Courtesan's Kiss (25 page)

“I do fish, Lord Kyle. I angle with a fly mostly, and have had some very successful mornings here. The weather may be warm but the river is deep enough for the fish to find cold spots and rise to the hatch.”

Complete silence followed her words, and she looked from one to the other as she tried to determine what she had said that was so off-putting.

“Miss Castellano, what are you and Lord David doing here?” Lord Kyle asked in a more sober tone. One of the women giggled, and Ettie put her hand through Kyle’s arm and whispered something to him.

“I know what you will be doing here, Ettie, since I will be doing it with you, but I suspect we may be in the way.”

“Why?” the other gentleman asked in an offended tone. “You told us this has been on the calendar since last winter.”

“You are quite right, sir, I’m sure,” Mia said. “Our prolonged stay here was unexpected.” She was about to explain the quarantine when his companion broke in.

“Castellano. Are you the girl who ended her engagement to the viscount?”

“Yes,” Mia said through a clenched jaw.

“Ooooh, tell us what happened. We all want to know. Lord William left town so abruptly.” The woman, who smelled of a citrusy perfume that was pleasant, if a little strong, leaned close and whispered, “Too bad, dearie, he might be short but he isn’t short everywhere. He’s as adventurous in bed as he is out-of-doors.”

Mia swallowed her embarrassment, pretending she was not one step away from outright humiliation, and hoped that the others had not heard what the woman said.

“Lord David is vastly entertaining in his own way,” Ettie added.

“How do you know him?” Mia asked, curious and horrified.

“One cannot know Lord Kyle without knowing all the Pennistans.”

“Lord David is so rugged,” the other woman, Blanche, said, as if she did not wish to be outdone by Ettie. “That roughness is very appealing after all the smooth hands and short-cropped hair.”

“He is not the kind who marries, miss,” Ettie insisted, ignoring the other woman’s commentary and looking Mia straight in the eye.

“Neither am I.”

That announcement drew all attention to her. Lord Kyle looked at her quizzically and the other man’s eyes opened wide. His companion slapped him on the wrist and pulled him toward her ample bosom.

Before Mia could explain herself any further, the carriage halted at the short rise of steps at the front door. They waited for the groom to open the door and announce their arrival.

The group stumbled down the steps with Mia following more carefully. Lord Kyle offered her his hand with a genuine smile, and she smiled back as she accepted his help.

Janina waited for her at the steps, wringing her hands with worry. “Did you faint or feel ill?”

Before Lord Kyle or his guests could comment, Mia pulled her maid aside. “I am fine. I rode back in the carriage to find out who these people are.”

“Yes, what are they doing here? I would not think this house so popular that the minute a quarantine ends, guests arrive.”

Even as Janina spoke, Mrs. Cantwell came out, totally flustered and in obvious distress.

“I beg your pardon, Lord Kyle. Did you not receive my message?”

“No, Mrs. Cantwell, but I have been away from home for several weeks. We come from Brighton and the Prince Regent.”

“The house is always ready for you, my lord, but Lord David is here and it will be crowded.”

“Why is she saying nothing about the smallpox?” Janina whispered to Mia. The woman who wasn’t Ettie looked at them with some suspicion, if not dismay, and Mia thought fast and spoke just loud enough for her to hear. “The doors have locks, Nina. We will be perfectly safe.”

With an offended “Humph” the woman turned to her party and ignored them, just as Mia hoped she would. While Mrs. Cantwell welcomed the unexpected guests, Mia pulled Janina toward the back of the house.

“Who are those people?” Janina repeated.

“It is a house party of courtesans and their patrons.” Mia was so excited she felt like someone had just given her
a gift she never expected. She would have the opportunity to see what the life was like.

“Oh no!”

“Oh yes, a wonderful little adventure before I go on to God knows what at Pennford.”

“But what about Lord David?”

“What does he have to do with anything?” Let him just try to tell her that she could not dine with the party. “Now stop asking questions. Please.”

“Very well,” Nina said with a sigh. “I understand that means you want to be alone. I will go find some tea and biscuits for you, as I am sure dinner will be later than we are used to.”

Janina went on toward the kitchen garden while Mia tried to figure out why Lord Kyle, who was all charm and good looks, did not interest her nearly as much as Lord David. Why, when David was in the room, did she barely notice anyone else?

Foolish thought, she decided. Before tonight there had been no one else worth noticing. Dinner this evening would be different, very different indeed. If David didn’t want to be friends with her, she would be friends with someone else.

Mia hurried upstairs trying to recall which dress flattered her the most, but stopped short at the door to her room. Ettie was talking to her maid, acting as if she owned the place.

“That daybed in the dressing room is perfect for me if Kyle wishes to sleep alone. You will have to sleep upstairs
with the other servants but I will make it up to you.” The maid nodded, with a sniff of annoyance.

“Lord David Pennistan is here,” Ettie went on. “A very intriguing man. I should love a few moments with him. I just have to find a way to make him look at me and not that too-young, too-beautiful Italian woman.”

“Well, Ettie, you are on your way, as you have taken over my room. That must be the first step.” Mia stepped into the room.

“I beg your pardon, Miss Castellano.” Ettie nodded with just a hint of apology.

“You are begging my pardon for calling me young, beautiful, and Italian? Please do not take it back.” Mia laughed, truly pleased at Ettie’s description of her.

Ettie smiled.

“I had thought you were here with Lord Kyle,” Mia said. “But if you are interested in Lord David, please do not let me stand in your way. We are almost relatives and have no other attachment.”

The courtesan looked intrigued, but shook her head. “I only wish to converse with him. I am to be with Lord Kyle this weekend.”

