Page 28 of The Smuggler & the Society Bride

‘Y-yes,’ Honoria stammered, knowing her face must be as scarlet as the hangings at the library windows.

Her aunt chuckled. ‘You mustn’t feel missish talking with me about it, child. Of course you are curious about such things! You were about to be married, after all; you must have thought about them. Or did Anne ever—’

‘No,’ Honoria interrupted hastily. ‘Mama never said anything.’

‘I don’t doubt it,’ Aunt Foxe said drily. ‘How are girls supposed to know what to expect, pray, if no one explains? Though perhaps the best explanation is a demonstration by a loving bridegroom.’ Her aunt arched an eyebrow. ‘And since I’m still unmarried, you’re probably wondering how I came to possess such a book.’

‘I wouldn’t be so presumptuous,’ Honoria said.

Aunt Foxe smiled. ‘No, I suppose you wouldn’t. Such a kind and discreet child, for all your passion and spirit. But I think perhaps it’s time I told you the whole story. Sit down, child.’

Still more than a little unsettled at being discovered mired in lust, Honoria followed her aunt to the sofa. For a long moment, that lady stared silently out the window toward the distant vista of the sea. Honoria began to think Aunt Foxe had reconsidered revealing anything, when at last Aunt turned back to face her.

‘Many years ago, while your mother was still a girl, I made my debut. My portion being one of the largest of any maiden then on the Marriage Mart—though it wasn’t yet called that— I was much sought-after. But I longed for a man who wanted more than my dowry and a connection to my prominent family. I wanted someone who would appreciate the unconventional spirit in me, the longing for something different and challenging that had always driven me, despite my mother’s best efforts to exterminate it.’ She paused and looked at Honoria. ‘Sound familiar?’

‘Why, yes!’ Honoria cried, surprised to find how much her aunt’s feelings had mirrored her own.

‘One day as my chaperone and I were headed for Bond Street, another vehicle tried to pass ours too closely and locked wheels. Over the protest of my governess, I climbed out to watch as they were disentangled. While the respective coachmen shouted, each blaming the other, a handsome young man in a naval uniform stepped over, called one of the grooms to assist him in disengaging them, then ordered the coachmen to proceed, as they were blocking the street. Since I was standing practically in his path when he walked out of the road, he bowed and I curtsyed.’

‘And you thanked him for his intervention?’

Aunt Foxe laughed. ‘I would have—but after that quick bow, he walked right past me!’

‘How disappointing!’ Honoria said, expecting a much more exciting denouement.

‘I quite agreed,’ Aunt Foxe said, a twinkle in her eye. ‘So I followed him into a haberdashery and thanked him there. At first he was hesitant to speak with a young lady of Quality to whom he had not been introduced.’ Her aunt gave a roguish smile. ‘You may not credit it, seeing me now, but in those days I was rather strikingly attractive and possessed of a certain charm.’

‘Indeed, I can easily believe it!’ Honoria said.

‘I persuaded him not only to make my acquaintance, but to accompany me and my chaperone for some ices, where, with some skilful questioning, I discovered he had just been made captain of his first ship.’

She paused, smiling dreamily off into the distance. ‘Members of his family had long followed the sea, and though gentry, were far beneath the Foxes socially. But after just that one meeting, I knew he was the only man for me. He was equally enthralled, though because of the difference in our stations, for a short time he resisted the attraction.’

‘But you soon persuaded him otherwise?’

‘Naturally. My mother, informed of the attachment, for I made no attempt to hide it, was predictably horrified. With my dowry, wit and beauty, she expected a great match for me—an earl, if not a duke. After ringing a peal over me and my poor chaperone, she forbade me ever to see Captain Phillip Manning again. Of course, I disobeyed her as soon as I could get a message to him to meet me the next day. On one of our secret rendezvous, looking ahead to our marriage, he bought me that book.’

Honoria tried to imagine Anthony presenting her with such a gift, and failed utterly. ‘Captain Manning truly was as unconventional as you!’ she said with a laugh.

