Page 1 of A Kiss Gone Wylde
PROLOGUE
Benedicta Wylde was lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking of nothing. Not as in she had no thoughts at all, but as in nothing ever happened in her life.Nothing. There was no excitement, no adventure, no flirtation.
It wasn’t that she was unhappy. She had a comfortable home, the company of her sister and often her cousins. Her parents did not harangue her in regards to her unwed state. Though surely they were of the same mind as everyone else. The Wylde Wallflowers, as they had been dubbed, were in that state even beyond spinsterhood. They were not simply unwed, but unweddable.
Even now, in the luxury and comfort of her aunt’s London home, with the season looming before them, she had no great hope of her lot improving. Charity and Felicity were the beauties with their curvaceous figures and blonde locks. Cordelia, her younger sister, was lovely as well, in a quieter way perhaps than their cousins. But as for Benny, she knew what she was. Thin with hardly any bosom to speak of, the figure of a preadolescent boy and plain brown hair that refused to be either curly or straight. It just hung about her face in some mutinous combination of the two and refused all attempts to dress it properly.
She was smart, she was witty—when she wasn’t with strangers—but alas, every one was a stranger because no one cared to converse with a group of Wallflowers. The gentlemen in attendance at parties thought them all lonely and desperate. The other ladies in attendance at parties thought their inability to land husbands was something contagious perhaps and would not risk their own daughters’ futures by encouraging acquaintances with them. In short, they were pariahs in their current city just as they had been pariahs in Bath. Changing locations had done nothing to change their lives.
So perhaps something more than a change of location was required? Perhaps it was time for a change in behavior, as well?
In the neighboring bed, her younger sister snored less than delicately. Then again, Cordelia did nothing delicately. Smaller in stature and more slight of figure than any of them, Cordelia always charged ahead like a bull.
Sighing heavily, Benny rolled onto her side. The curtains were drawn and she could see nothing outside. Of course, there was little to see that interested her at all. She was not a fan of London. To say the least, it was certainly not what she had expected.
They’d all had ideas about what the city might be like. For starters, social and romantic success had been envisioned by one and all. Felicity had succeeded on that front, but not without some difficulty. The rest of them would hardly be so lucky. Lightning, after all, rarely struck twice. At her age, she couldn’t even hear thunder from her position on the dusty shelf reserved for spinsters.
“Benny, what’s the matter?”
“Did I wake you?” Benny asked, sitting up in bed. She shrugged into her wrapper. “I’m sorry, Delia. I am a bit restless tonight. I’ll go downstairs to the library to read so that I don’t disturb you.”
“I can keep you company,” Delia offered. “I’ll warm some milk and perhaps scavenge some teacakes from the kitchen.”
Benny smiled. “No. You sleep. You will be unbearable tomorrow if you do not.”
Cordelia laughed. “You are correct, of course. I cannot even abide myself when I haven’t had enough rest.”
Benny walked toward the door to their shared chamber. “Rest, sister. I will come back to bed in a while… once I have quieted my mind.”
“Are you troubled, Benny? I know you were closer to Felicity than to any of us. You must be lonely without her here.”
“How could I be lonely with you and Charity to keep me company? I’m just out of sorts. I’ll be all right in the morning.” And she would be. Or she’d at least pretend to be. It would be selfish to let her melancholy ruin things for everyone else. “I’ll read for a bit and then come back to bed. Sleep well.”
Once in the corridor, the door closed softly behind her, Benny leaned back against the wall and let out a deep breath. Out here in the corridor, there was a window that opened onto the street and a bit of light came in. Just enough, she thought, that she could make it downstairs without needing a candle. Creeping along, one hand clinging tightly to the bannister and the other holding up the long skirts of her wrapper and nightgown, she reached the bottom without falling.
Whispered voices coming from the dining room halted her. Rather than be discovered and have to explain herself to yet another person, she ducked into the drawing room and pressed her back flat to the wall so that no one would see her. The maids, for they were close enough now to identify their voices, stepped into the corridor in a flurry of whispers and giggles.
“Vauxhall!” One exclaimed, too loudly to be considered a whisper.
“Shhh! Nancy, you must be quiet. If her ladyship hears that I snuck out to the pleasure gardens I will be sacked for sure!”
Suddenly the book in the library she’d been considering seemed infinitely less appealing than the drama playing out right there in the entryway of her aunt’s home. Peering around the staircase, she watched with rapt attention.
“Was it magical, Jenny?” The younger maid, Nancy, asked.
“Oh, it was,” the one called Jenny replied. With a giddiness about her that Benny envied, the young woman did a quick dance step or two, twirling over the marble floor. “Some of the most handsome men I have ever seen. And the ladies were dressed so scandalously… There were lights and jugglers and fire eaters. More colors and sounds in one place than I’ve ever heard. Music was everywhere. People danced on the floor that had been installed just for that purpose, but…” she paused for dramatic effect, “they danced along the paths, as well!”
Nancy gasped. “Oh, Jenny, you didn’t! Please tell me you did not go down the dark walk!”
Jenny giggled. “Oh, but I did. And it was glorious. He’s so handsome, Nancy. A lord and everything. He made me an offer..”
“An offer” Nancy squawked.
“Shush!” Jenny hissed. “And yes he offered so soon. I thought it would take much longer.”
“Cor! I never heard of it happening so fast. Will you accept?”
“Why else do you think I went to the pleasure gardens? A woman alone goes there for only one reason… to signify that she is available for… flirtation. I’ve no wish to be a maid in someone else’s house, Nance. And I knew that I was pretty enough to catch someone’s eye to spare myself that fate.”
