Restoration Series - A Scoundrel's Kiss Part 6

"Rest is so important for maintaining one's beauty," Lady Lippet announced in a voice that reminded Arabella of the barn cat when it had gotten its tail caught in the door.

Her tone also implied that this regimen of rest explained her own youthful appearance.

"She is charming, Wattles, simply charming!" the lady continued. "Pretty as can be, and with a form- well, the young men will all go mad for her!"

Wattles? She called Lord Ba.r.r.s.ettshire Wattles? Now that she thought about it, Arabella realized, he did look like a turkey.

The earl must have seen her effort not to laugh, for he scowled darkly. Arabella quickly turned her attention to the floor.

As she regarded the worn and wine-stained carpet, suggestive of many baccha.n.a.ls, she reflected that a nickname indicated a friendship of some intimacy and age, and she wondered what Lady Lippet thought of Neville."I don't want them to go mad for her," the earl said petulantly. "I want one of them to marry her."

"I do not see any trouble there!" Lady Lippet cried archly. "Turn around, my dear, and let me get a good look at you."

"Do as she says, Arabella," the earl commanded. "Lady Lippet is here to help you get a husband."

Arabella reluctantly did as she was told.

"Her shape is more than acceptable," Lady Lippet declared when Arabella, blushing, had completed her circle. "But these clothes, Wattles! They are an affront! They simply will not do!"

"I thought they were a little plain," the earl confessed.

"A little plain? She looks like a poor penitent. You were wise to send for me, Wattles, very wise! We must have some new gowns without delay, and I am just the woman to help you buy them."

Arabella's heart beat a little faster. Oh, to have a new dress! And one in the latest fashion!

"Nothing too expensive," Lord Ba.r.r.s.ettshire replied warily.

"You do not put a lovely jewel in a setting of tin."

"No, no, I suppose not."

"Therefore, she must have some fine new gowns. Do not worry. I shall ask my dressmaker to do what she can as cheaply as she can."

Her dressmaker? Arabella's heart sank even as it had risen moments before.

"Mademoiselle Juliette is a marvel."

She had to be something extraordinary if she was responsible for Lady Lippet's current ensemble.

"I would be grateful if you would be so good as to importune this Mademoiselle to be quick. I would not be longer in London than I must."

"These things take time, Wattles, if we are to make the best possible match. Unless there is some reason for haste?"

"No, there is not," Arabella said firmly.

Lady Lippet started a little, as if she had forgotten that the subject of the conversation was in the room.

She quickly turned her attention back to the earl. "Then there are two ways to proceed. I will be happy to give a dinner party for her, and we can hope other invitations will follow. Or..."

"Or?" Lord Ba.r.r.s.ettshire demanded.

"Or we could go to the theater and show her off to many at once."

"The theater?" Arabella cried happily.

She had long wished to see a play performed. Her father had denounced plays as works of Satan, yet she thought they sounded harmless enough. As she had been tempted to say to her father, if a person's morals could be harmed by a play, it was likely they were not very sound to begin with.And what if the king came? King Charles enjoyed the theater. Indeed, he was a patron.

Surely that would be too much to expect.

She realized Lord Ba.r.r.s.ettshire was giving her a condemning glance worthy of her late father.

"Perhaps the theater is too wicked," she said, trying to sound more subdued.

"Nonsense! The theater is no more wicked than any other place where courtiers gather," Lady Lippet said, as if Arabella had insulted her personally. "I a.s.sure you, Wattles, it will be the best thing if you wish a speedy marriage."

"Must we make such haste, my lord?" Arabella asked. "Would it not be better for me to have some time to learn about the man I am to marry?"

"Do you want to be a spinster all your life?"

"No, my lord."

"Then I see no reason for delay. We must find you a n.o.bleman with sense, if there is such a thing in this terrible place."

"A n.o.bleman? I a.s.sure you, my lord, I do not aspire to a n.o.bleman," Arabella said. "Indeed, I am most certain one of them will not suit my temperament. I would prefer a more modest man. Perhaps a banker or merchant-"

The earl bolted from his chair as if he had been shot.

"A merchant?" he thundered. "The daughter of the Duke of Bellhurst marry a merchant?"

"My father tried to renounce his t.i.tle," she reminded him.

"That does not matter!" the earl retorted as he threw himself back into the chair like a cranky child. "To allow you to marry anyone below the rank of viscount would be an abomination! It would be anarchy!"

The earl's son was a viscount, which was utterly unimportant.

"My lord, naturally I would be extremely flattered to have such a man court me. However, I think we must be practical. My father gave the bulk of his estate to his church when he converted to Puritanism."

"You are rich, nonetheless, and of n.o.ble rank."

"Rich?" she asked, bewildered.

"Your fortune left by your father is ten thousand pounds."

While Lady Lippet's falsely black eyebrows rose to amazing heights, Arabella stared at him in stunned disbelief. "How... can this be?"

Her father had prided himself on his frugality, even though a Puritan was not supposed to be proud. He had counted every penny when she went to market and chastised her for vanity if she so much as bought a ribbon for her hair. He even begrudged candles, always claiming rushlights would do.

"Ten thousand pounds?" she whispered. "He always said he intended to leave what money he had left to the church, too.""Obviously, he wisely reconsidered," Lady Lippet exclaimed. "Why, with that sort of fortune, a t.i.tle, and your own loveliness, it should be ease itself to find a good husband!"

"With that sort of fortune, I could perhaps do without one entirely," Arabella noted.

"Don't be a fool," the earl rumbled. "You need someone to look after your money. A n.o.ble husband will be used to overseeing a fortune."

"n.o.blemen are also used to spending a fortune," Arabella mumbled.

Unfortunately, she would have done better to keep that thought to herself, for the earl overheard her.

