Read Online The Scandalous Life of a True Lady by Bárbara Metzger - Free Book Online Page B

stood, forcing him to rise also. “If you are done?”
    He was not, of course, but manners forced him to invite her to take tea in the parlor, or port if she preferred.
    “I think not, thank you. I am too weary. This has been an eventful day.”
    *
    Eventful? She didn’t know the half of it. Harry served himself another bowl of Mrs. Judd’s finest cooking. He might as well have that treat, since he’d been denied anything else. Now he could not secretly admire the woman’s beauty from behind his spectacles, or watch her trying to act worldly, when she was shaking in her boots, or in those tiny silk slippers he’d noticed at Lydia’s. He noticed everything, how the candles caught bronze highlights in her red hair, making it more auburn. How her black eyes flashed with annoyance when he ignored her, how her honey-toned cheeks flushed when she realized she’d been forward. Damn, he had barely eaten his supper, for staring at the tops of her breasts, softly edging over her gown. Thank goodness for the tinted glass, or she’d have gone at him with the fireplace poker, too. And he would have deserved it, for every lustful, lascivious thought. Hell, he should not be thinking of a woman at all, only his plans. He had never let his urges interfere with his duty, and he would not start now, no matter how tempting he found Miss Ryland. Syllabub be damned.
    Mrs. Judd was right, he had to be certain.
    *
    Sally arrived to help her out of the blue gown and into her flannel bedclothes that were so worn and faded they had no color at all.
    “Did you enjoy dinner, miss?”
    “Very much. Please tell your mother.”
    “Jeremy says you hardly touched the syllabub. I told Mum she had a heavy hand with the brandy, for a lady’s taste.”
    “Oh, no, I am sure it was perfect. I’ve never been partial to that dish for some reason. Mr. Harris appreciated it, I am certain.”
    “Well, you won’t be seeing it again any time soon, my mum is that mad at him. She said he could eat digestive biscuits for all she cared.”
    “I suppose he was rude to her?”
    Sally laughed. “Rude? He’s never been rude in all my born days. No, Mum was all put out on account of he brought Miss White back with him.”
    So the sanctimonious prig had a lady friend of his own. What hypocrisy, to make Simone feel unclean while he was bringing Miss White to his employer’s house. She wondered if Major Harrison knew, then decided he must. Why, poor Mrs. Judd must be thinking she was running a bordello, what with all the loose women about. And what a terrible example to set for Sally. Then Simone had a dreadful thought: “This isn’t her bedroom, is it?”
    “Lands, no. Mum would never let the likes of her above stairs.”
    Simone supposed only the master’s companion earned that right, along with her higher salary. The secretary’s woman was relegated to the servants’ quarters. She was so disturbed by the situation that she almost missed Sally’s next words, coming from the dressing room where she was hanging up the blue gown. “He took her in the same as he took us, so Mum can’t really complain, now can she?”
    Nor could Simone, although she’d rather eat a bucket of syllabub instead of meeting Miss White at breakfast. She sat quietly while Sally brushed out her hair and braided it for the night. Sally did not notice, prattling about the clothes Miss Ryland would need, the colors she ought to pick, and where they might shop for ribbons and gloves and stockings. And did miss prefer chocolate in the morning or tea?
    She finally left, leaving Simone alone with her thoughts, which were not good company either. What was she doing, taking up a life no one respected, including herself? She’d face the contempt of all the Mrs. Olmsteads, all the Mr. Harrises, all the curates in all of England, for all the rest of her days, if not longer.
    There in the dark, in a strange room in a peculiar household, she had second thoughts, or thirty-second. She simply