Regency Rogues Omnibus (99 page)

“Yet it is so unfair,” Affinity muttered, turning with the leash in her hand to walk back and hopefully find Anne. “The gentlemen do not seem to have these same rules.” Gentlemen were popular no matter what their appearance or demeanor, but especially popular depending on their income and title. “But now,” Affinity grumbled, “I have given Lady Jane and Lady Anna more fuel to lower me into the already deep pit that I reside in. Hell!”

Oh yes, and they would gleefully use it. As if they did not have enough handsome suitors swarming around them already that they needed to ensure every last one remained attentively beside their most glorious and beautiful refinement.

“
Pfftt
,” Affinity scoffed. “I would not want one of those gentlemen if they find such women attractive and desirable.”

But Affinity knew it was an empty bit of bravado exclaimed by every girl in her position in London society before her. And she also knew, that she, and every unfortunate girl before her, dreamed of just one dance with a gentleman, or just one stolen kiss in the garden, or simply a small bit of attention.

Affinity frowned because she knew how cruel Lady Jane and Lady Anne could be and now she would have to make certain at the next soirée to remain invisible. Nevertheless, it was not as if that was difficult to do, as designated wallflowers, she and her friends spent many hours being invisible. What she would not give just one time to stir things up! Do something outrageously and set everyone aghast at her original boldness. Not necessarily for the attention she might yearn for, but to break the mold of society’s strict etiquette. She did not imagine that most ladies, having never been in her position, ever yearn just to ask a gentleman to dance.

“My Lady Affinity! Oh my goodness, are you all right?”

Affinity’s head lifted from her musing as she hurried toward Anne. This time she did not hold back her feelings of affection and relief. “Yes, yes, Anne, I am fine,” she said embracing Anne.

“Oh thank goodness, my lady. That bellswagger pimp thought that he would force me into the bird trade, he did. But look, look, Miss Affinity, I’ve been saved! It is the Benefactor, my lady. The Benefactor of women!”

Affinity’s gaze turned down to the card clutched in Anne’s hand. It was pristine white and the size of a gentleman’s calling card, yet what arrested her attention was the symbol embellished in gold stamped upon the card. The Benefactor, my god, she had heard of it.

Of him? Of them? No one knew for certain if it was a group or a single individual, yet all of the working class or lower knew of this symbol and name. The symbol was a circle with a cross directly beneath it. Some proclaimed it was a symbol for women, and others just shook in relief at the chances of being saved from the life of prostitution, just as Anne was with her face glowing in hope.

“I cannot say more about it,” Anne said. “I know you understand, Miss Affinity, but I had to tell you. To let you know that I will be all right.”

Affinity nodded mutely, embracing Anne once again. Part of the Benefactor’s price was secrecy. The woman being so sponsored, such as Anne, must not speak of the details, and as much as Affinity wanted to ask Anne who, a man or a woman, had given her the card, she did not. She also realized that she might never know what would become of Anne and that was the hardest part. However, many before had trusted the Benefactor and she did as well, realizing this was in effect saving dear Anne’s life.

“Be well,” Affinity said, with feeling and a few tears. “You will be in my thoughts and prayers, dear Anne.”

“Oh, Miss,” Anne sniffled. “Oh and here, my lady,” Anne said as she stepped back from their embrace, then she pulled a hand linen from her pocket, opening it. “The ring, Miss, I won’t be needing it now.”

“Oh, Anne!” Affinity exclaimed at the clear evidence of Anne’s honesty. “Are you sure, Anne, it is yours, you know? Perhaps, you should keep it a while, just in case. You can always return it to me if you do not need to use it.”

Anne kept the ring and they said their rather tearful goodbyes, then Affinity watched Anne leave from her sight, before she looked down at the setter. “Well, Beauty, so many adventures this morning, and all that turned out well.”

The setter’s expressive brown eyes looked exactly as though he agreed as he sat patiently by her side. Then, a whistle sounded off in the distance and the setter immediately rose and pounced to the end of his leash. It was the setter’s Master calling him, Affinity knew, as her heartbeat quickened unaccountably. She could take the setter to him personally, it might not be stretching etiquette too far, if they were to be introduced that way for the first time. Nevertheless, she hesitated, something inside her unsure and speaking to her that this was much too important to leave to chance. She had been on the receiving end of chance for far to long now and it had not once gotten her a gentleman caller or even asked to dance. Somehow, she needed to be in more control. Perhaps, she needed to try to shape events herself?

Affinity let go of the setter’s leash, watching him bound through the trees, then the large meadow further on. She immediately started forward at a brisk walk this time and not a run as she wondered briefly at the timing of the setter’s Master calling him back. Well, to begin with, the setter providentially coming to the rescue was rather odd. The setter’s Master did not appear to be the type of man to lose his dog’s leash twice. Then, Affinity saw him, well truthfully just the outline of him in the distance as he and the setter were reunited once again. Affinity moved closer, yet not near enough to be seen, as she watched the gentleman turn to leave the park with the setter.

Affinity quickly followed at a discreet distance. She was determined to find out the gentleman’s name and rank, in this her first foray into shaping events. Yes, she really did like the sound of that, “Shaping events to her desires.”

Chapter Three

His name was Lawrence Fabier and he was a Duke. Affinity had heard little about him before. He was the Duke of St. Martin and in hushed tones people spoke of him being rather reclusive and mysterious. She had caught the topic twice being speculated on in quiet tones by a few mothers noting his marriageable eligibility and his candid absence at all the season’s events.

The aura of his mystic behavior livened her immediately, while at the same moment the title he carried of Duke served to make her feel daunted. That was surprising to her and very irritating. What? Did she believe she was not worthy enough for an exalted Duke? My-My, the difficulties of this London season and the undesirable category that they had slotted her into had taken more of a toll on her than she’d realized.

