A Jolly Little Scandal
SENSUAL SCANDALS – PREQUEL 0.5
TABETHA WAITE
For Dawn Brower who invited me to join this set which turned into a brand new series! Something so simple got the wheels of imagination turning.
One
London, England
December 1823
“It appears that we’re causing quite a stir, ladies,” Miss Araminta Bevelstroke said sarcastically as she took a seat in the Duke of Marlington’s private box at the Theatre Royal. Although, with the recent death of her half-sisters’ shared sire, she supposed it now belonged to them.
She lifted her opera glasses to her gray eyes and surveyed the assemblage with a twitch of her lips. She could feel the haughty stares on them, telling them that they didn’t belong, but she didn’t really care because honestly… they did. Their blood was as blue as any single one of the ladies here, gossiping behind their twittering fans. The only difference was that they had chosen to move to London and live together under one roof at number twenty-five Grosvenor Square without a “proper” chaperone.
“We are the latest novelty, Minty.” Isadora’s dry voice came from next to her. She was the eldest of the Bevelstroke sisters at eight and twenty. “Four sisters with different mothers who have found means in which to live independently without the ties of marriage? Why, the drawing rooms are a veritable beehive of activity that we should prefer this sort of meaningless existence.” Her lips lifted at the corners. “We will be creating a stir for some time, I imagine.”
“I agree with Isa,” Calliope tossed her red hair and added to the conversation from where she sat behind her two elder siblings. “Since this is our first public outing, we’ll likely be in the papers tomorrow, even though we moved in just yesterday afternoon.” She turned to the quiet blond woman at her side who had yet to voice an opinion. Olivia was the youngest of the Bevelstroke women. At only eighteen years of age, she was barely out of the schoolroom. “Surely you have an opinion, Livy?”
The girl shrugged. “Not particularly—”
Araminta waved a hand and interjected, “The excitement will die down soon enough, once another scandal arises to take its place. I daresay it won’t be long before some unsuspecting heiress is tempted by a charming gentleman to travel down the road to ruin on Scandal Lane.”
“Ah, yes. Scandal Lane,” Isadora murmured. “Many women have been brought down by that notorious path in Hyde Park.”
“Then perhaps we should take a stroll there some afternoon and see what all the fuss is about,” Calliope suggested, as she leaned forward with a wicked gleam in her gaze.
Araminta rolled her eyes, for their red-haired sister had always been rather daring when it came to… well, just about anything. She had been the hoyden who had tucked her skirts into her waist and climbed trees with a daring display of more than just her ankles. Entire legs had been visible and her exploits had caught the attention of several of the village boys, much to their father’s dismay.
But if there was one thing the Duke of Marlington was known for, it was the love and patience he’d had for all four of his daughters. He had gracefully ignored the fact that he was known as the Black Widower with the deaths of four wives from various ailments.
Isadora’s mother had been the first duchess, and although she had been an accomplished horsewoman, she had died of a broken neck in a fall from her favorite mount when her daughter was just a year old.
Araminta’s mother was next. She died of a fever the year Araminta turned three, but she was told her mother’s health had always been rather frail.
Next, came Calliope. Her mother left the earth when Calliope was six months old after suffering from a weak heart following her birth.
Olivia’s mother didn’t even live long enough to see her daughter, for she perished on the birthing bed.
After mourning four wives, the duke decided that he was through trying to beget an heir and that he wished to spend the rest of his life in peace with his beloved girls. He became a devoted father and never pressured them into marriage like many men of the aristocracy were wont to do. In the face of such grief, he had been rather lenient with their upbringing, some would claim too much so, and encouraged them to find their own way, even if marriage wasn’t part of the bargain.
Granted, he had employed a governess, although the sisters never went away to school, the duke choosing to teach them how to run a proper estate instead. As if they were the true heirs that would take over upon his demise, which they all knew would be impossible since it had to be a male. While Araminta had never been certain who would take over the dukedom after their father’s passing, she prayed it would be someone who would take care of the tenants’ needs, just as their sire had.
When their father had died the previous summer, Araminta and her sisters had wept for days, his acute loss felt by all of them. Six months later, when they had come out of mourning, his will had been read by the London solicitor. He told them that the duke had saved each of their mother’s dowries for their personal use and bequeathed the townhouse in London to them, which wasn’t entailed, so they had begun to pack up their things to begin a new life, each vowing that they would honor their father’s memory by continuing to be the independent women he’d taught them to be.
Araminta glanced down at her bright red satin gown and decided that this display of rebellion was her first act as a six and twenty-year-old self-reliant woman of theton.She would love to have the chance to be a role model to other women who wished for the same sort of individualism. And she intended to start an afternoon tea for like-minded ladies for just that purpose at the earliest opportunity.
With that goal in mind, she sat back in her seat and settled in to enjoy the rest of the play.
Greyson Hartfield,the Earl of Somers, narrowed his eyes as he turned to the gentleman next to him. “Do you think the rumors are true, that those women are Marlington’s daughters?”
Sebastian didn’t even lift his head where it was laid back against his seat, although he did open an eye and peer back at his companion through a slit lid. “I can’t really say since I was enjoying a bit of relaxation until I was interrupted.”
Grey rolled his eyes and muttered, “I don’t know why you bother attending the theatre if all you do is sleep through the performance.”
Seb just shrugged his shoulders and said, “I come because I enjoy the flirtations to be had during intermission—” He paused with a decided tilt to his mouth. “Although backstage is where the real fun happens.”