"Like my son, eh?" he demanded.

Arabella had no desire to get into a discussion about Neville. "Be that as it may, I think-"

"I will be making inquiries and I will insure your husband is a man of good character and morals, and well able to oversee such a vast sum. I will choose someone who has not been indulged and spoiled, someone who will not disappoint me."

He sounded as if the main thing was to replace Neville, not find a good husband for his ward.

Arabella thought of the boy in the garden those years ago. He had not seemed spoiled or arrogant or overindulged. He had seemed lonely, as lonely as she.

Neville Farrington had no place in her life now and should not be in her thoughts, either, she inwardly commanded.

"Do you know, I think we may be in great luck with the gowns, Wattles," Lady Lippet said, leaning forward excitedly. "Dear Lady Spotsford has pa.s.sed away at last. She's been ailing for ages-since I first met her in the days when those horribly dull Puritans took charge of the country."

"Arabella's father was a Puritan, Lady Lippet," the earl whispered loudly.

"Oh, yes, of course, and quite the scandal that was, too." She gave Arabella a pitying, patronizing look.

"That also explains your hair and clothing, my dear. Never mind. I shall fix you. And I have just the maidservant for you, too. I shall send for her to come directly."

"I have never had a maidservant," Arabella said dubiously. "I would hardly know what to do with her."

"But she will know what to do with you," Lady Lippet said, as if Arabella were in great need of renovation. Her ladyship faced the earl. "What Nancy doesn't know about hair is not worth knowing. I will give your ward the loan of her while you are in town."

"Is this maid responsible for your fascinating coiffure?" Arabella inquired.

Lady Lippet squirmed with pleasure and touched a gloved hand to her brow. "Indeed she is."

"I shall be most intrigued to see what she can do with mine."

Lady Lippet's brow puckered for a brief moment, as if she was trying to decide if she had been criticized or not. However, the matter of gowns proved to be enough to make her forget any possible insult. "Now about poor Lady Spotsford-her new gowns were almost finished when she shuffled off this mortal coil and went to her reward, although why that woman deserves any reward after the scandalous life she led... Well, it doesn't do to speak ill of the dead."Lady Lippet cleared her throat delicately, as if, given the chance, there was much ill she could speak about the dear departed. "However, if I am any judge, she was close enough in size to Arabella for it to be a simple thing for Mademoiselle Juliette to alter the gowns for her.

"And," she added significantly, "we should be able to get them cheap, because Mademoiselle will be anxious to sell them."

"Excellent!" the earl cried, the point apparently decided.

Arabella, however, was considerably less enthusiastic about wearing a dead woman's clothing, even if the woman in question had never actually put them on.

Still, she consoled herself, the clothes would be new, they would be fashionable and, if Lady Lippet guessed right concerning Mademoiselle Juliette's pricing, they would likely be a bargain.

"If they can be ready soon, we can begin to show her about without further delay," Lady Lippet said.

The earl nodded.

"If possible," Lady Lippet said with a hint of sly manipulation, "we should go to the theater as soon as humanly possible. There is an absolutely delightful new play that everyone is talking about and, more important, attending. I believe that is the one we should see."

Arabella tried not to betray too overt an interest in the conversation.

"What is this play?" Lord Ba.r.r.s.ettshire asked.

Lady Lippet's brow furrowed, then she smiled. "The name escapes me, I fear. It is by a most fascinating young man, who I believe may be an acquaintance of yours, Sir Richard Blythe."

Richard Blythe-Neville's friend! Of all the plays in London, surely that was the one they should not attend, Arabella thought.

Then it occurred to her that Neville would have seen his friend's play already.

"That man should be horsewhipped! He was a fine soldier, and now he's disgraced himself and his family with this writing nonsense!"

Lady Lippet shook her head. "Wattles, you must get over these old-fashioned notions. He is a famous fellow, and justly so, for a more witty playwright does not exist, of so everyone of the first rank declares.

Besides, many n.o.blemen will be there. It is simply too good an opportunity to miss. If an appropriate gown can be found for her, we should go tomorrow."

"My lord, I fear I am being too much of a burden to you," Arabella protested, more from a sense that she should than from any true regret.

She did so want to attend a play!

Nevertheless, she continued in the same self-sacrificing vein. "It all sounds like so much hustle and bustle."

"So it must be, if we are to find you a husband without wasting time," Lady Lippet replied, shaking her head decisively to make her point and nearly sending her hat tumbling to the floor.

"You will let me pay for the gowns from my inheritance, won't you?" Arabella asked, and in this she wa.s.sincere.

"We shall see, we shall see. The important thing is to do what Nettie says if we are to get you wed," Lord Ba.r.r.s.ettshire said. "What time do these infernal things begin?"

"Half past three o'clock," Lady Lippet replied. "I could take her to the dressmaker's today, and surely at least one gown could be made ready for tomorrow.

"And there must be no more scrubbing and mopping as if she were a servant," the lady added with a curl of her falsely ruby lips, glancing at the bucket by the door. "Her hands will be totally ruined."

"But I don't mind-"

"Arabella," the earl growled before he marched to the door, "if I am willing to put myself out for your good, I should think you would be happy to do as Lady Lippet and I say."

"Yes, my lord," Arabella murmured as he bellowed for Jarvis.

"A pox! I don't believe it!" Neville declared as his booted feet, which had been propped on the table, hit the wooden floor with a bang.

"It's true," an affronted Jarvis replied as he set down the bundle of clothing and other items belonging to Neville on the rough floorboards. "I heard 'em meself, my lord, may I be stricken with plague if I'm lyin'."

"When was this decided?"

"This morning, my lord," Jarvis replied absently as he surveyed the small chamber above a cheese shop currently serving as both Richard's withdrawing room and Neville's temporary bedchamber.