Athena's Ordeal (27 page)

Jack quirked an eyebrow at her. “How much wine have you had to drink?”

“Champagne. Provided by your husband, I’ll have you know. And just a bit?” She held up two fingers barely separated to indicate the teeny tiny bit. Although
, perhaps, it was quite a bit more than that.

Jack kissed her temple. “You are a beautiful bride, Sabre.”

“Am I?”

“Yes, your grace.”

Sabre giggled again. “I’ve done a terrible thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I only call Quince ‘your grace’ when I want to point out what an idiot he’s being.”

Jack chuckled. “You’ve ruined your own honorary title.”

“I’m afraid so. Did you see Quince at the church?” She sighed happily. “He’s so handsome.”

“Yes, and right now he’s taking on the duty of circulating to the guests by himself.”

“I’ve already done that once, but perhaps a few new people have arrived.” Sabre looked around and saw her brother. “Oh! Charlie!”

When she rushed toward him he picked her up and spun her in a hug. With the champagne her head was truly spinning by the time he set her down. “How is my beautiful little bird?”

“Dizzy! Lud, Charlie!”

He laughed. “Silly girl.”

“Silly duchess,” she corrected. “Where is Robert? I want to rub in the fact that I outrank him now.”

He laughed and put his arm around her shoulders. “He’ll be here soon, no doubt.”

She frowned. “Is he with George? She was calling for him.”

Charlie paused for a moment and then said, “Yes, he is. She wasn’t feeling well.”

“Are they… are they an item?”

Charlie laughed. “I have no idea. But I wouldn’t have thought so. At least, not before today.”

Sabre nodded. “Exactly. But, I suppose it’s possible.”

“Does that not meet with your approval, your grace?”

She poked him in the ribs. “You manage to say my honorary with even less respect than I do. But it is not for me to approve or disapprove. George will certainly do as she likes, regardless of my opinion.”

“True enough. Don’t look now, but I think a man is coming over here to bother you. If you like you can hide behind me. I’ll swear I haven’t seen you.”

Sabre looked up to see that the man approaching them was Quince. She happily stepped forward into his embrace.

“Hullo, love,” he murmured into her hair. “I missed you.”

She giggled. “I was only across the room.”

“Too far away, I assure you.” He kissed her briefly on the lips.

“You are scandalous, sir!” she admonished.

“You have no idea what I might be capable of. Shall we sit down to eat? It seems most of the guests are here now.”

“Yes, although I was hoping George would be here.” Sabre frowned. “Terrible of her to show up for an hour and then disappear.”

“I’m sure she’ll be along.”

George did appear within a quarter hour of the breakfast being served. She sat down in her assigned place a bit delicately. Sabre leaned out to look past Jack and Gideon to her. “Are you feeling better?”

George nodded, a
pale but seeming in good spirits. Sabre still sensed something amiss, despite her friend’s assurances. Something in George’s posture, in her eyes. Whatever it was, she would soon worm it out of George. She’d always been able to get to the bottom of things. She always, as she had proved again today, gained what she wanted.

Sabre smiled up at her husband. “Now,” she said, “everything is perfect.”

Thanks for reading the second book in the Haberdashers series! Don’t miss the first glimpse at the third book after this note.
Fates for Apate: Haberdashers Book Three
is about George meeting Casimir. You have no idea who Casimir is, you say? Well, you have to figure that George was off doing
something
while her Haberdasher sisters were busy getting married.

I'm a bit of history nerd, even though I insist that this sort of book is history
fantasy
and plenty of it is just made up. But when I can look up a bit of history to include it gives me a special thrill. What's entertaining to me is that the pieces of history Quince and Sabre wanted to look at were completely different than Jack and Gideon's interests. Remember all that political historical context? Not so much for these guys.

One of the first things that Sabre wanted to know was some place to eat. And I thought it would be neat if I could identify places that she could eat then and we could eat now. Fortunately, in 1815 there was the
Epicure's Almanac
(the first comprehensive list of London eateries) and in 2012
The Guardian
identified places that were still open. Believe it or not. (I always was a lucky duck) Check it out at
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/aug/20/london-historic-food-drink-bars
So we (that means Sabre, Jack, and myself) selected the "George and Vulture" and "Twinings" to feature in the story. Since I've never been to either place, especially in 1815, all details are completely made up. If you go to the G&V looking for a private room they may not have one. But I certainly think it would be fun to look.
Report back to me (
@cmdrsue
) if you find out!

