Lady Lucy's Lover

 

M. C. Beaton
is the author of the hugely successful Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth series, as well as a quartet of Edwardian murder mysteries featuring heroine Lady Rose Summer, several Regency romance series and a stand-alone murder mystery,
The Skeleton in the Closet
– all published by Constable & Robinson. She left a full-time career in journalism to turn to writing, and now divides her time between the Cotswolds and Paris. Visit
www.mcbeatonbooks.co.uk
for more, or follow M. C. Beaton on Twitter:
@mc_beaton
.

 

 

Titles by M. C. Beaton

The Poor Relation

Lady Fortescue Steps Out • Miss Tonks Turns to Crime • Mrs Budley Falls from Grace

Sir Philip's Folly • Colonel Sandhurst to the Rescue • Back in Society

A House for the Season

The Miser of Mayfair
•
Plain Jane
•
The Wicked Godmother

Rake's Progress
•
The Adventuress
•
Rainbird's Revenge

The Six Sisters

Minerva
•
The Taming of Annabelle
•
Deirdre and Desire

Daphne
•
Diana the Huntress
•
Frederica in Fashion

Edwardian Murder Mysteries

Snobbery with Violence
•
Hasty Death
•
Sick of Shadows

Our Lady of Pain

The Travelling Matchmaker

Emily Goes to Exeter
•
Belinda Goes to Bath
•
Penelope Goes to Portsmouth

Beatrice Goes to Brighton
•
Deborah Goes to Dover
•
Yvonne Goes to York

Edwardian Candlelight

Polly • Molly • Ginny • Tilly • Susie • Kitty • Daisy • Sally • Maggie • Poppy • Pretty Polly • Lucy • My Lords, Ladies and Marjorie

Regency Candlelight

Annabelle • Henrietta • Penelope

Regency Royal

The Westerby Inheritance • The Marquis Takes a Bride • Lady Anne's Deception • Lady Margery's Intrigue • The Savage Marquess • My Dear Duchess • The Highland Countess • Lady Lucy's Lover • The Ghost and Lady Alice • Love and Lady Lovelace • Duke's Diamonds • The Viscount's Revenge • The Paper Princess • The Desirable Duchess • The Sins of Lady Dacey • The Dreadful Debutante • The Chocolate Debutante • The Loves of Lord Granton • Milady in Love • The Scandalous Marriage

Regency Scandal

His Lordship's Pleasure • Her Grace's Passion • The Scandalous Lady Wright

Regency Flame

Those Endearing Young Charms •
The Flirt • Lessons in Love • Regency Gold • Miss Fiona's Fancy • The French Affair • To Dream of Love • A Marriage of Inconvenience • A Governess of Distinction • The Glitter of Gold

Regency Season

The Original Miss Honeyford • The Education of Miss Paterson • At the Sign of the Golden Pineapple • Sweet Masquerade ?The Constant Companion • Quadrille • The Perfect Gentleman • Dancing on the Wind • Ms. Davenport's Christmas

The Waverly Women

The First Rebellion • Silken Bonds • The Love Match

Agatha Raisin

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death
•
Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener
•
Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley

Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage
•
Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist

Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death
•
Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham

Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden

Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam
•
Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came

Agatha Raisin and the Curious Curate
•
Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House

Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance
•
Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon

Agatha Raisin and Love, Lies and Liquor

Agatha Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye

Agatha Raisin and a Spoonful of Poison
•
Agatha Raisin: There Goes the Bride

Agatha Raisin and the Busy Body
•
Agatha Raisin: As the Pig Turns

Agatha Raisin: Hiss and Hers • Agatha Raisin and the Christmas Crumble

Hamish Macbeth

Death of a Gossip
•
Death of a Cad
•
Death of an Outsider

Death of a Perfect Wife
•
Death of a Hussy
•
Death of a Snob

Death of a Prankster
•
Death of a Glutton
•
Death of a Travelling Man

Death of a Charming Man
•
Death of a Nag
•
Death of a Macho Man

Death of a Dentist
•
Death of a Scriptwriter
•
Death of an Addict

A Highland Christmas
•
Death of a Dustman
•
Death of a Celebrity

Death of a Village
•
Death of a Poison Pen
•
Death of a Bore

Death of a Dreamer
•
Death of a Maid
•
Death of a Gentle Lady

Death of a Witch
•
Death of a Valentine
•
Death of a Sweep

Death of a Kingfisher • Death of Yesterday

The Skeleton in the Closet

Also available

The Agatha Raisin Companion

M. C. Beaton

 

 

 

Constable & Robinson Ltd.

