LITMIR.BIZ

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grandmother back. “Thank you, Grandmama,” she said softly. “I am still coming to terms with what happened. I cannot believe I was so foolish as to fall in love with a man who did not deserve my love. He was so handsome, and so charming, and everyone envied me. He was, after all, a Virginia Randolph.”

      “I suppose,” Jasmine remarked dryly, “that in the Colonies that means something, but here in England it does not, dear child. And more young women than not have fallen in love with the perfect man only to discover that the apple has a rather large worm. You are quite fortunate to have been freed of your worm so you might begin anew.”

      Fancy giggled. “Somehow thinking of Parker as a nasty worm helps me put everything in perspective.”

      “Men, dear child, are best kept in perspective and taken with a grain of salt,” Jasmine advised. “Now, I shall leave you to get some rest. Bess will bring your supper here in your apartment so you may escape for tonight, at least, the questions your cousins Cynara and Diana are undoubtedly dying to ask you. I think you must be well rested before you are thrown into the company of those two vixens.”

      “I already like them,” Fancy said. “We look so much alike but are all so very different, it would seem.”

      “You will become good friends, of that I am certain,” Jasmine assured her granddaughter. “I shall come and visit you after dinner to make certain that you are comfortable. Bess Trueheart will take good care of you, I know.”

      “She already has, Grandmama,” Fancy replied. “How clever of you to pick just the right serving woman for me before we even met.”

      “I told you, my child, I know you from your mother’s letters,” Jasmine reminded the girl. She smiled. “I shall return later.” Then she left the bedchamber, and Fancy heard the door of the dayroom that opened into the hallway close.

      Bess bustled in. “A nice hot bath, Mistress Fancy?”

      “Oh, yes!” came the enthusiastic reply.

      “Let me get your skirts and bodice off,” Bess said, “and then I’ll see to the bath while you take a wee nap.”

      Fancy nodded. It all sounded wonderful to her. She stood still while Bess unlaced her bodice, removed it, and then undid the tapes of her skirt. Fancy stepped out of the puddle of material, and Bess next pulled the laces loose that held up her many petticoats. They fell to the floor with a slight hiss. Fancy stepped over them, now clad only in her lace-trimmed chemise.

      “You get into bed, mistress,” Bess instructed her, gathering up the pile of garments. “When your bath is ready, I’ll wake you.”

      “Oh, I won’t sleep,” Fancy said.

      “Well, just close your eyes then, and rest,” Bess suggested. Then she hurried from the room with Fancy’s clothing, closing the door behind her.

      What kind of a tub would it be? Fancy wondered, closing her eyes. The tub she had bathed in at home was oak and comfortably large. Her mother had always believed in almost-daily bathing, although Fancy knew that other people thought her mother overfastidious. Her eyes closed. Everybody was so nice to her, she thought. The duke and his pretty wife. Her grandmother. Her cousin Diana. And Cynara. She had never met a girl like Cynara. She would wager that Cynara would not have been taken in by Parker Randolph. She wouldn’t have been a simpering little fool, boasting silently in her pride over having caught the handsomest man in the colonies. Cynara would have seen right through Parker Randolph. No one else, even her parents, had. Yet somehow, even on their briefest acquaintance, Fancy believed that Cynara would have immediately known Parker Randolph for what he was.

      Her thoughts slipped back to her wedding day. Her gown was so beautiful, and Mama had given her a strand of pearls for her very own. Parker had looked so distinguished as he awaited her at the altar of the plantation church. Like all of Fortune and Kieran’s children, Fancy had been raised with knowledge of both her parents’ faiths. She preferred the Anglican religion of her mother as did her sister, Maeve. Her elder brothers practiced the Roman Catholicism of their father. Her younger brothers claimed their explorations kept them from church, but Fancy knew that they were simply not church-going men. One day again they would be, she was certain, but not now.

      The ceremony had been beautiful. The feasting afterward had been lavish. And then she had been escorted to the bridal chamber by her mother, Maeve, and her sisters-in-law to be prepared for her husband’s arrival. When she had been undressed, put into her silk-and-lace nightshirt, and her matching cap with its silk ribbons, Aine had come in, and said a blessing over her. Then they had left her to await her husband. The tears began to slide down Fancy’s pale face. I must put this from me, she thought silently to herself. What has happened has happened. Nothing can change it. Parker did not love me. He is dead. And I must begin a new life here in England. Lord, her eyes felt so heavy. Her thoughts became jumbled. Fancy Devers finally slept.

      Chapter 2

      She had had a lovely bath and a hot supper. Bess had tucked her back into her bed, and Fancy had slept the night through. She was awakened by a wet tongue licking at her face and the sound of giggling. Her turquoise eyes flew open to see a small black, tan and white spaniel on her bed, and her two cousins Diana and Cynara standing nearby. “Good morning,” she said with a smile, and stroked the wiggling dog. “And who is this?”

      “It’s Beau,” Cynara said. “He’s Bella’s mate and has just become the papa of three puppies. Grandmama says we may each have one. Do you like dogs? Diana prefers cats, but she’s going to take one of Bella’s pups anyhow. I get to choose first.”

      “Perhaps it would be more polite if we allowed Fancy to have the first choice since she has just arrived,” Diana suggested.

      “But I want a male, and there is only one of them,” Cynara protested. She looked at Fancy. “Do you want the male?”

      “You may have it,” Fancy told her. “I prefer females. They are sweeter in nature and less apt to roam.”

      “Then you and Siren can argue over the other two,” Cynara said, well satisfied. “Are you rested now? Come, and get up so we may show you all about Queen’s Malvern. It used to be a royal property, you know, but the old queen needed gold, and our great-great-grandmother bought it from her. It’s a wonderful house, but a wing was damaged during the wars that happened before we were born. My papa restored that wing. He built a beautiful dining room with a marble fireplace, crystal chandeliers, and the most beautiful paintings ! Grandmama prefers the old hall, but I love the dining room. You will, too. Come on, Fancy! Get up!” She removed the dog from the bed and tugged at the coverlet.

      Fancy laughed. She had always been the baby of the family, but she was a good year or more older than both these cousins. Still, it was lovely to feel young and carefree once more. Her parents had been right, she suddenly realized. This exile to England was just what she needed. “Call Bess,” she said. She looked at the pair. Their gowns were very simple, and not at all as elegant as the ones they had worn yesterday when they greeted her. “Can we go riding later?” she asked them.

      “Yes!” they chorused.

      “Shall I dress like you?” she inquired. “Do you ride like that? Surely not,” Fancy wondered aloud.

      “Just throw on something to go exploring,” Cynara said.

      “We will change later when we ride,” Diana added.

      “You don’t need Bess,” Cynara said. “Certainly you know how to dress yourself, Cousin.”

      Fancy nodded. “But I don’t know where my clothing is,” she explained to them. “I’ll need Bess at least to help me find my clothes.”

      “Of course!” Diana laughed. She pointed to an embroidered bell-rope by the bed. “Just pull it. She’ll come.”

      Fancy complied with the instruction, yanking on the pull. “What a clever invention,” she said. “I must write to Mama about it.”

      “But

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