Her sister made a rude noise. “Wise decisions have had nothing to do with anything you’ve ever done and nothing to do with the success you’ve achieved. You’re only too lucky that I rejected Lord Quamby who then realised you were,” she put her head closer and whispered accusingly, “carrying his nephew’s child. That’s right. Admit it to Thea so she knows exactly what dangerous game you played and how it ran in your favour.”
Thea’s mouth dropped open as she glanced about her to ensure they were alone. These were her cousins? Her own flesh and blood?
Fanny took a deep breath and sent Thea a knowing look. “The truth is,” she said more calmly now as she plucked a leaf from an overhanging branch, “that Antoinette has always been a feather-brained peagoose and she got herself into trouble with Mr Horrible George Bramley who was out to ruin her because I rejected him the previous summer. Revenge was his game, and Antoinette played right into his hands. My sister, who only outranks me now due to my orchestrating matters to the advantage of both of us, might well have found herself having to put her bastard child in the basket at the Foundling Hospital. The fact that she wasn’t forced to is due simply to Lord Quamby seeing Antoinette’s pregnancy with his hated nephew’s child as a wonderful opportunity to secure the family line and produce an heir without having to actually bed a woman.”
Thea blinked a couple of times. “Can this be true?” She swallowed, her mouth dry as she put out her hand to steady herself against the tree trunk. She stared at Antoinette. “Are you telling me that you and Lord Quamby—?”
“Well, we’re not man and wife in the Biblical sense, if that’s what you mean,” Antoinette interrupted brightly, idly toying with the enormous glittering diamond on her finger. “He’s been very generous, so naturally I’m very fond of him, but our marriage is for convenience only.” She glanced up and fixed Thea with a meaningful look. “Lord Quamby has some unusual preferences, leaving me to enjoy my…dalliances.” She tossed her head on a tinkling laugh. “Oh, Thea! I can’t tell you what fun I’ve had. Men come in all shapes and varieties and some look at me with moon eyes but then are completely selfish in bed, and then others are more shy and it’s a surprise that they know how to set a woman’s senses on fire!”
Even Fanny looked a little shocked at this. She cleared her throat. “I’d like to point out, Thea, that my only experience is with Lord Fenton and I chose well, but I also knew what I was getting myself into, and I will admit that I had to use a little cunning. I was nothing like Antoinette who threw caution to the wind. I needed to ascertain if I really did want to spend the rest of my life in Fenton’s arms and once I was sure the skilful part was making him realise the same, and to ensure he overlooked the fact I was just a penniless debutante full of hopes and aspirations.”
“You see, Thea,” Antoinette went on, not seeming to care that her sister had been so uncomplimentary, “you could wake up and find yourself in quite a hole. Suddenly you don’t have Aunt Minerva’s support and the only person knocking on your door is…” She floundered for inspiration. “Dr Horne. He’s a widower whom I’ve no doubt would love a pretty wife. He’ll offer you the comfort of his home and make sure you have nice clothes to wear. The trouble is, he’ll want a lot in return. He’ll be climbing over you every night, pushing his thing into you whether you’re ready or not. You’ll start having his babies and they’ll be ugly, puling creatures with thin sandy hair and lashes and red screwed-up faces. Every year you’ll have another one because Dr Horne has twenty years of being a widow to make up for and he’ll be so desperate and so proud now of having a young and pretty wife.”
“Don’t!” Thea put her hands to her ears. “How can you say such things to me?”
Fanny gripped Thea’s wrists to force her hands away as she added, almost fiercely, “Because it’s the truth, Thea.” Glancing at Lady Umbrage’s party of guests who were beginning to depart, she said, more softly, “You’re a debutante who knows nothing of the true ways of the world, but you need to know and understand what we’re saying if you’re to seize the opportunities presented to you.”
“Surely, Thea, you liked it just a little bit when Mt Grayling kissed you?” Antoinette’s eyes flashed with challenge and curiosity and Thea again put her hand to her lips. Her body felt weak and needy all of a sudden and that strange, desperate pulling feeling between her legs was happening to her again.
“Oh, you do!” Antoinette cried happily. She put her head closer and said in conspiratorial tones, “Well, just you remember how you feel when Mr Grayling pays you attention, and compare that with how you might feel if Dr Horne would have you do for him those same things, which is exactly what he’d do—and more—if he made you his wife. It’s one thing to reel in a man but you want to make sure he’s the right one when your future happiness depends upon it.”
Chapter 13
THE moment Aunt Minerva stepped into Lord Quamby’s drawing room she turned a beaming countenance towards Thea who was chatting with her cousins and, with ample bosom heaving, demanded, “And who shall you be masquerading as, my dear? I hope you’ve given due consideration to the matter for I shall be mightily put out if you’re not ready when the carriage is due to leave.”
Her three nieces were struck dumb for a moment. Aunt Minerva was positively glowing.
“I…thought we weren’t going to any masquerades, Aunt Minerva?” Thea fingered the locket at her neck while her thoughts wildly traversed the possibilities now opened up to her, and which surrounded the saviour of the article at her neck.
“It is true I said that…” Aunt Minerva twirled a lock of squirrel’s tail about her finger and looked coquettish as she settled her bulk into an armchair by the small fire, which she’d again demanded despite the warm weather. “However, it appears a certain gentleman wishes for my company.”
Thea and her cousins exchanged a look, which Thea immediately hoped had not been observed by her aunt. Fortunately Aunt Minerva was gazing at the intricate plasterwork on the ceiling, which Thea noticed now appeared to be a myriad of entwined cherubic-looking creatures. They reminded her of the wee babe she’d held the previous afternoon and to her utter astonishment her body exploded into longing, not divorced from a desire to be similarly entwined in Mr Grayling’s embrace.
Good Lord, where had that come from?
Swallowing, she whispered, “I haven’t given a thought to my costume, aunt.”
Both Fanny and Antoinette cried out in unison, “Oh, but I have just the thing for you, Thea!”
And within moments the girls were hastening her upstairs, trying to contain themselves before all but bursting their seams upon the large four-poster in Fanny’s bedchamber.
“A gentleman wishes for my company,” Antoinette mimicked, leaping to her feet and sticking her chin in the air as she paraded about the room with the customary air of self-importance Aunt Minerva adopted.
She swung round to face the girls. “Who do you suppose this gentleman could be? Surely not the gentleman who rejected her a lifetime ago.”
“Mr Granville?” Thea frowned. “In fact, I do believe she’s got it into her head that he’s come to see the error of his ways and is about to throw himself upon her and beg forgiveness.”
“Then if that’s the case, do you suppose she wishes to reject him or to graciously hold him to her bosom?” asked Fanny.
“And crush the air out of him.”
Fanny and Antoinette looked at Thea who’d spoken, and suddenly burst out laughing. “Why, Thea, I didn’t know you had it in you to make a joke like that,” cried Fanny.
“Or to be so irreverent about the woman who has granted you such kindness and generosity; a home and everything else you could possibly want to sustain you,” added Antoinette.
After some more shared hilarity, Thea who was now half lying on the bed while her cousins lounged in two chairs by the window, said with crinkled brow, “I think Aunt Minerva has reached a time in life where she wants to know that someone—perhaps some man—does feel something for her.” She was serious now. “I mean, she’s never been a beauty. She was brought up without brothers and sisters and she must have felt it keenly when, despite her fortune, no man offered for her.”
“Well, she would have you believe otherwise, though I don’t believe it, and that’s because she’s sharp tongued and selfish and it’s immediately apparent she’d want her way in everything,” declared Fanny. “S