Quince, on the other hand, made sure that I was much clearer on the art and poetry of the day. Although it doesn't figure strongly in the plot I can assure you that he educated me on Romanticism. I think that he most likely exchanged letters with Keats, procured the 1814 copy of Shelley's
Queen Mab
, and collected Friedrich from the beginning. With his love of poetry you can rest assured that he hates,
hates
his reading disability. (He doesn’t like to talk about it so I’m not even clear on exactly what the problem is yet. I assume at some point he will tell me.) He also bears a striking resemblance to the Romantic artist Turner, a fact I discovered shortly before this book went to press. It's a little odd to stumble across an almost exact portrait of how you envisioned your character. You can see it at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turner_selfportrait.jpg

They both, of course, had me read about fencing until my eyeballs were ready to fall out. They are concerned that I still don’t get it. And it turned out that they had a
shared affection for theatre, especially Shakespeare. We’ll just say they kept me on my toes.

Oh! And i
f you love perfumes, you can frequent Floris London, just like Sabre. It's been a perfumery since 1790. Still family managed and you can get a customized fragrance for a terribly reasonable price. They are online at http://www.florislondon.com

Thanks for reading!

Sue London began writing short stories about horses and teen sleuths when she was seven years old. After that she traveled to distant worlds, fought with swords and sorcerers, and played with a few undead things. As you might have expected, this means she went into accountancy. Well, maybe that was an odd plot twist, but “that’s the difference between real life and fiction – fiction has to make sense.”

In her twenties she developed a deep affection for romance, especially enjoying the works of Nora Roberts, Mary Balogh and, most recently,
Rose Gordon, Courtney Milan, Lauren Royal, Danelle Harmon, and Diane Farr. You can thank those authors for leading a sci-fi tomboy into writing historical romances set in the Regency period.

Keep up with Sue and the Haberdashers on these websites:

Haberdashers on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/haberdashersfic

Haberdashers website:
http://haberdashersfic.blogspot.com

Haberdashers Club (email list):
http://eepurl.com/Bicsb

Sue on Amazon:
http://amazon.com/author/bysuelondon
 

Sue on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/CmdrSue

Sue on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/cmdrsue

For more on Sue you can check out her
Sueniverse
or be her
fan on Facebook
.
You can also catch up on all her interviews at
http://bysuelondon.blogspot.com/p/interviews.html
.

If you would like to report issues in this version of
Athena’s Ordeal
, or in any books from Graythorn Publishing, please drop us a line at
[email protected]
.

"Good greeting, lady of wily mind and wily snares! Not Hermes Hoax-the-wits himself can outdo you..."  ~ Hera to Apate

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.” ~ Niccolò Machiavelli

"Honor is purchased by the deeds we do." ~ Christopher Marlowe

Chapter One

November 1814,
 London

Georgiana Lockhart sat quietly, her hands folded primly in her lap. She didn't know why Robert had summoned her to his office but hoped it was because he finally, finally was going to give her a real assignment. The hope of that sang in her blood. Whispered its promises in her ear. But outwardly she remained calm. Ladylike. Not that there was anyone in the office to see how she was behaving. Robert's clerk had shown her in, saying that Robert would be there shortly. But almost a quarter hour had passed and there was no sign of him. She had already looked at all the items on his shelves and walls to confirm for herself that nothing had changed. She was tempted to go through the drawers in his desk, but couldn't come up with a plausible excuse for why she might have been doing so if caught. Just as she was considering g
iving into the temptation, she heard the door open behind her.

"Good morning, George," Robert said, passing by her and moving around to sit behind his desk.

"Good morning, Robert."

"All of your training reports have been excellent. You have received nothing but praise from your mentors."

George hid her smile. "Thank you, sir."

"What remains for me now is to find something to challenge you."

She remained perfectly still, maintaining a neutral, pleasant expression. Robert stared at her long past discomfort, but she knew that long silences didn't bother Robert in the least. He often used them as a simple way to make others squirm.

George refused to squirm.

After some minutes had ticked by Robert laughed and sat back in his chair. "You've grown up, haven't you, Georgie?"

"I like to think so."

He tapped his finger against his lower lip. "Do you think you're ready for another visit to your Aunt Martha in Scotland?"

At last there was something to smile about. "I adore Aunt Martha."

Robert had invented her rich, controlling aunt as a way to give her time for some of her more intense training. Dear Aunt Martha held the promise of inheritance over the heads of the Lockhart family but required that only her eldest niece attended her. In her overbearing way, rich Aunt Martha would send a carriage with maids to whisk George away. It said something of George's parents that they acquiesced without complaint, provided that a packet of funds was included in the exchange.

Stay tuned for the full first chapter to be posted at
http://haberdashersfic.blogspot.com/
in Fall 2013! Or pre-order on
Amazon.com
.