“Indeed, she did.”
They fell into silence until the next course arrived.
“One last thing on this subject,” Adam said. “Tell me if Fairclough bothers you any time you are without me. You are my wife now and thus, fully under my protection.”
“I will.”
He hoped Alice understood the value of having married into a close and powerful family.
Alice had been surprisedby her husband’s question. And the more she thought about it, the more she realized he must have asked someone about her. Hopefully, her new family didn’t know anything of her shameful past behavior. She was sure her new sisters-in-law had never acted with an ounce of impropriety.
All she could do was comport herself from then on in a way that would make Adam proud to be her husband. Before going out, she always told him where she was going, or at least made sure their affable butler knew.
And when she did venture onto the streets of London, she took her new lady’s maid, the sometimes sweet, sometimes salty Jillian. It had been years since she’d had a maid dedicated to her service. Having a person at her beck and call seemed odd, especially after being a governess when her household status had been nearly on the same level as the Beasleys’ house maids.
Regardless, Alice found herself chatting with Jillian from Ireland as if there was no difference between them, enjoying her company. If her old self, the debutante who had no female friends due to her own devilish behavior, could see her now, she would be shocked.
“I would like to purchase some cologne for Lord Diamond,” she told Jillian, and they headed along Jermyn Street to Floris. Despite the perfumier making her sniff every other fragrance in the shop until her head was light, Alice made her purchase of Adam’s familiar citrusy, woody, and amber scent.
As a clerk held the door open, Alice nearly walked directly into Gerald Fairclough, who was entering at the same time. Swallowing her alarm, she waited for him to step aside. When he didn’t, she tried to go around him. He blocked her to the left and then again, to the right, all the while scowling at her with such loathing, it made her skin crawl.
“Move aside,” she demanded, using her best supercilious tone despite a trickle of fear.
Cocking his head, he looked at the pretty bag she held in her hands, then at Jillian, and back again.
“It doesn’t matter what sweet scent you put on your body, Lady Fairclough, you will still smell like a whore.”
Jillian gasped. “Here now, you aren’t to speak to my mistress like that.”
Alice appreciated her maid’s quick defense, but she needed to stand up for herself.
Gerald sneered. “Is that too harsh a description for a woman who traded her virtue more than once until finding a man who fell for her pretty face? My besotted brother gave up a fine woman with an even finer fortune for you. And what did he get for it?”
Alice wasn’t going to trade barbs with Gerald, not when the clerks in the store behind her were undoubtedly listening, and Jillian was hanging on every word.
Her former brother-in-law was trying to strip her of her dignity as Lady Diamond, but she wouldn’t let him drag her into a battle of insults in the street.
Instead, she looked him in the eyes and again calmly said, “Move aside, or I shall call for a constable.”
His response was a bark of laughter. “I doubt you want to be anywhere near the Metropolitan police.”
His threat of persecution over how Richard died still unnerved her.
“Is that my new sister-in-law?” came a familiar voice.
Alice cringed, not wanting any of the Diamond females anywhere near Gerald Fairclough.
Adam’s flame-haired, green-eyed sister, the very image of her mother, managed to squeeze in past Gerald and stand directly beside him. He looked down at her with obvious curiosity.
“Greetings, Lady Radiance,” Alice said, wishing she had stayed home and sent her maid by herself to buy the wretched cologne. This outing was taking on all the traits of a music-hall farce.
“Radiance,” echoed Jillian, taking in the only red-haired Diamond sister. “And she is, too.”
Radiance sent her a friendly look, then focused on Alice. “I am so glad to have run into you. I know your problem. The streets here are filling with dung, and I find you trapped in a doorway by this pile of manure.”
Gerald’s expression turned thunderous. Naturally, Radiance took no notice.
“There is so much manure on our city streets, some say we’ll be buried in it five feet deep one day. I just read a letter to the editor ofThe Daily Newsfrom one Charles Cochrane, President of the National Philanthropic Association. He suggests a city-wide plan of using men and boys as street-orderlies like they use in Cheapside and Bishopsgate. Honest work for honest pay and entirely clean roads.”
