To Seduce a Bride (Courtship Wars)

Strangely, the possibility disappointed her rather

than relieving her. She should be very happy to be rid of him.

Her regret was only temporary, Lily told herself. Heath’s absence would create something of a void in her life at the moment, since he’d been underfoot so much of late. But she would adjust. She couldn’t deny, however, that she had missed his presence over the past two days. Missed him teasing her and provoking her and arousing her-

Determinedly Lily cut off that train of thought. There was no point in dwelling on Heath’s plans for their courtship. Even so, she couldn’t help but wonder if their night of passion together had opened his eyes to her deficiencies. She knew very well, from Fanny and other sources, that a man’s carnal needs required fulfilling. And she was likely too inexperienced, too unskilled, too virginal, to satisfy a renowned lover like Heath.

Indeed, it was surprising that he had abstained for as long as he had.

Lily felt herself scowl as she remembered his terse declaration that he could find a mistress on his own, without her help. Perhaps he would do so now if he’d decided she wasn’t worth pursuing any longer.

The notion of him making love to a new mistress made Lily’s stomach churn and lowered her spirits even further.

Chiding herself for being a fool, she set down the newspaper and rose, deciding to go up to her bedchamber to fetch the book Heath had brought her about travels in the South Seas. She had read it through once but had had little time to study it in depth, and the narrative was indeed fascinating, just as he’d promised.

However, as she mounted the front staircase and reached the second floor landing, Lily heard the unmistakable sound of sobbing coming from down the corridor on her right. Turning that way, she followed the sounds to an open door.

It was the bedchamber that Peg Wallace shared with two other lodgers. To her surprise, she found Peg sitting on one of the beds, her arm around a weeping young woman-one of the boarders who hadn’t found a patron at the soiree, Betty Dunst.

Betty was crying inconsolably, low racking sobs that seemed to be dredged up from the bottom of her soul.

When Lily entered tentatively, Peg looked up, her eyes bleak with sadness. “We are sorry to disturb you, Miss Loring. I meant to shut the door.”

“Is Betty injured?” Lily asked quietly, approaching the bed.

Peg gave a savage grimace, while Betty wailed harder and buried her face in her hands. “You might say so,” Peg replied. “She is with child.”

Lily hesitated, not having any experience in such matters. “Is there any way I may help?”

Grimly Peg shook her head. “I doubt so, Miss Loring. You are too fine a lady. But you are kind to offer,” Peg added quickly.

Sitting beside Betty, Lily placed a gentle hand on the girl’s shoulder. “At least tell me what is upsetting you so terribly.”

Nodding shakily, Betty drew several deep breaths in an effort to control her weeping and wiped at her streaming eyes with the handkerchief she held clutched in her hand. “It is just…that I…don’t know what to do. I can’t keep the child. What will become of me if I try? When my belly swells too big…I cannot work.”

Betty, Lily knew, was employed at a nearby gentleman’s club that was little more than a high-class brothel, and had worked there for two years. Betty was the daughter of the head gardener on a large estate in Dorsetshire. When she’d let herself be seduced by a groom at the estate, her father had cast her out of his house, so she came to London. She’d nearly starved before finding a position selling her body in a pleasure house. It was that or perish.

“And the father?” Lily asked. “Could he help?”

Betty gave another hoarse sob. “I don’t know who the father is. It could be any one of a dozen coves. And none of them would care a fig about a bastard whelp.”

Lily bit her tongue, realizing how naive her question had been. And she was at a loss for something further to say.

Betty went on tearfully lamenting her plight. “I’ll have no blunt to pay for my board, and no income for months, and Miss Delee will throw me out on the streets, and I will have nowhere to go-”

“She will do no such thing, Betty,” Lily murmured.

“But even if she allows me to stay, what will I do with a baby? How can I care for it?”

When her voice broke again, Peg interrupted softly. “Betty knows she will have to visit a midwife soon. That is why she is crying.”

Comprehending what Peg meant, Lily felt her stomach clench. “You want to have the baby, Betty?”

“Yes…even if I don’t know who the father is. But I don’t see how. I can’t go back to the streets. I can’t put an innocent child through that. I don’t want my baby to know what it is like to be so hungry, your stomach feels as if it is caving in. To be so desperate you want to die. I cannot do that, Miss Loring. I would rather kill it now.”

When Betty began weeping into her hands again, Lily stroked her back gently, trying to offer comfort. Her heart ached for the girl, and she knew she couldn’t allow Betty’s misery to continue.

“Betty…you must stop crying before you make yourself ill. Listen to me. We will find a solution somehow. I have friends whom I can persuade to help you. We will find someone to take you in so that you may have the baby and not worry about his future.”