Читать книгу Major Westhaven's Unwilling Ward - Emily Bascom - Страница 9

London, England—Spring 1782

‘You call that kneadin’, Miss Lily? We’ll never make a kitchen hand out of you at this rate!’

Looking up from her work with strands of honey-blonde hair in her eyes, a smear of flour across her face, and laughter on her lips, Liliana Pevensey grimaced good-naturedly across the kitchen at her companion. Straightening her elbows, she pounded her fists into the dough anew.

‘I found nothing to complain about in last week’s loaf,’ she retorted.

Josephine—ladies’ maid, cook, housekeeper and, lately, companion to the lady of the house—rolled her eyes.

‘Only because I rescued it at the last minute!’

Lily shook her head fondly at the younger girl. ‘What would I do without you?’

It was said in jest, but true enough. It had been four years since her brother had been sent to fight for his country against the rebels in America. Four years since she had been taken in by her aged Aunt Hetty, and come to live here, in the middlemost of a row of cottages in Highgate. Yet it was only in these last three months—since the old lady had died—that Lily, alone in the world with a slowly dwindling income, had begun to know the maid who had laid out her clothes every morning.

Jo was resourceful and hard-working in equal measure, as well as ever ready to cheer up her young mistress. Lily, realising she would soon be unable to pay the household its wages, had gradually let the other servants go, expecting her maid to seek work in a more prestigious household. Yet Jo had stayed, uncomplainingly taking on further tasks as her wages ever dwindled, though Lily knew a ladies’ maid of her talents could have found work anywhere.

She was also, Lily mused, her hands slowing on the dough as her carefree mood slipped away, about the only person in the world who knew her mistress’s true circumstances.

Money had been tight since her brother Robbie had been killed in the war in America. He had always provided for them, ever since the death of their parents when Lily had been fifteen. The money they had been left had been enough to keep them going for a while, and Robbie had sent back most of his salary once he had joined the army. Lily had been provided for, indeed, and proud of her brother, in his smart red uniform, going off to quell the rebels.

Who could have known it would go so badly wrong—that he would be killed so shortly before Cornwallis surrendered, before the war was over and the British soldiers—those that were left—at last came home? Lily had been left reeling from a grief so all-encompassing that she did not remember with any clarity the weeks following the news of his death.

‘Miss Lily?’ Jo was at her elbow. ‘I think that’ll do.’

Lily smiled. ‘I was dreaming.’

‘Worrying, more like.’ With a wry smile, Jo scooped up the dough and pressed it into a pan. ‘Something will turn up, you’ll see. It always does.’ She brightened slightly. ‘Just take your mysterious benefactor, fr’instance.’

‘Hmm.’ Lily crossed her arms, brow furrowing. ‘I would feel more comfortable if I knew who he was.’ The money had been coming regularly each month, since last summer. It was forwarded through her solicitor, and she could not for the life of her prevail upon the crusty old man to tell her who was behind it. ‘A friend of your brother’ was the only clue he professed himself ‘at liberty’ to give. In all honesty, the funds had been her lifeline these past few months, especially with the expenses for Aunt Hetty’s funeral. But she hated being beholden to someone she had never met.

‘Perhaps you could marry him,’ Jo mused teasingly. ‘He must be rich, surely.’

‘T’ would be hard, without first having met him,’ Lily countered with a faint smile. ‘Especially as—’

She broke off as the sound of the huge brass knocker against the front door echoed through the house.

Jo sighed dramatically. ‘I’ll just be a moment.’

She was back in no time, holding up a crisp white packet of paper. ‘It was only a messenger, miss. With this for you.’

‘A letter?’ Lily held out her hand for it. ‘How exciting—no one ever writes to me!’ Her face fell somewhat upon seeing the seal. ‘It’s from Mr Morley.’ Hastily, she wiped her hands on her apron and tore the packet open, revealing a single sheet of paper.

‘The solicitor?’ Jo made a face. ‘Perhaps he’s found some money hidden somewhere and he’s sending it so we can all live happily ever…Miss Lily?’

Lily, face white, looked up from her hurried perusal. ‘He says he regrets to inform me that Cousin Jack has returned from the Continent.’

‘Your Aunt Hetty’s boy?’ Jo snorted. ‘It never failed to confuddle me how such a sweet old lady could have such a gallivanting good-for-nothing for a son. God rest her soul,’ Jo added belatedly, crossing herself.

Lily nodded dumbly, the kind but firm lines that her solicitor had written still burning in her mind.

Jo put her hands on her hips. ‘Well—what of it? Are we expected to give him free board and welcome him with open arms?’

‘Worse. She left the house to him,’ Lily told her mournfully. ‘Don’t you remember, Jo? It was in her will. Now he is returned upon hearing of his mother’s death, and he wants to sell it.’

‘To fund more gadding about overseas, I don’t doubt! His good mother—God rest her soul—has been in the grave these three months, and only now he comes?’ Puffed up with outrage, Jo came closer. ‘Miss Lily—what will you do?’