‘Oh, we were perfectly matched in every way! At first, Phillip had hopes of bringing Mama around, for he was after all a gentleman by birth and so not entirely ineligible. Papa, I think, might have given his consent, but Mama, declaring Phillip nothing more than a jumped-up fortune-hunter, for everyone knew naval officers sought to marry heiresses solely to advance their careers, would have none of him. Convinced it was hopeless and with Phillip’s ship receiving sailing orders, since he’d declared his willingness to marry me even if I came to him penniless, we ran away, headed for Gretna Green.’

‘But you were discovered?’

Aunt Foxe nodded. ‘Mama’s brother forced Phillip at pistol-point to give me up. I was sent to the country in disgrace and Phillip went to sea with his ship. Despite my ruined reputation, Mama still hoped, with the inducement of my large dowry, to bring some gentleman up to scratch, but by this time I would have none of it. Sent to the most remote family estate in Northumberland, I declared I would neither return to London nor marry anyone but Phillip. When she locked me in my room to try to subdue my spirit, I escaped out the window, broke into the estate agent’s office and took some money, disguised myself as a boy and set off for Portsmouth, determined to engage lodgings and wait for Phillip’s return. Or to book passage on a ship that would take me to him, if I could determine where that might be.’

‘And did you?’ Honoria asked, enthralled.

Aunt Foxe shook her head. ‘Papa found me first and persuaded me to return to Northumberland, promising to prevail upon Mama to reconsider. My parents’ marriage was not a happy one. Papa, who’d always had a fondness for me, did not wish to have me sold into the same sort of arranged, loveless union   that family duty had forced upon him, regardless of the shrewish behaviour he would endure from my mother for opposing her.’

Her smile faded. ‘But his powers of persuasion were never put to the test. Phillip’s ship went down with all hands in a storm…’ she pointed out the window toward the wind-tossed sea ‘…somewhere out there, rounding the coast of Ireland. When I recovered enough from my devastation to think, I begged Papa to bring me to Land’s End, so I might go as near as I could get to the last place Phillip had been alive on this earth. We spent several weeks at the inn in Sennlack. Somehow, being here by the sea was comforting, and while I struggled with my grief, I fell in love with the sea, the cliffs, the coast. Convinced I would never marry, I determined to settle here.’

‘And your Papa permitted it?’

‘Not at once. Mama, of course, was appalled, but Papa remained adamant that if, after a year, I was still as set as ever upon that course, he would grant my wish. So a year later, he settled half my dowry on me, giving me complete control of it with no trustees to interfere. I built this house, and except for a few visits elsewhere, have lived here ever since.’

‘And you never met anyone else you wished to marry?’

‘No one for whom I was willing to give up the independence Papa had so kindly granted me.’ She smiled. ‘Until I settled here and assumed the direction of my own life, I never fully realized how restricted I’d been by the conventions Society places upon girls of good family. Another characteristic I believe we share?’

Honoria thought of the times beyond number she’d wished to have the freedom, the opportunities, the challenges permitted Hal. ‘Indeed!’

‘However, though I set my face against marriage, I still experienced the urges of the body, for which that handy book, and a few others like it discovered later, served as useful guides. Just because I didn’t wish to marry, doesn’t mean I wanted to permanently deny myself all the pleasures of the flesh.’

‘You mean that you…Aunt Foxe!’ Honoria gasped.

‘Come now, why so shocked?’ her aunt reproved. ‘Do you think your elder brother came to his marriage bed untouched? Why should women be censured for indulging desires Society gives men the freedom to savour? Desires that, if I’m not mistaken, you’ve experienced yourself, or you’d not have found Mr Aristotle’s tome quite so fascinating. Am I right?’

There seemed little reason to deny the truth. ‘Yes.’

‘I also suspect those desires have been inspired by a certain dashing young captain. Who, I believe, is equally enthralled by you. I trust you had a very fine walk on the cliffs with Captain Hawksworth and the child?’

Honoria blinked. ‘You knew about that already?’

‘Tamsyn is the daughter of the innkeeper at whose establishment the captain resides. She takes a very personal interest in keeping track of him.’

Honoria groaned. ‘I hope that won’t cause problems among the staff.’

‘Oh, I expect not. She’s always seen the captain as a dashing hero far beyond her touch. And she likes and admires you. The question is, what do you intend to do about this…partiality?’

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