2. November, 1826

2

NOVEMBER, 1826

NO. 4, GROSVENOR STREET

A s an actress, Lily Venable had often had to juggle doing three things at once. However, she found ten years absence from the stage had left her juggling skills sorely lacking. She pretended to read from the exquisite leather-bound volume of Shakespeare, endeavored to turn the pages at the right moment, and tried to discern what incriminating object her kitten, Titania, had been batting at under one of the matching black-and-pink brocade chairs across from the settee. She debated which task to let fall in order to avoid a small disaster, which had the potential to become a quite large disaster.

It was all the earl’s fault, damn him. He had not turned up at her townhouse on his regular Thursday evening in weeks. He’d sent lovely flowers or gifts and a note with his regrets so often lately Lily had begun to consider her Thursday nights her own. Tonight, he’d shown up well after nine and her underbutler, Slow Rutherford, had not been able to give her any warning at all. So far, Derek Welkirk, the Earl of Framlingwood, the man whose mistress she’d been for a little over two years, had only asked her to read to him. Something he often did as he loved the way she “read” Shakespeare aloud, changing her voice for each character. She had no idea what the remainder of the evening might bring.

“Lily, dear, is something amiss?” he asked from his position lying on the settee, his head propped on several decorative pillows. “You seem distracted. Are you not in the mood for Antony and Cleopatra tonight?”

“What?” Did he know? Had he found out about the latest escapade his mistresses had been involved in at the Cyprian’s ball? Titania chose that moment to bat a large fake ruby and a gold and jeweled mask from beneath the chair across the carpet. The mask Lily had worn as Cleopatra when she and her fellow mistresses had humiliated the society matron who had insulted one of their number, Saida.

Derek sat up and wiggled his fingers to catch Titania’s attention. The kitten immediately abandoned her prize and gamboled across the carpet to attack his hand. He scooped her up and stroked her soft white fur as he gazed at Lily inquiringly. “Is something wrong?” He glanced at the mantel clock. “Or are you simply tired? You’ve been reading for three hours now.”

“Not at all, my lord.” She closed the book and strolled casually over to the hearth to place the volume on the mantel. With a discreet swipe of her foot, she slid the tell-tale jewel and mask back under the chair. “Would you like to go upstairs?” Derek was a skilled and generous lover. She’d never had a moment’s hesitation or regret sharing her bed with him. He was strikingly handsome with his gilded blond hair and dark blue eyes. His body was lithe and strong, and she’d explored every inch of that golden muscled flesh. She was attracted to him, fond of him, but in love with him? Unfortunately, or even better, fortunately for her, she was not.

“Not tonight, my dear.” He stood and crossed the room to deposit Titania into her arms. “I have a late-night appointment with some rather tiresome lords concerning a bill I am sponsoring in Parliament. I would much rather spend the evening here with you.” He kissed her on the forehead and then the lips. “Perhaps next week?” He cupped her cheek.

Lily leaned into his palm and studied him from beneath her lashes. There were lines in his face and shadows beneath his eyes. Weariness rolled off him in waves, as if he carried a great weight. She’d never seen him so care-worn. He gave her a slight smile, brushed her hair behind her ear, and turned to leave.

“Derek?” She reached to touch his arm. “Are you well? Is there anything troubling you? Something you wish to discuss with me?”

He glanced over his shoulder and turned to cover her hand with his. “Troubling me? No, Lily. I am perfectly fine. Don’t worry your head over me.” He squeezed her hand. “Until next Thursday, then?”

“Of course. Good night, Derek.”

“Good night, Lily.”

She listened as he strode into the foyer and spoke with Slow Rutherford. Once she heard the front door close, she hurried to the windows of her drawing room, the ones that looked out onto Grosvenor Street. She watched as his carriage pulled up and his young tiger lowered the steps and opened the door. Derek gazed back at her townhouse for a moment, then climbed into his carriage. In moments his coachman set the horses in motion, and the Earl of Framlingwood disappeared into the London night.

She stroked Titania’s head and wandered back to the chair before the fire. Once she sat down, the kitten leapt to the floor. However, Lily beat her to the mask and jewel the naughty feline was after. “You nearly landed us all in the soup, little girl.” She put the mask in the chair next to her and tucked the false jewel into the pocket of her frilly dressing gown.

“He didn’t see those, did he?”

Lily looked up to find Mrs. Collins, the mistresses’ housekeeper, standing in the drawing room doors with a small silver tray in one hand and a book in the other.

“No, but it was a near thing. Titania nearly undid us. Hot chocolate?” Lily nodded at the tray Mrs. Collins placed on the low table between Lily’s chair and the one the housekeeper settled into. “What a lovely idea.”

“I thought you might like a cup.” Mrs. Collins poured them both a cup from the silver chocolate pot. “I’ve brought your Mrs. Radcliffe novel back.” She placed the book on the table. “Thank you for the loan of it. I quite enjoyed the story.” For a few minutes the two of them sipped their chocolate in companionable silence.

“Mrs. Collins, is the earl…that is to say, is all well with him? He seems sad and even worried about something.”