Lily shook her head, trying to calm the panic within her. ‘I don’t know.’ She could cope with this as she had coped with everything else, surely. If she just thought a little, the solution would come to her…And yet her mind was a blank. There was no money, nothing to sell…There was no question of being able to afford to buy the house from her cousin.

‘Your mystery benefactor? Could we ask him?’

Lily turned a worried face up to her maid. ‘No—certainly not. Even if Mr Morley would tell me who he was, I cannot ask such a thing from a perfect stranger! It’s bad enough that I must be reliant upon his charity as it is.’ She bit her lip. ‘Not that I’m not grateful…It’s just…’

‘I know, Miss Lily.’ Jo pressed her hand. ‘But don’t you fret—there will be a solution. God never gives us more than we can take.’

Lily looked again at the letter, as if the answer was somehow hidden there. ‘I am sure you are right.’ But still she could not, for the life of her, think of anything.

‘You’ll have to ponder it later, miss,’ Jo said tactfully. ‘That is, if you’re still going to the ball.’

With a gasp, Lily put a hand to her mouth. ‘The ball—I’d quite forgot! What time is it?’

‘Almost five.’

Lily’s eyes widened. ‘I shall never be ready by the time Lady Stanton’s carriage calls!’

Untying her apron, she hurried from the room, leaving her maid, shaking her head indulgently, to follow.

‘Does it truly look good enough, Jo?’

Examining herself in front of the mirror, Lily bit her lip for the hundredth time and frowned into her own deep green eyes.

She was wearing a gown she had made herself and that she was proud of, a far cry though it was from those in the windows of the fancy dressmakers of Bond Street. The cobalt-blue silk complemented her light colouring and its full sweeping skirts, gathered and padded at the back, served only to further emphasise her slender waist.

Her hair, the colour of honeycomb, was swept up on her head in an array of soft curls that cascaded downwards in ringlets, brushing her shoulders. She was pleased with the effect her maid had achieved, but still she worried. This ball, a week into her second Season, was important for her future. She needed to make an impression, now more than ever—and that meant hiding her true circumstances from the world.

‘You look like any of them posh folks and more,’ her maid told her with affection. ‘’Cept you’ve still got flour on your cheek.’

‘Heavens—get it off!’ Lily angled her head into the mirror. ‘Where?’

‘Let me.’ Josephine deftly swept a hand over her mistress’s smooth skin.

‘Well, it is fashionable to be pale, I understand.’ Lily met the maid’s eye in the mirror and grinned. ‘And I don’t suppose any of the other ladies at Lady Langley’s ball will have baked their own bread ready for tomorrow’s breakfast.’

‘That they won’t.’ Jo beamed back.

But the smile had already faded from her mistress’s face as Lily turned her mind once more to the daunting task ahead of her. She must prepare herself, from today, for the action she had hoped never to take, reserved only for the direst circumstances.

Would that her brother were here to give her courage.

But then, Lily mused, if he was here she would be free to enjoy the Season like any other young woman, instead of living with the threat of bankruptcy and homelessness in her future. She pursed her lips. There was no use in wishing for what could not be—she had learned that lesson well, this last year in particular.

‘You’re thinking about Mr Robbie again, aren’t you?’ Jo said gently.

Thus prodded gently back into the present, Lily smiled at her. ‘Is it so easy to tell?’

‘He’d be proud to see how you’ve carried on, miss,’ said the younger woman softly. ‘How you’re makin’ a life for yourself.’

With a sigh, Lily looked at her glamorous reflection. ‘Is that what I am doing? I thought I was going out to catch myself a husband.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘God knows I never thought I would find myself here, forced to seek a marriage for money.’

Since her parents had died in the fire that had destroyed their ancestral home six years ago, Robbie and Lily had been alone. Eight years her senior, he had seen her educated and provided for, whilst carving out a career for himself in the British Army, a career he loved second only to his younger sister. He had given her the freedom she craved, and, after his death, she had only been more determined to make her own decisions and remain self-sufficient.

All of which now made the thought of marriage to a stranger—especially marriage for financial reasons—repugnant to her. Lily had always hoped she would be able to marry for love, that she would be a wife to a man who respected her need to enjoy the independence her brother had always given her. But what choice was there, now that they no longer had a home to live in?

Jo echoed her thoughts. ‘We must survive any way we have to, Miss Lily.’

‘You did not have to stay with me, yet you have,’ Lily corrected her.

‘Who would do your hair, else?’ Jo looked fondly at her mistress. ‘You’ll not find a husband to support you without a little help, my lady.’

Lily nodded. ‘I will make it up to you, once my situation improves.’

She was determined that her life would be under her control again as soon as possible. Which was why this dress was so important—along with the charming, carefree persona she adopted for such occasions. She had been that girl once—without a care in the world—and she could play her again, for the sake of survival.

It was time to face up to the fact that she could not live on thin air.

It was time to find a husband.