“That’s enough of the past, my dear.” His mother resumed an upright position, patting her elaborate coiffure back in place.
Dashy begged for a biscuit and she promptly gave him one.
“He’s already rather fat, mother.”
“I have to have someone to spoil.” She smiled to take the sting from her words. “Do you plan on going to Kent? I know you find the country as tedious as I do.”
“The first thing I need to do is speak with Millicent.” As much as he detested the woman, it had to be done.
“I never see her until dinner. Won’t she have a nice surprise?”
“Your letter hinted she might be involved in a scandal?” he asked.
“There is gossip floating around London right now suggesting several women of the ton are the victims of blackmail. It is whispered Millicent may be one of them.”
“Why would she be the victim of blackmail? Do you believe she has a lover? Many married women do.”
He knew his parents had never had such an arrangement. Theirs had been a love-match and what he always wanted for himself. The idea of his wife seeking pleasure outside her marriage bed was one he wouldn’t tolerate.
The dowager again lowered her voice and wouldn’t meet his eyes. He thought he saw the beginnings of a flush on her cheeks. “The blackmail involves a cicisbeo.”
“Such a man is quite common on the Continent.” He couldn’t remember a time he’d seen his mother blush. “They are more often than not a companion or an escort, not a lover.”
Although she still wouldn’t look at him, the dowager replied, “This man takes money for certain, ahem, liberties.”
He immediately thought of the man he’d seen at the Bell and Swan——Franco. Relations with a man who wasn’t her husband wouldn’t normally see a lady facing extortion.
“There has to be more to the blackmail than adultery.”
It was a common enough occurrence in the ton for a wife to take a lover once she’d produced an heir. Although Cam and Millicent had no children, Devlyn knew his brother no longer cared what his wife did in her private life.
“Millicent will be at dinner this evening. You can put all your diplomatic training to use. She is up to something. I do know she has pawned most of her jewels. What other reason would she have to raise money? I have instructed the butler and housekeeper to keep a close eye on the silver.”
* * * * *
The latest role Cecily had taken on looked to be her most distasteful yet. Procuring a victim for Franco would likely put her soul in jeopardy. She would call on her friend this afternoon after luncheon. Ever the coward, she hoped Franco hadn’t yet revealed his real motive for helping Anna.
She excused her behavior by reminding herself there had been no other choice. She had sold all the jewels she’d inherited. Her husband would notice the loss of any of the few baubles she’d received from him. Her small allowance wasn’t nearly enough to placate Franco. Telling her husband she was being blackmailed was not an option.
Pay me or find another who will.
Franco
Finding another woman for Franco had been almost too easy. Anna lamented often enough about her lack of interest in men, or more precisely, in sexual intercourse with men. Cecily had, over the course of a few weeks, fed her friend the idea of a willing gentleman to help Anna with her problem.
“Franco will soon have you sorted out. He is a wonderful lover and a very patient man. From what you have shared with me I place the blame for your dread of intimacy with your late husband.”
“He will be discreet?” Anna asked after the first week of listening to Cecily’s overtures on Franco’s behalf.
“He doesn’t need to know who you are,” she answered. “Franco will meet you wherever you choose, as many times as you deem necessary. Afterwards you pay him a few guineas and never see him again.”
Anna appeared to take her friend’s words at face value. Cecily knew Franco followed her movements in London from time to time and no doubt recognized Lady Stafford was being groomed as his next lover.
Cecily wasn’t a well-liked member of society and realized the outcome of her scheme would most likely cost her the only real friend she had. One meeting between Franco and Anna would not be the end of it. She chose not to think into the future. Protecting her son Andrew was her first concern.
Her child had been an unwitting accomplice in his mother’s plan. Anna confided to Cecily that the time she spent with Andrew only intensified her desire to know if she could ever tolerate the touch of a man again and have children of her own.
“I will meet Franco,” Anna said the day Andrew, after a long afternoon playing outside, climbed into her lap and fell asleep in her arms. “Please arrange it.”
The clock on the mantle chimed twice, effectively bringing her back to the present.
“Mama! Mama!” Andrew had stirred from his nap and as was his custom, yelled for her at the top of his lungs.
His nursemaid carried the wriggling toddler and deposited him at the entrance to the parlor. Cecily watched with delight as her little boy ran awkwardly to her side.
“I’m sorry for disturbing you, my lady,” the nurse said, her voice apologetic. “You know how he is when he wants you.”
Yes, she knew, and it delighted her. Lord Pickerel wasn’t in residence often, so the wild behavior of his heir went largely unnoticed by him. She would not ignore her child and leave him with nursemaids and servants while he was young. She’d had that sort of upbringing and had vowed never to neglect her own children.
A quick hug and sticky kiss later, Andrew perched on her lap and finished the remnants of his mother’s afternoon tea. She thought her son might love lemon biscuits as much as he loved his mother.
“Would you like to visit Auntie Anna, love?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Andrew slid from her lap and his leather shoes noisily met the parquet floor. He wobbled a moment in his heavy footwear, steadied himself and clapped his hands. “I want to see kitty!”
