The Rebellious Rake (The Notorious Nightingales #4)

Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

T hree weeks after Ramsey had kissed her again and Charles drank far too much brandy, which resulted in a sore head that she’d exploited by yelling and stomping about when he was near, Flora headed down the stairs of 11 Crabbett Close to find warmth in a parlor to write letters to her mother and Madeline.

She had heard Ramsey’s voice in the house but had made herself scarce by going to her room or slipping outside for a brisk walk when he called. In fact, she’d pretty much kept herself busy by being a guide for Charles and dragging him out of the house to view sights in London early.

Flora was, of course, being a coward, but she knew no other way to deal with what she felt for Ramsey Hellion. The man was trouble, and she had no wish for any more of that in her life.

She saw the invitation in Cyn’s hand as she stepped off the bottom step. It was a white card embossed with gold. She was standing with Harriet, Ellen, and Ivy in the entrance to 11 Crabbett Close. All were dressed in their outside clothing.

“Excellent. Collect your coat and a scarf, Flora. Thick gloves also,” Ivy said. “We are having fittings today, and you need a new dress for the ball. Plus, we will see if we can find more decorations for the tree, which should be arriving shortly. Make haste, as it will not be pretty, and there will be much debate from those erecting it. I have no wish to get caught up and take sides.”

As if on cue, a loud thud sounded outside the door. Harriet rushed to open it, and there stood Mungo, glowering. He held the top of a large tree. Standing on her toes, Flora looked through the door and found Bramstone and Charlie in the middle. Leo and Alex were holding the trunk.

The women all scurried to the stairs and huddled on them, out of the way, as the tree was wrestled inside.

“Why is it we have the heaviest end?” Alex demanded. No one answered him.

“We are just taking Flora to be fitted,” Cyn said. “We shan’t be long.”

Leo gave her a look that suggested he knew that for a lie.

“Yes, we will return shortly,” Harriet added with a head bob. Alex didn’t look convinced.

“Flora has nothing to wear to the ball, and such an occasion needs something special. After all, it is her first social outing,” Ellen added.

“We shall return to dress the tree later when it is in place,” Ivy said.

Bramstone managed a smile for his wife, but Flora thought it looked forced.

The men started debating in earnest then over placement of the tree.

“It needs to go there,” Bramstone said, pointing to his right.

“That’s a foolish place,” Mungo said. “It needs to go there.” He pointed to the left.

“I quite like Bramstone’s idea,” Charles said .

“I fear this part could take some time and discussion,” Ivy whispered.

“I had not thought to go to the ball,” Flora said.

Ellen made a pfft sound. “I’m afraid, dear cousin, that is not an option. You live with us, so you go where we do, as does your brother.”

“I’d quite like to attend the ball,” Charles said, still holding the tree.

“So if I move out, then I don’t have to do what you want me to?” Flora said, ignoring her brother.

“Exactly, but we’re not promising anything,” Harriet said in her lovely American accent. “We shall try not to be on your doorstep daily.”

“That’s a relief, then.”

“Now hustle it along before we are called upon to break up this argument,” Ivy said, waving her hands at Flora in a shooing motion. Mungo was barking orders now.

Flora saw no way out of it, and the idea of actually going somewhere to be fitted for a dress that was in the latest style did appeal.

“Very well.”

Moving around the men with the women now on her heels, Flora grabbed her coat and shrugged into it. After pulling on her bonnet and gloves, she wrapped her scarf several times around her neck.

Ivy, Cyn, and Harriet said goodbye to their husbands. Ellen gave a cheery wave, and then they were stepping out the door.

Flora felt a little burst of excitement to be venturing out with these lovely women. She’d had friends in Willow Hill—some she was close to—but as the years went by, most had married. She kept in touch through letters but had missed their companionship. Then she’d thought to marry a man and make her own life .

And that worked out so well.

“Ladies, suddenly the gray day is a great deal brighter!”

“Constable Plummy,” Ivy said to the man standing at the end of the gate. “How kind of you to say so.”

He wore his blue uniform neatly pressed, his moustache trimmed, and his blue tailcoat with his armlets, white gloves, and top hat. The man may be a fool in the eyes of many, but he was an immaculately dressed one.

“I’ll drive.” Mungo stormed down the path and around the women as the carriage pulled up. The driver looked terrified as he moved over to allow Mungo room on the seat beside him.

“I thought you were helping with the tree?” Ivy said. “Surely Peter can be trusted to drive us?”

“They can deal with the tree, and I will drive,” the Scotsman said, throwing a disgusted look at the house. “Plummy, be off with you now. There must be a person somewhere in need of your annoyance.”

Ivy said, “I believe Miss Bud has baked some apple and cinnamon?—”

“Good day,” Constable Plummy cut her off and was soon running past them and up the path.

“You should not encourage the wee fool,” Mungo said.

“He is harmless,” Ivy said. “Now, it is too cold to stand about bantering. Take us shopping, Mungo.”

Flora couldn’t be sure but thought he muttered, “Harmless, my arse,” before shutting the carriage door with the women inside.

“Well now, isn’t this lovely,” Cyn said.

