Malcolm stood and bowed. Shoving his hat back on his head, he exited his superior’s office. He whistled a sea shanty softly to himself as he walked down the quiet halls of Whitehall. A new wardrobe, lodgings that were not aboard ship, and an interesting task that was not the same damn thing he had been doing for the past five years. Just the break he needed from the humdrum of watching the shorelines. This was going to be fun.
Chapter Two
Adeline Amberley glancedtoward her volume ofNebulae and Stars, which sat stacked with her other finds from her last trip to the bookshop. If only she could lose herself in the text instead of thinking about how terribly embarrassing this all was. Astronomy was her refuge, her passion. Mathematical calculations made sense, unlike the mysterious intricacies of courtship and love. Across from her sat her two best friends in the world, their faces alight with mischievous glee. She could not believe that she had allowed herself to be talked into this scheme.
“Listen to this one. I’m particularly proud of it.” Lucy read out loud from the gossip pages of thePiccadilly Press. “Lady Amberley stepped down off the shelf to utilize her dusty flirting skills this past Saturday evening at the opera house. She was seen strolling on the arm of a handsome rake, who is a well-known friend of her brother’s. Friends to lovers, perhaps?”
“Does it have to be so mean?” Adeline asked.
Lucy nodded. “Miss Harper said it must be somewhat disparaging; otherwise, it would look like it was planted. Besides, readers enjoy the drama.”
Violet nodded. “I agree. It’s awful but true. Lucy, it is terribly nice that you now have a friend in the scandal business.”
“She is in the newspaper business.” Lucy frowned at Vi, but the stern look didn’t last more than a moment before a grin replaced it. “It is rather nice to be creating the gossip instead of being the target of it.”
“Ahem, what about me? I am the one who is being written about,” Adeline said.
“But only well-curated tidbits. We will have the opportunity to see if our little bits of gossip have had any impact when we all attend the Holdens’s ball on Friday evening.”
Adeline wrinkled her nose. “But it doesn’t even say who I was supposedly flirting with.”
“That’s the genius of it. Your brother has many eligible bachelor friends. It could be any one of them. We took a risk before, naming Lord Danvers in our first published piece, but he is forever in the scandal section, so he probably took no notice. This is so vague it won’t make anyone suspicious.”
“Think of this weekend’s ball as an opportunity to collect data for our experiment,” Violet said.
Her friends knew her too well. She must have been mad to allow them to place tidbits of gossip in the paper about her being seen with gentlemen, flirting, riding out alone—things she would never do—in the hopes of stirring up some male interest in her by tarnishing her reputation, just a bit. Alas, anything that would help her find a decent husband at this point was worth pursuing. If she didn’t find a suitor soon, her father would have her married to Lord Bellamy. She had overheard her father speaking with her brother George about how he owed the man a debt and that Bellamy had his eye on her as payment.
Adeline hadn’t been surprised; her father held no affection for her. He simply saw her as another asset for him to use. But knowing this didn’t prevent panic from rising in her chest. He would marry her off no matter that Bellamy was three times her age. Thankfully, George had argued on her behalf and convinced her father to allow her a couple months until Christmastide to find a suitably wealthy husband before he promised her to Bellamy.
This was why when Lucy came up with the idea to create interest in her, Adeline agreed. As she was an inveterate wallflower, men never noticed her. She was no great beauty, and when she was thrust into conversation with the opposite sex, she never had any idea what to say. In general, a hopeless case.
Violet had thought the whole scheme a brilliant idea. Then, her two friends carefully chose men who were well-known rakes, men who made the gossip pages so often that they would hardly pay attention to one more rumor, as targets for their bits of gossip. Or at least that was the hope. Goodness, what if she encountered one of these men at the Holdens’s ball? She would die of embarrassment.
“Hmmm, maybe he should be next,” Violet said as she leaned toward Lucy and pointed to a name in the paper.
Lucy nodded. “Yes, he might be perfect.”
Adeline glanced back and forth between the two women. “Who? What are you looking at?”
Violet read out loud. “Newly returned to London, the Marquess of Kingsbury attended dinner at Lord and Lady Quinton’s home Saturday evening. My sources described the naval commander as tall and handsome, with a crown of thick, wavy blond hair. Lord Kingsbury is back on shore in search of a wife to secure his title with an heir. The titled naval officer will surely capture the attention of this year’s debutantes.”
“New to town, he’ll likely be reading theThe Morning Postat first—everyone reads thePostat first,” Lucy said. “He has possibilities. We need to find out more about him. I will send a note to Elizabeth.”
Lucy’s good friend, Elizabeth Harper, was the editor of thePiccadilly Press. She had loved the idea of helping out a wallflower like Adeline, even though Adeline had never met the woman. Apparently, Miss Harper liked any intrigue that interfered with the status quo. She was a big believer in stirring the pot, so to speak. Adeline wished she was not the one trying to keep her head above water in said pot.
The description of Lord Kingsbury made her think of the handsome man from the bookstore. He had also been a tall, strapping naval officer. All week, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about his strong arm banded around her waist or how his broad shoulders had stretched the fabric of his dark blue jacket as he leaned casually against the bookshelf. His cheeky smile and bright green eyes had left her feeling quite topsy-turvy. Or perhaps that was just because she had fallen off the stool.
She gave her books another glance before she straightened her shoulders. This was no time to hide inside her studies. She must find a husband. She cared not a whit how handsome he be, as long as he had some intelligence. In her most secret moments, Adeline longed for a partner with whom she could have long conversations about astronomy and classical cultures. Someone who would be interested in what she had to say about the world. She sighed. But she would take kind and decent at this point. Beggers be choosers.
“Addy,” Violet said. “Did you hear what I said?”
Adeline focused back on the conversation at hand. “Sorry, no, I missed it.”
“I said, don’t worry. We will find you someone wonderful.”
Lucy nodded. “I won’t let your father ruin your life.”
Adeline offered her friends a small smile. “I can do this. I don’t know if I have flirting skills, dusty or otherwise, but I can carry on a conversation, for goodness’ sake.”
