on, too.’

  Katy’s practicality sounded sordid.

  Rose washed herself off, while Katy fetched her corset, saying, ‘I tell you, if that Flynn took a fancy to me, I might give him a jolly run for his money.’

  Rose felt as if she could not breathe, although it had nothing to do with Katy tightening the corset’s laces. It was probable Flynn would turn to some other woman. Why not Katy, so lively and bright and sympathetic?

  ‘Are you interested in Flynn, Katy?’ Rose tried to sound calm, but her voice wobbled.

  Katy laughed and gave her a quick hug. ‘I’m interested in any man, long as he has money.’

  It was not a particularly reassuring answer.