Page 5 of The Reclusive Earl's Scandal
Rebecca fell silent, nodding. “Yes. Indeed, I fear that is what I need to do, no matter what it takes.”
“How, though?” Her friend asked.
Behind Mary, Catherine played, listening in, but Rebecca recognized the furrow in her brow as well as her scheming face. Her blonde hair, styled back into a pretty updo, caught the sunlight spilling into the music room, while Mary’s own brunette hair was pulled into a low bun at the nape of her neck. They were all rather opposites, friends pulled together through finding husbands in a sea of debutantes.
Except I am not a debutante. Not anymore. I am three and twenty, and my time is running out.
“I must charm him enough to fall in love with me so greatly that he will not question my finances,” Rebecca decided as though it would be easy. Heavens, she knew it would not be at all, but she spoke on as if she had it worked out. “Yes, that is it. I will—I will charm him well.”
“Do you think using your father’s title will work?” Catherine asked.
“Perhaps,” she said. “If word has not travelled of his habits, then I still have a chance.”
Her friends nodded, but the silence was thick enough that it made her doubt her confidence. The two of them were also looking for husbands. Catherine had debuted last Season, but left society due to an unfortunate bout of illness, and Mary had been overlooked by other debutantes simply for being a bit more of a wallflower.
Their fathers, of course, were not pleased at the delay.
“My father has been rather angry, lately,” Rebecca said, thinking aloud, piecing more of his behavior together. “More forceful in my success this Season. He is more insistent than ever, and it makes sense as to why. He is likely hoping I marry a rich husband with whom he can no doubt enter some business venture, promise investment, reap the rewards and…”
And leave me bearing the humiliation of explaining it all when my father would not pay his share.
Rebecca chewed on her lip, frowning down at the smooth, shining surface of the pianoforte. Catherine’s tune was pretty and distracting, helping her to think.
But then Mary’s next question was voiced, knocking everything off-kilter: “What of Harry Maudley?”
Rebecca’s heart rate spiked at the mention of the man she’d harbored affection for. “What of him?”
Catherine stopped playing, looking on in interest. “Harry Maudley, as in Mr. Maudley from the music shop? The one who fixed my father’s broken violin last year?”
“That is him,” Rebecca confirmed. She had not spoken in length about her interaction with the man who was far below her social rank, yet she had met him when she was younger, the two of them the same age. Mrs. Maudley had been Rebecca’s tutor, and had often brought her son with her when they could not afford anybody to watch over him.
The two had grown up giggling in the library, with Rebecca sneaking him sweet treats after lunch.
“I suppose… well, Ihadpossessed intentions to try my chances with him,” she said sadly. “We have flirted with one another at length, and I confess I had been thinking of marrying him. I think we could have a very simple, lovely life together. I would have brought a sum of money to the marriage, and we would have continued to fall in love.” The words sounded so foolish when she said them aloud. She thought of Harry’s tight curls, his kind, easy smile, and the way he never once let a silence go unfilled. “My father would not approve of me marrying someone so lower class than me, but up until now I had not cared.”
“Oh, Rebecca,” Mary sighed, reaching for her hand. “I am so sorry.”
She shook her head quickly. “Nothing has happened between us, after all. Nothing official, at least. I do suspect he has hopes of asking me to be more with him, but our class difference puts him off. His mother was a stern tutor—she has likely filled his head with the thought that I am too high to notice him in such ways.”
And it was not true, of course. Rebecca didn’t want to care so much about all of that. She just wanted to settle and be happy. Thetonwas a maze, and she had wielded it well so far. Shewas learning every dangerous path and how to avoid them, and she was building her knowledge of how to trick her way into the center to find what sort of prize awaited her.
Harry Maudley would not be that prize, though.
He didn’t attend balls, and he couldn’t provide for her the way she had now realized she needed to be provided for.
Rebecca sighed. “I need a husband who can not only take care of me, but hopefully provide some stability to get my family back into good financial graces. My parents would never support me wedding Harry, but now I fear I cannot support myself with it, either. I need a financial backup, someone to support me when I cannot. When my father cannot.”
“That should not be your responsibility,” Mary mumbled, toying with a length of ribbon in her lap, tugged loose from her hair without her quite realizing.
“It should not,” Rebecca agreed sadly. “But I must take it on regardless. I cannot see my family go destitute. This Season, I must find myself a husband. It will only be a convenient arrangement, of course. I do not have to love him, nor him me, in order to be provided for.”
“A loveless match?” Mary echoed; her voice dismayed. “Rebecca, but a love match is something you have wanted!”
“Who cares for love if she has not two coins to rub together?” Catherine finally spoke up again. Her own tone was tight and clipped, and she set a fierce gaze on Rebecca. “I shall help you find a good husband. No doubt your parents will involve themselves, but I will also scope the next ballroom for you. My father has good connections, and I will make use of them to ensure you dance only with the richest men who will want to shower you with wealth.”
“Of course, but pleasedomake sure they are at least not old enough to be my father.” Rebecca winced at her blunt request, and Catherine only laughed, tipping her head back. Speakingwith her friends had already helped, and it would do more wonders, for Avery House’s housekeeper called them to say their tea was set-up in the garden.
The three of them ventured outside, Catherine already telling her about the upcoming ball at the Montgomery residence in a week’s time. Lady Montgomery notoriously held the first ball of the Season, and she would continue her tradition.
