The Duchess of Haverford cast a practiced glance around the large room. As hostess, it was her task to ensure that all of her guests enjoyed themselves during the hour they allowed for social engagement after the monthly meeting of the Ladies Foundation for the Support and Encouragement of Gentlewoman Scholars, Artists and Artisans.
She narrowed her eyes at one group of ladies. Seated in a far corner, they had their heads together. Something about the way three of them leaned forward, eyes fixed on the fourth, set Eleanor’s hackles up.
The speaker was Lady Stanton—the Dowager Lady Stanton for a second time, since her widower son had recently remarried. Undoubtedly, she was sharing gossip and, knowing Lady Stanton, Eleanor was sure it would be unkind, and probably scandalous.
With a sigh, Eleanor set off around the room to see what damage was being done to someone’s reputation, and to try to set it right.
“So you see,” Lady Stanton was saying, “He is already regretting the match. I can only hope it is not too late to have the marriage annulled, for I could not countenance a divorce, even to remove That Woman from the family.”
Ah. The lady was attacking her new daughter-in-law again. “I find the new Lady Stanton to be charming,” Eleanor said, “and my son has nothing but praise for the way she conducts her father’s business.”
Lady Stanton was not so lost to propriety as to glare at the duchess, but Eleanor was sure she wanted to. Or perhaps not, for there was a gleam of triumph in her eyes. “She is in trade, like her father,” the nasty scold pointed out. “Not what a Stanton looks for in a wife.”
“Your son is old enough to make his own choices,” Eleanor reminded her.
“One would have thought so,” Lady Stanton said, the gleam appearing again. “But since his wife left him on their wedding night, I can only suppose that he is regretting that he did not listen to his mother.”
“Left him?” Eleanor asked. Her son Aldridge had met up with Lord Stanton the night before last, when both had been changing horses at a posting inn during that dreadful storm. “Went ahead of him to their country estate, rather, when Lord Stanton was called out on government business.”
“Is that what you heard, Your Grace?” Lady Stanton was now smiling with perverse satisfaction. “I think not.”
“We shall see,” Eleanor told her, coldly. “In the meanwhile, Lady Stanton, I am certain your son would not wish to hear that you have laundering the family linen in public.”
She retired with honours in the bout, but took a moment to say a prayer for the newly-weds. Where on earth could they have gone in such dreadful weather?
Lady Stanton is wrong. Her successor has not left her husband, but is on a mission to find her missing ship, or at least her undercover agent, who has escaped France and should have been aboard.
Lord Stanton’s Shocking Seaside Honeymoon: Cerise DeLand
She is so wrong for him.
Miss Josephine Meadows is so young. In love with life. His accountant in his work for Whitehall. Her father’s heir to his trading company—and his espionage network.
Lord Stanton cannot resist marrying her. But to ensure Wellington defeats Napoleon, they must save one of Josephine’s agents.
Far from home, amid a horrific storm, Stanton discovers that his new bride loves him dearly.
Can he truly be so right for her?
And she for him?
Storm & Shelter: A Bluestocking Belles Collection With Friends
When a storm blows off the North Sea and slams into the village of Fenwick on Sea, the villagers prepare for the inevitable: shipwreck, flood, land slips, and stranded travelers. The Queen’s Barque Inn quickly fills with the injured, the devious, and the lonely—lords, ladies, and simple folk; spies, pirates, and smugglers all trapped together. Intrigue crackles through the village, and passion lights up the hotel.
One storm, eight authors, eight heartwarming novellas.
Find out more on the Bluestocking Belles’ project page.
Only 99c while on preorder. Published April 13th.
