Page 12 of A Scandalous Bargain
Beatrix clasped her hands together in her lap and squeezed. At last, she could claim a crowning achievement for the Season. She’d begun to think it wouldn’t be possible—they’d come to the Season late and they hadn’t known anyone who could advocate for them to a patroness.
“Thank you,” Beatrix said earnestly. She released her hands and flattened her palms on the chair on either side of her.
“Don’t thank me. Mama has been working on her friend who is cousin to one of the patronesses, but she wasn’t sure it was going to happen. All of a sudden, this morning she received word that you were approved. Your vouchers should arrive later this afternoon. Truthfully, Mama isn’t sure what tipped the scale in your favor, but it doesn’t matter!”
Selina cast Beatrix a look of veiled distress. “Are the vouchers for tonight?” The balls were every Wednesday evening. Beatrix was going to need a new gown, and there would be no time to procure one for tonight.
“I believe they’re for the entire month of June,” Rachel said.
Beatrix exchanged relieved glances with Selina. “Oh good, I don’t think I could be prepared to go tonight.”
“I’m so glad I was able to deliver the news in person.” Rachel settled back against the settee. “Now we should discuss the wedding—though not in too much detail. Mama made me promise we would save the majority of the discussion for this Friday when you come for luncheon al fresco. Have you and Harry decided where you’ll live?”
“For now, we’ll live here, though he has expressed his desire to find a larger house,” Selina said. This house was rather small, and they were only leasing it through the Season. Harry’s house was no larger, and he’d insisted it was easier for him to move than for Selina to do so. As it was, he stole into Selina’s bedchamber most nights, so he almost lived here already.
The conversation turned to Selina’s dress and then the preliminary plans for the wedding breakfast that Harry’s parents were hosting.
“Mama can’t wait to present you to all of her friends,” Rachel said. “But I suppose you’ll meet many of them at your brother’s ball.”
Selina’s brother, Rafe, who’d also elevated himself from their background of thievery in East London, was now a wealthy gentleman with an opulent house on Upper Brook Street. They’d decided it was easiest to explain that Selina and Rafe were Beatrix’s half-siblings and that they shared a mother. It was, if Beatrix were honest, a bloody tangle and she sometimes feared she would spoil the ruse by misspeaking.
Rafe had come to Harry and Selina’s engagement dinner for the family at Lord and Lady Aylesbury’s the other night and expressed his desire to host an engagement ball. It was to be a masquerade and would be held a week from Friday. The invitations had already gone out. Beatrix wished Rockbourne could come.
“I’m quite looking forward to that,” Rachel was saying. “I’ve long wanted to see the interior of the house your brother recently obtained.”
Rafe had purchased one of the grandest houses on the street and was hurriedly completing renovations before the ball. It was to be his introduction to Society as much as it was Selina’s and Beatrix’s. Most importantly, he’d invited Beatrix’s father. Beatrix just hoped the duke came.
It could very well be the night that changed her life. Just thinking of it made her heart speed with anticipation.
They discussed the ball for a few more minutes before they returned to the actual wedding, which would be held at St. George’s in Hanover Square. “It’s going to be lovely,” Rachel said as she looked to Selina. “How does Harry feel about being married where he arrested a groom less than a week ago?”
“A trifle odd,” Selina responded.
That groom was, of course, Rockbourne’s brother-in-law. Thankfully, the arrest had happened prior to the wedding. Nevertheless, the bride, Miss Anne Pemberton, was still embroiled in the scandal. “It’s highly unfair that Miss Pemberton is suffering because of her betrothed’s actions,” Beatrix said. “Hewas the extortionist.”
“Yes, well, some—notme—think she should have shown better judgment,” Rachel scoffed. “Women are always held to different standards. Take Chamberlain’s sister. Her death is an absolute tragedy, but everyone knows she was difficult and perhaps even unfaithful. Does anyone blame Rockbourne for marrying her?”
“They don’t?” Beatrix asked. Society fascinated her, but mostly she just wanted to know about Rockbourne.
Rachel shook her head, making a moue of disdain. “Of course not. As I said, different standards.”
Beatrix couldn’t keep herself from pursuing the topic. “Shouldhe have known better?”
“I have no idea, but the point is that if the roles were reversed, Lady Rockbourne would have been to blame while Rockbourne was revered. In fact, who’s to say what the truth of the matter was. Rockbourne has always been a bit of an enigma, and while rumors of Lady Rockbourne’s infidelity are well known, perhaps they are just that—rumors.”
Beatrix knew they weren’t. Unless Rockbourne had lied to her, and she didn’t think he had.
“Regardless, I feel terrible for him,” Selina said softly.
Rachel nodded in agreement. “It’s very sad. I daresay he won’t have trouble finding a new viscountess. After he mourns, of course. But that’s another way in which men and women are held to different standards. Because Rockbourne is a man with a title and no heir, he’ll be expected to replace his wife. And since he has a daughter to care for, he can do so in short order. If Rockbourne had died, Lady Rockbourne would have to shut herself away for months. In truth, no one would blink if she never remarried.” Rachel smiled. “On second thought, maybe that is an advantage.”
“I thought you were happily wed,” Selina said.
“Oh, I am!” Rachel rushed to say. “I just mean that in widowhood, a woman can enjoy a freedom other women can’t.” She looked over at Selina. “But you know that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Selina murmured, her gaze dropping to her lap.
The lie of widowhood had given her and Beatrix the ability to come to London and enter Society in a manner they could not have if they’d both been unmarried.
