To Seduce a Bride (Courtship Wars)

Betty’s sobs arresting suddenly, she looked up, her expression half fearful, half hopeful. “Oh, Miss Loring…do you think you could?”

“I am certain of it,” Lily said convincingly. “If nothing else, I will supply the funds myself for you to raise your child.”

“Oh, Miss Loring,” she breathed. “You are an angel. No one is so good as you. But I could never ask you to pay my way. I can work-I am happy to work for my living.”

Lily searched the girl’s blotched, earnest face, recognizing the sentiment: Betty wanted independence, not charity. Just as the Loring sisters had always wanted.

“Then I think we must find you gainful employment,” Lily said. “What sort of work are you best suited for?”

“I am good with flowers…growing them, I mean. I was used to acting as my da’s assistant from the time I could walk.”

“Well, I will see what I can do. For now, why don’t you wash your face and lie down? Weeping cannot be good for the baby.”

“I know.” Her tears had quieted by now, and Betty sniffed as she wiped her eyes with the handkerchief. “But I cannot lie down, Miss Loring. I am supposed to report to work in a short while. The madam will turn me off for cert if I am late, and then I will be in a worse fix than I am now.”

Frowning, Lily shook her head. “You cannot continue to work there when you are with child. No, Betty, you are not to return to your club. Tomorrow you can give notice, but just rest now and don’t worry about the future. I will let you know as soon as I think of something.”

Fresh tears sprang to Betty’s eyes as she looked at Lily almost reverently. “Thank you, Miss Loring. I cannot thank you enough-”

“You needn’t thank me, my dear. It is no more help than a very kind lady once offered my sisters and me,” Lily said, thinking of Winifred and how, because of her generosity in funding the Freemantle Academy for Young Ladies, they had been able to have lives far different from the one poor Betty had endured. “I am only trying to extend her kindness.”

Patting Betty’s shoulder comfortingly, Lily rose and started to turn toward the door. But then Peg’s quiet voice stopped her. “Miss Loring?”

“Yes?”

Lily waited while Peg slowly stood up. She seemed hesitant, her gaze lowered as she plucked at her skirt. Finally she swallowed. “Miss Loring…do you think it would be possible…” She cleared her throat. “That is, would your friends…be willing to find respectable employment for me, perhaps?”

Lily regarded Peg with a quizzical look. Her tale was somewhat similar to Betty’s in that both girls had found themselves on the streets, forced to fend for themselves. Except that Peg had worked in a noble household in London as a lady’s maid. When her lordly master had cornered her in a drunken stupor and kissed her against her will, his lady-wife had caught them together and dismissed Peg without a character. Unable to find respectable work without proper references, Peg had found employment as a ballet dancer with the Royal Opera, although she’d been hired for her exquisite beauty rather than her meager dance skills.

Peg’s request was puzzling, however, since she had just garnered a very wealthy baronet as a protector.

“I thought you were pleased with the arrangement you made with Sir Robert,” Lily said slowly.

“I am pleased, Miss Loring. I mean…Sir Robert is a better patron than I ever hoped for. But I…I don’t really want to be his mistress. Truth to tell, I hate it,” she said in a low ardent voice. “I was a good girl before I became a demirep. And when I must sin that way…Sometimes I want to die, too.”

Lily felt herself flinch as a sharp knife of guilt stabbed her. She had thought Peg was merely painfully shy, not that she was so dreadfully unhappy.

“I never realized, Peg,” Lily murmured, feeling a little sick inside. “I am sorry I encouraged you to join our lessons, or helped prepare you for the soiree. I thought it was what you wanted.”

“Oh, no, Miss Loring…that wasn’t my meaning! I don’t want you to think I didn’t appreciate your lessons. I did. If I must earn my living on my back, it is far better to serve a rich gentleman. No, you were wondrous, teaching us all how to better ourselves. But if I could quit this life, I would, and gladly. And if you could help me…I would be ever so grateful.”

Lily couldn’t speak for a moment; her throat had closed with the threat of tears when she considered the plight of these poor women. Their lives were a constant struggle; they had no family, no future, with little hope of happiness or joy. But she could change that.

“Of course I will help you, Peg,” Lily declared, her voice thick with emotion. “There is no question that I will do everything in my power for you.”

Peg’s lips quivered in a tremulous smile. “I have learned one useful skill recently, at least. I’ve become

very clever with a needle, sewing costumes for my fellow dancers. I could perhaps work in a modiste’s shop as an apprentice…or as a dresser’s assistant.”

“Yes, Miss Loring,” Betty broke in earnestly, despite her own troubles. “Peg has a splendid eye for fashion. Why, she could create her own designs if she had the chance. You should see her sketches. They put La Belle Ensemble to shame.”

“I didn’t realize,” Lily said, impressed.

Peg blushed. “Well, I have no real training, but I designed a morning gown for Miss Delee last season, which she professed to be very pleased with.”

“I will arrange something, I promise you.”

It was a promise she would do her utmost to keep, Lily vowed moments later as she climbed the stairs to her own bedchamber, where she sat and stewed about what to do for Betty and Peg.