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Authors: Celeste Bradley
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fine lace was anything but solid, but at least she now felt able to leave her own dressing room.
Garrett, her lady's maid—whom she'd hired in an impulsive attempt to irritate Lord Wyndham, but who had turned out to be invaluable in her quest to be outrageous—entered the room carrying the fur cape he had been brushing out for the evening. He stopped when he saw the lace alteration she'd made. "Coward," he said accusingly.
"I know. I simply couldn't." Alicia spread her arms and turned for his viewing. "Will it do, d'you think?"
He tilted his head and folded his arms, studying her. "Do what, milady? Scorch their eyeballs? Yes. Put you down in history as the most scandalous lady in all of England? Possibly, although you'd really need a royal affair to truly make your mark."
Alicia considered herself in the mirror. A royal affair? "Hmm."
Garret shook his head. "Don't shoot at the moon, my lady. Prinny has got himself a brand-new lady and he won't tire of her for months, by all accounts. Besides, I believe that copious amounts of giggling is required in that position. You don't giggle."
Alicia shrugged and let it go. "True. Although I should probably learn to, don't you think? Don't all mistresses giggle?"
"Shouldn't worry about it now, milady. Himself doesn't seem the type, anyway. I think he likes you for your mind, scrambled as it is."
Alicia turned to glare at Garrett. "I told you before, I am not trying to win Lord Wyndham. He and I have a business arrangement, that is all."
"Sure, that's all it is now. But he's unmarried and so are you and I'm a lady's maid. It's my job to make matches."
Alicia narrowed her eyes. "You've been a lady's maid for all of a week. I made you and I can break you."
"And where would you find another male lady's maid so perfectly designed to cause scandal and gossip?" He paused to smooth his golden hair in the mirror. "Especially one so handsome and virile and guaranteed to cause prurient speculation in the most pristine of minds?"
"Ha," Alicia groused. "You're a grandstanding tea-leaf actor and half the world knows it."
He smiled and patted her shoulder comfortingly. "But not the half which you are trying to shock. And so I carry on, poof though I am, gazing at you with seething passion when someone else is in the room and dressing you like a wicked man's darkest dream."
He frowned at the lace in her bodice. "Now stop being a marshmallow and strike as if you mean it, which you do—or you will if you'll stop thinking about what Himself'll think of you."
Alicia toyed with her neckline uncertainly. "I do mean it… or at least I did mean it." She pressed her cool fingers over her hot eyes. "I thought I knew what I was after, but now I'm completely turned about."
"Perhaps if you remember what Lord Almont did to you—"
She shook her head. "I don't want to think about Almont right now. Tonight is about my family. Almont's lies were terrible, but what my own flesh and blood did to me…"
Hot betrayal rushed anew through her veins and she regarded her neckline with newly heated resolve. With a sharp movement, she yanked the concealing lace away. "There," she said with satisfaction. If only her family could see her now.
You were so ready to believe the worst of me
—
well, here you are then. Your worst nightmare come to life. Now you'll be the object of gossip and dismay, you'll be rejected by your peers, you'll be the ones sitting in silence day after day, welcome nowhere, no visitors, until you think you might go mad from the ticking of the clock.
She raised hot eyes to meet Garrett's in the mirror. "Now, I'm ready to go to the opera."
7
« ^ »
Stanton leaned back in Lady Alicia Lawrence's viewing box and regarded the ongoing opera with a level of boredom of which he hadn't thought himself capable. Oh, the soprano was very talented and the set was extravagant, as was the pageantry of the cream of London Society that swirled below him—but Lady Alicia was not
Garrett, her lady's maid—whom she'd hired in an impulsive attempt to irritate Lord Wyndham, but who had turned out to be invaluable in her quest to be outrageous—entered the room carrying the fur cape he had been brushing out for the evening. He stopped when he saw the lace alteration she'd made. "Coward," he said accusingly.
"I know. I simply couldn't." Alicia spread her arms and turned for his viewing. "Will it do, d'you think?"
He tilted his head and folded his arms, studying her. "Do what, milady? Scorch their eyeballs? Yes. Put you down in history as the most scandalous lady in all of England? Possibly, although you'd really need a royal affair to truly make your mark."
Alicia considered herself in the mirror. A royal affair? "Hmm."
Garret shook his head. "Don't shoot at the moon, my lady. Prinny has got himself a brand-new lady and he won't tire of her for months, by all accounts. Besides, I believe that copious amounts of giggling is required in that position. You don't giggle."
Alicia shrugged and let it go. "True. Although I should probably learn to, don't you think? Don't all mistresses giggle?"
"Shouldn't worry about it now, milady. Himself doesn't seem the type, anyway. I think he likes you for your mind, scrambled as it is."
Alicia turned to glare at Garrett. "I told you before, I am not trying to win Lord Wyndham. He and I have a business arrangement, that is all."
"Sure, that's all it is now. But he's unmarried and so are you and I'm a lady's maid. It's my job to make matches."
Alicia narrowed her eyes. "You've been a lady's maid for all of a week. I made you and I can break you."
"And where would you find another male lady's maid so perfectly designed to cause scandal and gossip?" He paused to smooth his golden hair in the mirror. "Especially one so handsome and virile and guaranteed to cause prurient speculation in the most pristine of minds?"
"Ha," Alicia groused. "You're a grandstanding tea-leaf actor and half the world knows it."
He smiled and patted her shoulder comfortingly. "But not the half which you are trying to shock. And so I carry on, poof though I am, gazing at you with seething passion when someone else is in the room and dressing you like a wicked man's darkest dream."
He frowned at the lace in her bodice. "Now stop being a marshmallow and strike as if you mean it, which you do—or you will if you'll stop thinking about what Himself'll think of you."
Alicia toyed with her neckline uncertainly. "I do mean it… or at least I did mean it." She pressed her cool fingers over her hot eyes. "I thought I knew what I was after, but now I'm completely turned about."
"Perhaps if you remember what Lord Almont did to you—"
She shook her head. "I don't want to think about Almont right now. Tonight is about my family. Almont's lies were terrible, but what my own flesh and blood did to me…"
Hot betrayal rushed anew through her veins and she regarded her neckline with newly heated resolve. With a sharp movement, she yanked the concealing lace away. "There," she said with satisfaction. If only her family could see her now.
You were so ready to believe the worst of me
—
well, here you are then. Your worst nightmare come to life. Now you'll be the object of gossip and dismay, you'll be rejected by your peers, you'll be the ones sitting in silence day after day, welcome nowhere, no visitors, until you think you might go mad from the ticking of the clock.
She raised hot eyes to meet Garrett's in the mirror. "Now, I'm ready to go to the opera."
7
« ^ »
Stanton leaned back in Lady Alicia Lawrence's viewing box and regarded the ongoing opera with a level of boredom of which he hadn't thought himself capable. Oh, the soprano was very talented and the set was extravagant, as was the pageantry of the cream of London Society that swirled below him—but Lady Alicia was not
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