“I’m certain I don’t know, Lily. He’s a very busy and important man. And you must admit things have been a bit changeable here on Grosvenor Street lately.” She smiled indulgently.

Lily laughed. “I would say so. It isn’t often a man has three of his mistresses married right out from under him, so to speak.”

“Indeed. Then again, how often does a man accumulate five mistresses?”

“Only our earl, Mrs. Collins. Only our earl would gather five mistresses and keep them in townhouses next door to each other.” Lily stretched her legs out before the fire. November had moved into London and settled over the city like a poor relation with no intention of leaving anytime soon. The days had been cold, windy, and rainy. When night fell, the chill settled into the bones. Thank goodness for Slow Rutherford and the various maids and footmen who took care of them all. The fires were always built up and cheery.

“Do you think he’s sad because Saida is gone?” Lily suddenly asked. Mrs. Collins, her tea cup poised halfway to her lips, looked taken aback.

“I should think no more so than when Adrienne and Sophia married. I suspect he has always known each of you might leave him one day. Especially when the chance to be a wife was in the offing.”

“Not me, thank you very much,” Lily said vehemently. “I’d rather a case of the plague than a husband.” She shuddered dramatically.

Mrs. Collins laughed. “I could not agree more. But I do think his lordship was happy for Saida. Dr. Douglas did send him a very eloquent note before he and Saida eloped. It was obvious the big Scot was besotted the moment he met her.”

“I suppose you are right. It is odd that the earl hired those men to be bodyguards, and they ended up making off with the women they were hired to guard.” Lily had begun to wonder about the strangeness of the earl’s arrangements after Sophia married the music master he’d hired for her.

Mrs. Collins shrugged. “I am quite certain he did not plan on his mistresses falling in love. But once they did, he was too much the gentleman to do anything but wish them happy. That is the sort of man he is.” The way she said those words, with such assurance and something more. Lily gazed at the drably dressed housekeeper and wondered. They’d all made great sport of the time the earl spent with Mrs. Collins. They’d spoken only half in jest of what went on between the earl and their housekeeper.

Still.

“However, the strange goings on here on Grosvenor Street and his lordship’s continuing concerns about all of our safety are the reason for my visit this evening. While the earl is nearly certain there will be no more attacks on our households, he wants to be certain you are safe.”

“He hasn’t, has he? He hasn’t hired some prize fighter or high-in-the-instep gentleman to move into my house and disturb my peace? Mrs. Collins, you know how I feel about my privacy. Surely the Rutherfords have proven they can deal with any housebreaker or Seven Dials ruffian who dares to venture this far into Mayfair.”

Mrs. Collins raised a hand. “He has sent inquiries out to find a perfectly respectable gentleman to add to the security the Rutherfords afford us.”

“Perfectly respectable?” Lily pushed out of her chair and began to pace the room. She walked along the wall of floor-to-ceiling bookcases that held the many tomes the earl had gifted her over the past year or so. Books she loved. Books she held and petted as if they were kittens like Titania. Treasures that offered comfort even though she could not read a word on those beautiful pages. They were there to remind her perhaps one day she could. “Please don’t tell me he has hired some dancing master or some arrogant frog to teach me to speak French.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Lily.” Mrs. Collins arranged the tray and picked it up to carry it to the door. “Lady Camilla has already found a very likely candidate, a barrister, I believe.”

Lily dropped the novel by Miss Austen she’d pulled from the shelf. Her blood ran cold. “Why would I need a barrister?” Thoughts raced through her mind so quickly she had no chance to grasp even one. They’d found her. They’d followed her to London after all this time. There could be no other reason for her to need—

“Of course you don’t need a barrister. The gentleman will be here to keep you safe and to teach you to read, my dear.”

“Teach me to…” Her heart sank and her face flushed bright red. “Who told him? Who told the earl I couldn’t read?” Tears burned her eyes and clogged the back of her throat. Having the other mistresses and Mrs. Collins know she was too bloody ignorant to read all of the books the earl had given her was one thing. If he knew and kept giving her books, he must think her the greatest fool he’d ever known. “Which one of you bitches told him?” She stamped her foot so hard that Titania scurried under the settee and hid.

Mrs. Collins opened the drawing room door and handed the tray to someone waiting in the foyer. She came and wrapped her arms around Lily. “Hush now,” she said and patted Lily on the back. “No one told him, Lily. He’s a very observant and discerning man. He has known since the first few weeks you came to live here.” She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and handed the sensible plain cotton square to Lily. “He admires your ability to memorize entire books greatly, you know. I think the earl is rather in awe of you.”

“B..bollocks.” Lily despised weeping, especially her own. “If he knows I can’t read, why has he given me all of these books?” She waved a hand around the room, the drawing room she had turned into a library with shelves and shelves of books lining every wall.

“Because you love them. They make you happy, and he wants very much for you to be happy.”

“That’s why he is sending this barrister to live here? To teach me to read so I will be happy?”

“Of course.” Mrs. Collins patted her shoulder and returned to the drawing room doors. “What other reason could there be?”