She was a beautiful woman who Flora understood had known Leo before his family was disgraced in the eyes of society. Next to her sat Harriet, an American heiress and also a beauty .

“I always love a fitting for a new dress,” Ellen said from beside Flora.

Flora liked clothes, too, but they were not a priority for her when she lived in Willow Hill as they were for many who walked in London society. She always chose color and style well but usually for durability rather than to impress.

She wasn’t vain but also liked to look good, and according to her mother, she had been gifted with Great-Aunt Constance’s beauty. She’d been a favorite of hers, and when she’d passed a few years ago, Flora had been devastated.

“Now, Flora, seeing as we have you alone for the first time since your arrival, it’s time we talked seriously,” Ellen said. The other women all nodded.

“What do you want to talk seriously about?”

“Well…,” Harriet said. “The thing is?—”

“Don’t waffle, Harriet. We discussed this and what needed to be said,” Cyn cut in.

“Right… you’re right,” Harriet said. She then looked at Flora. “What happened with your fiancé?”

“We have no wish to upset you, but it is something we as a family—and I include the men in this—have been gnawing over since you arrived,” Ellen said.

“If you are hurting, we wish to comfort you and help you heal,” Ivy added.

“And if he hurt you and you wish something nasty to happen to him, then we will ensure that is the case,” Ellen added.

Shocked, she looked at the four women. All stared back with a mixture of expressions on their faces.

“We understand it is personal, dear,” Ivy said, patting Flora’s hand where it lay on her knee. “But to heal, you need to cleanse the wound.”

Festering wound, actually, Flora wanted to say. She’d spoken only to Charlie and Ramsey about what happened. Her mother was not interested, and she’d had no wish to burden her sister and friends with what happened.

“Let the pus out, Flora,” Harriet said.

Flora laughed and then, to her surprise, found herself talking.

“To be honest, I was something of a fool and thought I was in love with a man who could only love himself and bedding other women.”

“I will need his name so that when we cross paths, I can make him pay,” Ellen said.

She laughed, feeling lighter than she had inside for many weeks. Lord Lockwood’s actions, however, had long since paled into insignificance with Flora; it was her father that hurt the deepest. What he’d done for years had changed her entire view on the life she’d always thought she’d lived. She felt betrayed by the man she’d idolized, who instilled morals and honor in both her and Charles while having an affair and lying about their finances.

“And there is nothing else you wish to discuss with us?” Ivy said. “Other than your perfidious ex-fiancé?”

“I had no wish to discuss anything with you,” Flora said, “but I felt, seeing as I’m living under your roof, Ivy, you deserved the truth as to why I came to London.”

“Why exactly did you come?” Cyn asked.

“Lord Lockwood made it known he had no idea why I no longer wished to wed him, and whatever I said, no one would have believed anyway. So my village decided I was at fault,” Flora said in an even voice, not betraying the anger that still smoldered inside her for how unfairly she’d been treated.

“No,” Harriet gasped. “That’s not fair.”

“I’m a woman. Since when has fairness had anything to do with the way we are treated by many, especially men?” Flora added with perhaps a bit more of a snap to her voice than was required. “I told Mother the truth, and my mother told me I was a fool for letting something as trifling as a man having an affair stop me from marrying a lord.”

“Such is the way many think,” Ivy said, her face showing her disgust.

“And so life became extremely difficult for me, and that’s when Charles arrived home from a trip to visit friends. We decided coming to London until someone else did something to take the interest off me in Willow Hill was for the best.”

“I’m so sorry, Flora,” Harriet said. “That’s a horrid thing to have happened.”

“I’m just angry with myself for being fooled by him. I am rarely na?ve, but in this I was.”

“Because you were being pressured to marry?” Cyn asked.

“Not pressured exactly,” Flora said. “But with Father’s death, we had to leave the parish house, and Mother liked the idea of us living a ‘better life’—those were her words, not mine.” She would not be telling them the entire truth of their family’s circumstances, but she could tell them a version of it.

“I’m sorry. We all know how it is for women in this world,” Ivy said. “We are just lucky that now those we love understand what a woman has to offer.”

She felt the sympathy from the other women. Her gift allowed her to feel the emotions of others. Often, like now, when many people she knew were close, she’d found a way to block those out and ground herself so the emotional reactions weren’t too strong.

“But my brother did tell me that my ex-fiancé was caught in a compromising position with the new vicar’s daughter. It seems his reputation in the village of Willow Hill is now irreparable and I will be welcomed back with open arms.”

“Well, that’s something then,” Ellen said. “You’ll forgive me, Flora, but the man sounds a fool, and that you’re better off without him. ”

“I have come to realize that too,” Flora said.

“I hear you and Charles attended the meeting with Mr. Huntington?” Harriet said.

“Yes, it was actually Charles who decided to invest, and I caught him reading the letters his friends had sent on the matter. I told him I wanted to be involved, and he agreed.”

“He is a forward-thinking man, your brother,” Cyn said. “My first husband was that way and taught me everything I needed to know to survive without him and ensure we still kept our finances intact.”

Ellen sighed. “Many men are fools.” They all agreed with that. “So are we to look for another husband for you?”

Horrified when a vision of Ramsey Hellion slid into her head, she shook it violently.