55–56 Russell Square

London WC1B 4HP

www.constablerobinson.com

First electronic edition published 2011

by RosettaBooks LLC, New York

This edition published in the UK by Canvas,

an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd., 2013

Copyright © M. C. Beaton, 1984

The right of M. C. Beaton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in

Publication Data is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-47210-138-9 (ebook)

Cover copyright © Constable & Robinson

 

 

 

TO MARION AND JOHN LESLEY

WITH LOVE

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

“But I don't
want
a lover. I am in love with my husband,” said Lady Lucy, turning around from her escritoire and looking in amazement at her friend, Mrs. Ann Hartford.

“I find the suggestion outrageous,” added Lucy, Marchioness of Standish, “coming as it does from a respectable matron like yourself!”

Mrs. Hartford fanned herself lazily and looked at her friend with amusement. “You are upset and distressed and jealous, Lucy,” she said. “I would like to see that feckless husband of yours made to feel the same.”

“Guy is
not
feckless,” snapped Lady Lucy, beginning to sharpen a quill pen with unnecessary vigor, “and… and… furthermore, I do not discuss my husband with
anyone
. Even you, Ann.”

She turned back to the desk so that Mrs. Hartford should not see the tears in her eyes, and said in a light voice, “We are going to the Courtlands' ball tonight. Will you be there?”

Ann gave a wry smile, answered in the affirmative, and then began to talk lightly of the latest
on-dits
and the latest fashions while Lady Lucy regained control of her emotions and was able to turn and face her friend once more.

All the while she was talking, Mrs. Hartford was studying her friend's pretty face. She and Lucy had grown up together on neighboring estates in Sussex. Ann, thin and gawky, and four years older than Lucy, had blossomed into a fashionable young lady and had soon become wed to Mr. Giles Hartford, a rich member of the untitled aristocracy. Lucy had married the year after when she had reached only her eighteenth birthday. Her choice had been the handsome Marquess of Standish. Worldly wise Ann had cautioned her friend that the Marquess had a reputation as a rake and gambler. But in the first flush of love, Lucy would not hear a word against her paragon.

The Marquess and Lucy had been married a little under a year and rumor had it that the wild Marquess was wilder then ever and had returned to the experienced arms of one of London's leading courtesans, Harriet Comfort. Lady Lucy, a sparkling sunny beauty with golden hair and wide blue eyes, had gradually changed.

The innocent candor of her expression had turned to one of hurt wariness. Her former carefree laughter was hardly ever heard and she increasingly made her appearance at the opera, the rout, or in the Park at the fashionable hour on her own.

But Lady Lucy had comforted herself and her pride with the thought that the world still probably viewed herself and her husband as a happily married couple, and Ann's remark about taking a lover had shocked her to the core. Was the disaster of her marriage so obvious? Had she become an object of pity?

She forced herself to chat as easily and lightly as she could, feeling all the while a lump rising in her throat. She had never before had any secrets from Ann, but Lucy would not gossip about her husband. To admit, even to Ann, that the marriage was on the rocks would somehow kill all hope.

At last, to Lucy's relief, Ann rose to take her leave. She impulsively kissed Lucy on the cheek and said, “You are a good girl, Lucy, and I love you dearly. You will always have a home with me and Giles, should you wish.”

“La! I have a home in town here, a home in the country, a barn of a place in Yorkshire, and a hunting box in Leicester. I think I am well supplied with homes,” said Lucy, trying to laugh but ending up on a pathetic little croak.

“I think you know what I mean,” said Ann, suddenly serious. And with that, she moved from the room with all the lithe grace which had turned her angular body and bony face into that of a much-admired leader of London society.

With her departure, the house suddenly seemed very quiet.

Dust motes floated in the shafts of sunlight from the long windows overlooking Clarence Square. Lady Lucy stood for a moment studying her face in the greenish looking glass hung in a corner of the room. She could no longer tell whether she was pretty or not. At one time, she had delighted in her own beauty because it had brought her to the attention of Guy, the most dashing and handsome young man on the London scene. She had met him during her first Season and had been married before the Season was over.

Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hyde-Benton, had been delighted with the match… too delighted to counsel their daughter against marrying a young man with such a wild reputation. Mr. Hyde-Benton had been plain Mr. Hyde in his youth, and a struggling young barrister with very little money. It was whispered he had made his fortune gambling. Now he craved a foothold in the ranks of the aristocracy which simple money could not buy him. His wife shared his ambitions. Lucy had tried to hint only a bare month before that all was not well with her marriage, but her parents had looked so outraged at the very suggestion that an aristocrat could do any wrong that Lucy had given up the attempt.