It was probably her anger then that set her onto her next course of indescribably bold action. Affinity saw what looked to be a pantry maid leaving the Duke’s well-maintained townhouse. The maid was very young and possibly on her way to the market for the cook, because she carried a basket. Affinity fell into step behind the maid. She was quite determined that she was going to bribe the Duke of St. Martin’s pantry maid for information about her employer.

Oh, and it had worked!
Hours later, Affinity could not believe her brashness as she unpinned her veiled bonnet and tossed it on the bed in her bedchamber. She immediately took to pacing briskly across her room, unable to contain her excitement. It felt wondrous, this thrum of excitement. It felt as though she finally had a small piece of her life back in her hands and she was controlling it.

“Oh and I
want
more,” Affinity exclaimed.

She had successfully bribed the Duke of St. Martin’s pantry maid and the young woman had been a wealth of information. The pantry maid’s name was Nell and she’d seemed at once worldly for all her youthful appearance. However, Nell was not completely disloyal to her employer, there were certain things she would not discuss, such as the timing of the Duke’s comings and goings.

“It wouldn’t be proper to tell you that,” Nell had exclaimed. “But a nice lady such as yourself wanting to know if he is married, that’s another thing all together.”

So, Nell had told her that the Duke of St. Martin was not married, and they all, meaning the household staff, really thought he should be. It was here that Affinity realized that Nell, and it seemed all of the Duke’s staff, adored him. Nell spoke of the Duke with the fondness of a family member and not an employer, and Affinity instantly felt drawn closer to him in spirit. It was also revealed that, “Law,” as Affinity had secretly been calling him, did not have a mistress, nor the presence of any steady lady friends that he called upon. He was a bachelor living alone with only one elderly aunt still living, but she resided in the country.

Affinity sorely wondered what the mysterious Duke of St. Martin did with his time. However, on these subjects Nell was vague or mute and that only fueled Affinity’s curiosity. She was smart enough to realize that Nell gave out this information to a lady she perceived as interested in the Duke. In fact, Affinity considered, given Law’s apparent semi-reclusiveness, other ladies might have inquired after him in this same fashion. The thought of that left Affinity feeling slightly deflated. She did not wish to be one among many, because that had already proven unsuccessful. No, if she were to set her sights on Lawrence Fabier, the Duke of St. Martin, she would have to be much more original and aggressive.

So, she wondered, how did a woman, a creative, intelligent, and witty woman, catch a man? Certainly not the way the ladies of the ton went about it. She must think outside the normal. And Affinity wondered if the question were, could she do it, or was she brave enough to do it?

***

“The young lady’s name was, Lady Affinity Redgrift, your grace.”

Law gazed at Nell thoughtfully. “Did she have straight long hair, pulled back, yet falling to her waist? Brown hair with red highlights in the sunlight.”

“Could have been her,” Nell paused expectantly.

“Did she possess rather large-,” Law found his hands mimicking mounds on his chest and he quickly dropped them, as Nell exclaimed,

“Boobies! Yes she did, your grace, and she wore a plum-colored walking dress like the ladies wear. So you’ve met her then?”

Law nodded absently. “I have seen her.”

“Well, the young Miss, did not realize how much she told me of herself, you see. But I’m positive she was a real lady and not a prostitute pretending to be one. That one could not lie well if she tried.”

That should be the end of it,
Law thought. He shouldn’t have any further reason to ask any more questions or to be curious. This Lady Affinity was not a prostitute seeking his help. He had no need to inquire further on her behalf. However, the image of her in the park had not left his thoughts.

That was odd.

He’d barely been able to see her, veiled as she was, only her long hair and the constrained outline of those breasts. He remembered thinking upon seeing the shape of those healthy mounds that they were certainly held back by a corset or such and they would be that much larger if freed. The thought had not startled him overly, because he had fleeting lustful thoughts most days. He would catch sight of something that would strike him, then set his mind turning. A ripe peach in the marketplace, a glimpse of a lady’s bare ankle as she stepped up into her coach, or a mare that was sleek and sweating after a long gallop.

But Lady Affinity had asked after him . . .
And
she was not a prostitute. “I would not care for her to find out my secret profession, Nell.”

“Oh, I would never tell, your grace. You know that.”

“I could not do what I do, if they found out . . . you understand?”

“I only told her that you weren’t married.”

“She asked such a thing?” Law was immediately surprised, even as he wondered, just what it was he thought she’d asked Nell then. Ladies, he’d assumed, did not really ask after gentlemen, except in social circles.

“Yes, it was her first question, your grace.”

He really should let this go. “And her second question, Nell?”

“Did ye have a mistress or a lady friend?”

Law swiveled in his study chair to look directly at Nell, because he’d been gazing out the windows into the gardens at the rear of his property.

“Aye, your grace, interesting isn’t it,” Nell pronounced with a gregarious smile that showed a few missing teeth.

That was an understatement,
Law thought. A lady asking intimate questions about him was singularly unique. He strictly stayed out of social gatherings just because of his glaring marriage eligibility. His mission in life was not to find a wife. He knew to well he did not deserve that. However, he could not help longing for the touch of a woman and he wondered if he was damned from ever having the pleasure again. So Lady Affinity’s curiosity and interest excited him slightly and he took his pleasures, small as they were, wherever he could savor them.

He’d been out of touch too long and he had not realized that young ladies had become so emboldened. Of course with what he now knew about womens natures, he should not be at all surprised. He’d long pondered that some ladies must have the feelings of a prostitute beneath their soft veneers, and that was either his long-felt and foolish hope . . . or possibly a truth.