The nursemaid caught Cecily’s eye and smiled. Most of the household had heard nonstop about the ‘kitty’ as Anna had acquired a stray cat before Andrew’s last visit to Stafford House.
“Come along then, young man.” She rose from her chair and reached for one of her son’s pudgy hands.
“I want to see kitty!” Andrew’s excited voice rang through the room as he added, “And Auntie Anna, too!”
* * * * *
“I think we should marry,” her brother-in-law, Neil, said to Anna as they enjoyed a late luncheon. He glowered at the scandal sheet in his hand.
“We should marry each other?”
The author of the gossip column, Neil informed her, had concluded Lady Stafford would never willingly venture forth from seclusion. He tossed the paper onto the table in front of him. “It would offer you some protection from the gossip; Lady Ice, indeed.”
She smiled indulgently at the young man seated across from her in the small red dining room parlor. Marrying a nineteen-year-old boy would only fuel the gossip. The nickname her husband had coined for her no longer bothered her. She, and Franco, knew the truth.
“I could take care of you,” Neil said when she did not respond, his tone not as fervent as before.
“You are far too young to marry. Tomorrow you will away on a visit to the estate in York and will soon forget the silly prattle of London.” She did think her brother-in-law looked rather relieved at her swift dismissal of his impetuous marriage proposal. “You should have gone on the Grand Tour with some of your classmates.”
“I’m an earl now. I have responsibilities.” Although he looked as if he would say more to her, he merely sighed and took a sip of his coffee.
She schooled her features into what she hoped was a solemn expression. “Yes, of course.”
“I could put off my trip to York. How can I leave you here, all alone?” His voice returned to the melodramatic tone he’d adopted of late and she remembered the boy had attende
d the theatre quite a bit since his graduation from Oxford nearly a month ago.
“I am hardly alone.” She laughed. “Stafford House is full of servants.”
“I am in earnest.” Neil left his chair and went down on one knee in front of her.
She was hard put not to laugh again. “I can see that you are. Get up from there. I have received a missive from Lady Pickerel. She and Andrew will arrive for a visit at any moment.”
Her mention of Cecily had the effect she’d intended. If the young man thought himself in love with his sister-in-law, it was nothing compared to the passion he proclaimed for Lady Pickerel. Society knew very well Lord Pickerel was a less than ideal husband. Neil was a hopeless romantic and sought to rescue any damsel he thought in the least distress.
“Lady Pickerel, you say? I need to return upstairs a moment.”
Neil fairly ran from the room. His appearance had been immaculate, but she would not begrudge his attempt to look his best for her dear friend. She wondered how a boy with the same upbringing as her dead husband had turned out to be such a nice young man while his brother had been crude and mean-spirited.
For a moment she’d thought her brother-in-law wanted to speak to her about a more serious matter. She had done everything possible to keep her drinking problem from him. Her imagination must be running away with her to think he might know about her addiction to wine.
Anna had taken a short rest upon arriving home from Bixley. Her spirits had gradually improved, and she was eager to see Cecily. There had been a change in her life last night. The spell which prevented her from responding sexually to men looked to be broken.
Neil was not an early riser. She’d spent the hours before luncheon sorting through recent social invitations she’d received. Despite her notoriety, or perhaps because of it, a year after her husband’s death she began receiving invites to various events. In the past she’d declined all invitations on the pretext of being in mourning. Now she felt ready to return to the social fray and look for a husband.
The invitations she discarded were either for functions that were too intimate, or those entertainments hosted by the wives of her deceased husband’s close circle of friends. She would feel more comfortable losing herself in a crowd and she couldn’t be sure Danforth hadn’t told his friends about his wife’s dependence on alcohol.
Despite her barring Danforth from her bed, he had never thrown her drinking habit back at her. She did overhear him mention her being frigid to his close companions. She wondered if in some strange way her husband had seen her addiction as acceptable but her aversion to lying with him as an aberration.
She understood other women of the ton had a proclivity for liquor. It was rumored Lady Carolyn Lamb had an appetite for both alcohol and laudanum. Society would overlook many sins as long as those sins were kept behind closed doors.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a commotion downstairs. She’d exited the drawing room and descended the staircase to the entry hall when a little boy came barreling toward her.
“Auntie Anna! Auntie Anna!”
She detached Andrew from her skirts and picked up the squirming child for a quick hug. The boy shared the same fair hair and blue eyes as his mother and to her mind resembled a plump cherub. He smelled of lemon biscuits and sunshine.
“Where is kitty? I want kitty.” The boy stopped his wriggling and put a hand on either side of her face. His eyes were large as he stared intently at her and asked, “Can I play with kitty?”
“Of course, darling.” She put Andrew down to stand on the marble floor and grasped his hand. “The cat likes to lie in the sun in the garden about this time of day.”
“When did Andrew learn that particular trick?” she asked her friend after Cecily released Andrew’s nursemaid to the kitchen and their little group stepped through a pair of French doors into the garden. “I do not believe I could say no to such a serious request.”
Cecily’s voice sounded strained when she answered, “He knows the big eyes and pouty mouth work very well at getting what he wants.”
