“Your name, miss?” Hermia asked.
Emma continued to speak for them. “I am Lady Emma Donoghue, but I do not require Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s services. This is Lady Theodora Duncan.”
“Lord Duncan’s daughter?” the woman asked. “I hope his lordship is recovering well. All of us at the Lyon’s Den prayed for his recovery.”
Theodora had never thought about how those employed in a place such as an infamous gaming hell might offer prayers to God, but if she were truly a better person, she would have realized even sinners had a place at God’s knees. Had not Alexander often spoken of offering prayers to God when he had been blessed with discovering an extra potato for his supper? God was not simply a God for the wealthy.
“Thank you for the prayers,” Dora repeated when Emma’s grip tightened about her hand, dragging Theodora from her self-chastisement. “My father still has some healing to go, but he is up and about. I owe both Titan and Mrs. Dove-Lyon my most sincere regards for their quick interventions on that fateful evening.”
“The mistress learned much of healing and medicine at her mother’s side. They both followed the drum,” Hermia explained.
“I must apologize again,” Theodora admitted. “I never knew of Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s history with those in war beyond an acknowledgement of her marriage to the colonel. I was simply thankful others assisted my brother Benjamin with my father’scare. I will remember Mrs. Dove-Lyon in my prayers this evening, and thank God for His foresight in placing my father on her doorstep in such a tragic moment.”
“The Devil brought the evil, but God corrected it,” Emma said sagely.
They stopped then before an impressive set of doors, and Hermia turned the latch on the one on the left. “You may wait within, my ladies,” Hermia told them. “I shall tell Mrs. Dove-Lyon that you wish to speak to her.”
Theodora and Emma stood in stunned silence for several elongated minutes. The parlor was also decorated in pink and gold. Moreover, the artwork displayed on the walls was equally as “garish” as was the one Theodora had viewed previously. “Please say your parents did not permit you to view… to view… I cannot form a proper question.”
“I shall keep my opinion to myself,” Emma said softly. Her friend tilted her head to look upon one quite explicit scene. “Richard will not understand why I am not shocked on our wedding night.”
Theodora whispered, “Do you suppose a man might look thusly?”
“You have five brothers,” Emma argued.
“Yet, I have never viewed any of them in such a state of undress,” Dora countered.
“We should look away,” Emma insisted.
“The other walls are all similarly decorated,” Theodora stated the obvious.
Emma tugged on Theodora’s hand. “Let us sit and keep our eyes on each other or the floor while we wait.”
The woman called Hermia returned with a tray containing two glasses and a decanter of wine. She placed the tray on a sideboard. “Might I pour each of you a glass of wine? Some,waiting upon Mrs. Dove-Lyon, find their nerves require a bit of bracing.”
“Thank you kindly,” Emma said, but Theodora noticed how Emma kept her eyes averted, making Dora giggle. “I shall pour.”
“The paintings are not to my taste either,” Hermia said with a serious nod before leaving them alone.
“What am I doing?” Theodora asked softly. “Perhaps I should tell Mrs. Dove-Lyon that this was a mistake.”
“I do not think it is a mistake,” Lady Emma said in firm tones, “and neither does Richard.”
“You have spoken to Richard of this… this…” Dora asked in shock.
“Lord Orson and I have agreed not to keep secrets. Richard believes that Marksman has misused you of late, though my betrothed swears Marksman does not look upon Miss Moreau in the same way he does you. Meanwhile, I can guarantee when Marksman saw you, first, on Mr. Hartley’s arm, and then Lord Almano’s, the earl knew great longing.”
“Yet, it is possible Alexander still will never choose me,” Theodora confirmed.
“It is possible,” Emma admitted. “Therefore, it is necessary for you to take the acquaintance of other respectable gentlemen. If nothing less, at Lord Almano’s hands, you learned not all gentlemen are truly a gentleman. Richard says the ‘count,’ if he is a ‘count,’ is deeply in debt. Your thirty thousand pounds was too tempting for the man. The count did not realize either your father or one of your brothers, including Marksman, would have slit the Sardinian count open from nose to navel if he had harmed you. Your biggest problem is you, early on, set your sights on Marksman. Few within society have even held a conversation with you.”
“I believe I require a glass of wine, after all,” Dora said into the stunned silence.
Theodora accepted the glass Emma offered her and drank it down quicker than she should have. Hearing Richard’s opinion, which meant it was also Navan’s, Benjamin’s, and Aaran’s opinion, shook Dora to her core. “More,” she ordered Lady Emma. The fact was she had likely proved to be society’s laughingstock. She was nineteen, and, though she had a great deal of time in society, she had never had an official Come Out. She was known to anyone who was anyone and quite a few people who were not part of society, but she had never had a man wish to court her, except the scoundrel known as Lord Almano. Most potential suitors would fear her brothers, and those who did not worry about them, definitely would fear Lord Macdonald Duncan, for he could easily bring down the wrath of the British government on a person’s head. She sipped more of the wine and wondered why she was so unlovable. Wondered why she could not engender true affection in another?
She was considering asking for another glass of wine when the door opened and a figure draped completely in black entered. The woman was not as tall as Theodora had expected. Moreover, the black veil the woman wore was assuredly not what either she or Emma had considered a woman in Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s profession to don. Theodora wondered if Richard had mentioned it to Emma. They stood together looking upon a figure they would never be able to describe to another. Was that the woman’s purpose?
“Lady Theodora Duncan,” the woman pronounced in a no-nonsense manner. “I would never have expected to have your acquaintance, my lady.”