Not at all sure of the etiquette of the demimonde, or even if there was any, Mia nodded as though she understood perfectly. “Well, I must go find out where my maid was told to move my things.”

She was on her way back down the passage when she saw Janina coming out of the set of doors that led to the family suite.

“Janina, what are you doing there!”

“Shh, signorina, Mrs. Cantwell wants to speak with you. Your room is now that one across from Lord David’s. I will find her. I do believe she is in the kitchen. I left your tea. You can drink it while you wait.”

Mia shrugged and wandered down the corridor to the room she had not been in since the night she had wound the clocks for the first time.

This room was far larger than her original bedchamber, its accent on green and cream colors as pleasing as the blue and pink had been. There was a lovely arrangement of late-blooming hydrangeas; their lush arrangement spoke of Miss Horner’s hand.

Before she could investigate the dressing room, she heard Janina chattering, most likely to Mrs. Cantwell, and went back into the passage to meet them.

“I am sorry, Miss Castellano, but I could think of no other solution. I cannot move Lord David and I do not want a young lady,” she emphasized the word, “anywhere near those women.” Mrs. Cantwell was obviously distressed at the situation. When Mia gave no more than a cautious nod, the housekeeper hurried on.

“The rooms are not next to each other. The hallway separates them. They each have their own dressing room and they have locks. I think your reputation is perfectly safe.”

In the end Mia agreed that it made sense and told the housekeeper as much, reassuring her that all would be well. Mrs. Cantwell curtsied and left as quickly as she had
come. Mia imagined that she had a huge list of things to do now that every bedroom was occupied.

“It is your only choice, I suppose,” Janina said, “but this is becoming very difficult, and I am afraid your reputation will be ruined and you will have to marry Lord David. He is a gentleman only by birth and has no wealth. I cannot imagine anything worse.” Janina spoke as they walked down the passage. Mia noticed that the door to Lord David’s room was slightly ajar.

They both jumped at the sharp snap of the door shutting securely and Mia grimaced at the snippet of conversation he might have heard, but Nina did not seem to notice.

“Sit down, Mia, and have some tea and one of these little tarts or some cheese. You need to eat more or your dresses will not fit.”

Mia did as Janina ordered while Nina finished arranging Mia’s things in the attached dressing room and announced the cot in the dressing room would be “very comfortable for sleeping.”

“You are to go to bed early tonight,” Mia commanded as she offered her maid a tart. “I will wake you up to help me undress. This is an order and for your own good, Nina. I want you to be strong for the drive to Pennford.”

“Of course.” Nina nodded. “I will do as you say. I would have even without your prompting. I want to stay well on the journey so that the duke and Elena do not think I have failed you.”

“Never, Nina.” Mia sipped her tea and then sat back. “Sit down a moment.”

Nina sat in the chair on the other side of the small tea table. “I am afraid for you.”

“I want you to know that I will never marry Lord David. I would see my reputation in tatters and worse rather than accept him.”

“But if your reputation is ruined then you will wind up like my mother.” Nina began to wring her hands.

“That will never happen, Nina. I have money. I will never be destitute like she was.”

“But you still might die alone and lonely.” Nina’s eyes filled with tears, even though she had been only two when her mother had died and always insisted that she did not remember her.

“Dearest, Papa would never have allowed your mother to die that way if he had known.”

“Yes, yes,” Nina said through her tears. “I do understand that. But still, it happened.”

“And our papa took you in and would have given you anything you wanted.”

“I have exactly what I want. I am with you and will not ever have to leave you. You treat me like the sister I am and respect the secret because it is what I want.”

“If you say so, but I think it is because becoming a servant was the only option you were given by my aunt and that ghastly governess before we were old enough to understand what it would mean.”

“But I am happy. I do not want to be a lady who is always being measured by what she wears and who she visits. Mia, you know I have not even a little adventure in me.”

They hugged, and Mia knew she had best change the subject or Nina would be morose for hours.

“You must not worry about my reputation.”

“Then you will not go down to dinner tonight?” Nina brightened visibly.

“Of course I am going to dinner.”

Nina’s smile disappeared.

“Nina, this is a very private party and Lord Kyle is too good a friend of the duke’s to gossip about me when the duke’s wife is my guardian.”

“But the others …” Nina began.

“Will do exactly what Lord David and Lord Kyle tell them.” She sat down. “Now come fix my hair and then help me choose a dress, one of the new ones. It will not be as risqué but at least it is the latest style. Admit it. The neckline that will make Elena frown is actually too conservative among these women.”

Janina relaxed, all trace of tears for her mother gone, and, as always, she allowed Mia to have her way. She was the more cautious of the two of them, there was no doubt about that, but Mia was far more stubborn.

M
IA’S TOILETTE TOOK TWO HOURS.
By the time she made her way to the study where the others were already gathered she was afraid that Lord David would try to stop her. That would be beyond humiliating.

Lord David did not even notice when she came into the library.

He was engrossed in a hotly contested game of billiards. When Cantwell announced dinner was ready, the men ignored him as well. Were they foxed already? Mia espied three or four bottles and empty glasses and had her answer.

In the end Lord Kyle and David were the only two in competition. Franklin—Mia did not know if that was his first name or his last—was so far into his cups that as the last shots were taken, Mia was afraid he would ruin the
felt. Finally, he gave up, broke the cue over his knee, and insisted that he pour champagne for the ladies.

Soon he and Blanche were by the drinks table bickering over something that had to do with the number of rings each was wearing. Too many, Mia thought.

That left Mia and Ettie to entertain themselves at the other end of the room. They spent the required few moments admiring each other’s gowns. Blanche’s was a disastrous choice for someone so well-rounded, but then Mia was sure that the gentlemen’s examination of her gown went no farther than her oversized bosom.