They found the feline, an orange tabby that had taken up residence in the garden two weeks ago, sprawled in the sun at the foot of a birdbath. She thought the cat a very intelligent creature for covering all eventualities.
Before he could speak, she noted Neil’s arrival in the garden owing to the profuse amount of cologne wafting from his body. Her brother-in-law executed a stiff bow.
“Good afternoon, Lady Pickerel, Lord Andrew.”
The overpowering scent assaulting her nostrils brought on the urge to sneeze. “Neil, could you look after Andrew for a short while? I would like to show Cecily the new blooms on the far side of the garden.”
“It would be a pleasure,” the young man replied. He looked delighted to be of some service.
Cecily made to speak. Anna quieted her with a finger to the lips. Both women remained silent until they were seated on an iron bench next to a large sundial at the other end of the garden.
“Did you invite me here to discuss your meeting with Franco?” Cecily asked.
Anna inhaled fresh air and the fragrance of freshly trimmed grass, relieved to be some distance from Neil’s pungent cologne.
“I can never thank you enough for recommending Franco to me. I feel more positive about the future today. Franco helped me see the problem was indeed my husband. When faced with such a superb specimen of a man I behaved as any woman would.”
Cecily looked surprised. “You have spent time with many attractive men, Anna.”
“I felt drawn to him the moment I saw him.” She lowered her voice to say, “Franco helped me feel unbelievably desirable. I would like to see him again.”
Cecily remained silent.
“Is something wrong? Has your husband done something scandalous?”
Cecily shook her head. “No, I’m glad you found Franco so irresistible… he is very handsome. I’m happy he could help you.”
She wouldn’t describe Franco as handsome. His face was pleasant enough and he was exceedingly charming. It was hard to pinpoint what had drawn her to him, made her instantly trust him. Cecily’s behavior confused her. Hadn’t the point of her meeting Franco been for her to respond to him? Relieved Cecily’s husband hadn’t upset her, she sensed her friend was out of sorts and clearly didn’t want to talk about the reason why.
“Would you contact Franco for me? Let him know I would like to see him again.”
Cecily nodded. Anna reached out her hand and gave the other woman’s hand a squeeze.
“I know something that will cheer you up. I have accepted an invitation to Lady Beauchamp’s ball tonight. Please say you will accompany me.”
“You are ready to return to society?” Cecily did look a bit more cheerful at the news.
“I will start small, of course. My period of mourning only recently ended. We would stay at the ball a short while; enough time to look over the eligible gentlemen and give the ton something to talk about.”
Cecily gave a weak smile. “We mustn’t neglect the gossips.”
Chapter Five
Devlyn knew his sister-in-law to be a good actress. Her performance at dinner had been far and away the best he’d ever seen from her. She played the welcoming sister-in-law to the hilt. His mother missed the daggers Millicent’s eyes threw at him while the younger woman pretended interest in his travels. He’d been all too aware of his sister-in-law’s veiled contempt and chose to ignore her behavior.
Millicent had worn a demure gown for dinner. He wasn’t sure if the effort had been for his mother or to fend off some of the unpleasantness she expected with her brother-in-law in the house. He had never tried very hard to hide his distaste for her.
“I do believe I have had enough excitement for one day,” the dowager said after the family retired to the drawing room and refreshments were sorted.
“Let me see you to your bedchamber.” He rose from his seat to help his mother from her overstuffed chair. The chair had been a
favorite of his father’s. His mother insisted she could still smell his cigar smoke when she sat in it.
The dowager waved him off and called to her ever-present pug. “Stay and keep Millicent company, Devlyn. Good night, children. Do behave yourselves.”
Only when the clicking sound of Dashy’s nails on the parquet floor in the corridor faded away did either of them speak.
“She’s more aware of what goes on around her than I thought,” he said, his voice dry.
“Your mother sees what she wants to see,” Millicent replied in clipped tones. She frowned at him. “Why are you here?”
He shrugged. “This is my home.”
“This is your brother’s home.”
“And my brother isn’t here.” He deliberately made his comment sound like an accusation.
“That, like everything else, is your fault.” Rage flashed across her features before she composed herself. “You ruined my life.”
“You married the eldest son,” he replied, his tone even. “You got what you wanted.”
“And now he’s a cripple.”
“Watch your tongue, madam.”
Millicent laughed scornfully. “Or else…? You’re useless as well. I’m surrounded by useless men.”
He’d learned to control his temper in the last three years. Success in diplomacy demanded he remain calm in any situation. Reacting to a taunt or insult would not get him the information he desired.
Awareness that the man he’d met at the inn, Franco, could be the blackmailing swine his mother had mentioned again crossed his mind. He would see if Millicent responded to the name.
“Is that the reason you retained a cicisbeo? Because all of the men you know are useless?”
His words visibly took the wind out of her sails. Her eyes shot fury, although her false smile remained intact. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about Franco. Is that his real name?”
Millicent stiffened, although she kept her expression neutral. He had his answer. Although he despised the woman, he would do anything to protect his family.
A Lady's Addiction (Honor Prevails Book 1) Page 3