Even when moneyed females had deigned to step into Mr. Hurwell’s shop, Thea had never seen more elegant daytime attire. Clothed in a pale blue walking dress with a double layer of some fancy lacework at the bottom, Lady Elizabeth managed to look both cool and composed.
Though her visitor chattered away and appeared concerned with nothing more than light gossip and fashion (she’d just begun describing the magnificent opera dress worn by some woman Thea had never heard of), Thea couldn’t help but notice the dirt smudged into her slippers and the grass stain on the edge of her double-flounced hem—and the sprig of lavender defying Lady Elizabeth’s repeated efforts to tuck it neatly away in her reticule.
What secrets lurked behind the dirt-dusted slippers and speedy sentences sallying forth?
When her guest’s third monologue (this one enumerating all of her brother’s admirable qualities) showed no signs of abating, Thea decided to implement her newfound habit of speaking what was on her mind. “Pardon my boldness, but we both know you didn’t come over here so expediently to talk solely of last night or your brother.”
Granted the woman had been all that was amiable and affable, issuing none of the warnings or dire predictions Thea had secretly feared. ’Tis a passing fancy, she’d dreaded hearing. Certainly, he likes you now, but expect naught next week. Naught but him tiring of you.
Broooohahaha-ha-ha-ha!
Demonic monsters and armor-attired mice had run amok through her dreams. Shaking off the residual trepidation, Thea implored, “Tell me, what is so vital you risk visiting a woman of disrepute?”
“Please, do not put yourself down so. You are the perfect person to help me with my little predicament. Well, I confess, ’tis not so little. It’s grown to epic proportions over the last few days, becoming a most Dire Dilemma.”
“Whatever it is I shall provide whatever assistance I can.”
“Oh,” Lady Elizabeth exhaled on a gust. “I knew I could depend upon you! ’Tis a simple matter really…”
“Aye?” Thea prompted when no more was forthcoming.
“Teach me how to be a mistress.”
As though a flood of mud clogged her hearing, thickened her tongue and sludged her breathing, Thea slowly enunciated, “You…would…like…me…to…do…what?”
Lady Wylde didn’t fidget, didn’t demure. Her feet remained firmly on the floor, hands folded in her lap. She presented a serene, dignified manner that on the surface appeared everything that was proper. And when she spoke, her words were clear as glass. “Mrs. Hurwell. Thea.” But her cheeks bloomed like a rose. “I need you to tell me, precisely, how to go about being a mistress. A spectacular one.”
Once Thea quit laughing (which took rather awhile) she attempted, as delicately and decisively as possible, to explain this wasn’t exactly a position she’d held long, nor one in which she claimed prodigious experience. “Truly, I am muddling through one encounter at a time.”
“But you must be doing it right! I’ve never seen Daniel so relaxed, so buoyant.”
“I’m tickled to hear it, but—”
“There must be someone we can ask,” Lady Elizabeth said earnestly as though discussing how to cultivate loose sexual behavior was as humdrum as hemlines. “Someone you know who can give me lessons. Pointers. Guidelines.” Now she was beginning to lose her polish, as her words came faster and more frantic. “Or just a vague indication of how to behave in a sultry and alluring manner. I’m not overly particular but I need assistance, I tell you! Instruction so I can seduce my husband before he wanders!”
And then the whole story spilled out—how Lady Elizabeth’s husband expected her to be his mistress (else he’d find another, or so Thea gathered, secretly thinking the man’s methods seemed rather sweet but keeping her opinion to herself as Lady Elizabeth’s agitation grew).
Eventually Thea rose and placed a calming hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “Never fear, we’ll find someone,” she assured with pure bravado because she’d just recalled Sarah was away from London, visiting family. Think, Thea!
She straightened and began to pace. Who—
When the lavender spike peeking out from Lady Elizabeth’s reticule again caught her attention, she no longer had to feign confidence, a pair of stockings that exact color flashing through her mind. “I have it. I know just the person! She’s young but enthusiastic.”
At the pronouncement, Lady Elizabeth’s face noticeably brightened, then turned a bit puzzled. “Enthusiastic? About…”
“Sex,” Thea said plainly, hoping Buttons knew how to direct her new coachman to wherever Anna and, by association she’d learned the night of Sarah’s party, Susan resided.
“That was poorly done, Dan. Poorly done indeed. The way you treated Everson’s boy Tom was abominable! You let me down.”
Those were Penry’s greeting words, delivered like a death knell, when he walked into Daniel’s study after Rumsley showed him in.
After his cryptic note and absence, Daniel had expected to hear from him eventually—either an explanation or the requesting of one. But he’d assumed it would come by letter-bearing footman.
Penry had an aversion to dog drool, something he’d admitted after Cy sniveled over and ruined his second pair of buckskins. And since Daniel had an aversion to visiting any abode with six chirping women in residence, the man’s friendship was maintained primarily through correspondence, bouts at Jackson’s, and the rare meet at their club.
“Braving Cyclops,” Daniel mused, as Penry barreled toward him where he sat at his desk. When his visitor reached it, instead of taking a chair, Penry remained standing, breathing fire. Daniel tilted his head to make eye contact. “Damn. Must be important in-d-d-deed.”
“Right, it’s important, you insolent pup,” Penry roared. “I would have been here sooner, much sooner, else for those blasted offers. And tears—buckets of them! They cry if they don’t call, they cry if too many do and now— But no, let me not quibble about like a nagging woman.
“I can’t stay long,” Penry grated out, indignation expanding his chest. “Have an appointment with one of the bucks angling after Eliza. Then there’s the committee vote this afternoon.”
Penry paused and glanced down, took another,
