‘You’re quite the expert on, ah, stroke technique,’ Lady Meacham murmured, her body angling subtly so that her breasts brushed the sleeve of his coat in discreet invitation.
‘I’m an expert at a great many things, Lady Meacham,’ Riordan replied in private tones.
‘Perhaps you should call me Sarah.’ She tapped his sleeve playfully with her furled fan. ‘You’re so well informed. I must ask, do you paint, yourself?’
‘I dabble a bit.’ He’d painted with more aspiration than dabbling once upon a time. But somewhere between then and now, painting had stopped occupying a central place in his life, much to his regret and to his surprise. He couldn’t recall how it had happened, only that he no longer painted.
Lady Meacham, Sarah, looked up at him from beneath long lashes, a smug smile playing on her lips. ‘And what is it that you paint?’ This conversation was going precisely where they both intended it. Riordan had his response ready.
‘Nudes, Sarah. I paint nudes. They tell me it tickles.’ Lady Meacham gave a throaty laugh at his naughty innuendo, the final confirmation she was willing to forgo Somerset House’s over-heated Great Room for a more comfortable address off Piccadilly and his brushes.
Her hand lingered overlong on his sleeve in a communication of familiarity. ‘There really is no speck of decency in you, is there?’
Riordan covered her gloved hand with his, his voice a low leonine rumble for her alone. ‘Not a scrap, I’m afraid.’
Her eyes lit at the possibilities the phrase invoked, a coy, knowing smile on her kissable mouth. ‘I find that quality positively delicious in a man.’
She was more than willing and less than a challenge. It was somewhat disappointing she’d been caught so easily. Still, he should feel more excitement over the conquest, more desire. Sarah Meacham was a prize indeed. Her husband was out of town with his mistress and gossip at White’s had it she was looking to take her first lover since the birth of the ‘spare’ last autumn. There’d been bets laid as to who that lover would be.
He’d come up to town specifically to win that wager, in case anyone doubted there wasn’t a redeemable bone in his body. He couldn’t have it be said Riordan Barrett was losing his touch, that his brother, Elliott, had finally talked some sense into him. The fates had decreed that Elliott, the heir, was to be good, so very good, and Riordan, the spare, was to be bad, so very bad, a natural juxtaposition to his beloved brother’s goodness. So here he was, up to town early, cutting short a visit with his brother in Sussex, to swive another man’s wife and prove to everyone Riordan Barrett was as wicked as rumour reported.
It was all very sordid if one dwelled on the details long enough or if one didn’t have enough to drink. Over the last year, Riordan had discovered it was taking more and more of the latter to keep himself from doing the former. His silver flask was ever-present in his coat pocket and, right now, he was too sober for his preference.
Riordan reached for the flask, only to be interrupted by the approach of a footman bearing a silver salver and a sealed letter. ‘Milord, pardon the intrusion. This arrived for you with the utmost urgency.’
Riordan studied the letter with curiosity. He didn’t have an interest in politics or any business investments that required his attention. In short, he was definitely not the sort of man people sought out with any of the urgency implied by the footman. He broke the seal and scanned the four short lines scribed in inky precision by Browning, the family solicitor, then re-read them in the hope that repetition would make the note any less fantastical, any less horrifying.
‘Not bad news, I hope?’ Lady Meacham enquired, her hazel eyes wide with concern, proving he looked as pale as he felt.
Not bad news—the worst news. The news would be all over London within a day, but London wouldn’t hear it from him. He wasn’t ready to dissemble to his latest affaire in the midst of the Academy art show. Riordan gathered his remaining senses and fixed Lady Meacham with a rakish smile to mask his roiling, rising emotions. ‘My dear, I regret my plans have changed.’ He gave a short, sardonic bow. ‘If you’ll excuse me? It seems I have become a father.’
He’d reach for his flask, but there seemed little point. There wasn’t enough brandy in the world to ease this. He was going to need help. He’d take any he could get.
Chapter One
‘I’ll take anything you have.’ Maura Harding sat ramrod straight with her gloved hands folded demurely in her lap. She strove to sound affable instead of desperate. She wasn’t desperate. Maura forced herself to believe the near-fiction. If she didn’t believe it, no one else would. Desperation would make her an easy target. People could sense desperation like dogs smelled fear.
According to the small watch pinned to her bodice, it was half past ten in the morning. She’d come straight from the mail coach to Mrs Pendergast’s Referral Service for Young Ladies of Good Breeding and she needed a position by nightfall. She’d been right on schedule up to this point—the point where Mrs Pendergast peered over the rims of her spectacles and hesitated.
‘I don’t see any references.’ Mrs Pendergast’s impressive bosom heaved in disapproval as she made her pronouncement.
Maura drew a deep breath, silently repeating the mantra that had sustained her on the long journey from Exeter: In London there would be help. She would not give up now simply because she had no references. After all, she’d known this would be a likely obstacle. ‘It’s my first time seeking a position, ma’am.’ First time using an assumed name, first time travelling outside of Devonshire, first time on my own … quite a lot of firsts, Mrs Pendergast, if you only knew.
Mrs Pendergast’s brows went up in an expression of doubt. She set down Maura’s carefully written paper and fixed Maura with an uncompromising stare. ‘I do not have time to play games, Miss Caulfield.’ The false name sounded, well, false to Maura, who had spent her whole life being Miss Harding. Could Mrs Pendergast tell? Did it sound as false to her? Did she suspect?
Mrs Pendergast rose to indicate the interview was over. ‘I am very busy. I’m sure you did not fail to notice the crowded waiting room full of young ladies with references, all eager to be placed in households. I suggest you try your luck elsewhere.’
This was a disaster. She could not leave here without a position. Where else would she go? She knew of no other referral agencies. She knew of this one only because one of her own governesses had mentioned it once. Maura thought quickly. ‘I have something better than references, ma’am. I have skills.’ Maura gestured towards the discarded paper. ‘I can do fine needlework, I can sing, I can dance, I can speak French. I can even paint watercolours.’ Maura paused. Her accomplishments did not seem to impress Mrs Pendergast.
When reasoning failed, there was always begging. ‘Please, ma’am, I have nowhere else to go. You must have something? I can be a companion to an elderly lady, a governess to a young girl. I can be anything. Surely, there’s one family in London that needs me.’
It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. London was a big city with far more opportunities than those offered in the remote Devonshire countryside outside Exeter where everyone knew everyone, a situation Maura was trying very hard to avoid. She didn’t want to be known, although she was fast discovering that choice came with its own consequences. She was now officially a stranger in a strange place and her carefully concocted plan was in jeopardy.
It worked. Mrs Pendergast sat back down and opened a desk drawer. ‘I might have something.’
She rifled through the drawer and pulled out a folder. ‘It’s not exactly a “family” situation. None of those girls out there will take it. I’ve already sent five governesses in the last three weeks. All have left.’
With those ominous words, Mrs Pendergast pushed the file towards her.