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Chapter 3
Fanny knocked on the door of her brother Nicholas’s lodging in St. James Square. She gathered the edges of her cloak with one hand and pounded on the door with the other. On the third knock, the door opened, and the fierce frown on his handsome face disappeared when he saw it was her.
“Fanny, what is wrong?”
She shook her head, unable to speak. He held the door open, and she stepped inside, removing her stylish hat and gloves. She took her time tugging loose the ties of her cloak, then draped it over an armchair. A large canvas leaned against the wall, and the scent of paint was redolent in the air. Her brother loved his art and could sometimes lose himself for days in his creative work.
A sound came from behind her, and when she turned, it was to see Richard, another of her brothers, strolling from a room, his cravat undone and his hair messy. His eyes widened when he saw her. “Fanny? What are you doing here? I do not think it at all proper that you are here and at this ghastly hour.”
“I was most discreet,” she said, clearing the hoarseness from her throat. “I need help.”
Nicholas took her elbow and escorted her over to the sofa. She did her best not to mention the female fripperies he tried to stuff under the cushions, especially the silken garter. Fanny suspected then they had a lady in their shared lodgings. She gathered they were not working hard on making their reputations ton worthy as their eldest brother had done.
Only yesterday, Colin had announced the lady he had hired to be their etiquette teacher had consented to be his wife, and they would marry with a special license immediately. That had informed Fanny that Colin had scandalously taken Miss Hermina Fernsby to his bed, and he thought it best to marry sooner than later, lest they had to explain the early arrival of the next baby in their family.
Nicholas sat on the chair opposite Fanny and fixed her with an expectant look. “Fanny,” Nicholas said gently, “you are crying.”
It was then she noted the wetness of her cheeks. She took the handkerchief Richard handed over and cleaned her face.
“Eleanor, Lizzy, Penny, and I went for a walk this afternoon in Hyde Park. I saw him again, with his…with his fiancée. They were promenading down Rotten Row, and he looked right through me as if I did not exist!”
Nicholas frowned. “Who acted as if you did not exist?”
She leaned forward in her chair. “Simon is alive,” she whispered, hugging her arms around her body, hating that she felt so cold.
Her brothers stiffened, but no one expressed any shock or alarm. She lifted her attention to them and almost cried out her pain. “You knew?”
Nicholas scrubbed a hand over his face, his expression pained. “I saw someone who greatly resembled him, and I informed Colin of it. He hired a Bow Street investigator to look into the matter. We were waiting on a report before we informed you, Fanny.”
A hot tear spilled down her cheek.
Richard nudged her shoulder with his own, the gesture one of affection and comfort. With a sigh, she rested her head against him, unable to stop the tears of misery that poured from her.
“Simon is now the viscount, and he is about to get married.”
“Married?” her brothers said in unison. “To whom?”
Fanny hated that her mouth trembled. “To a Lady Katherine Whitby, daughter of the Earl of Gilmanton. She is rather lovely, is an heiress, and hails from a respectable family with no scandal attached to their name.”
Nicholas placed a finger under her chin and lifted her face so he could see her eyes. “Ah, Fanny, if only I could take this pain from you, I would.”
She shook her head, fearing if she spoke, she would once again crumble. The last three nights had been filled with silent tears of misery that she poured out into her pillows. Her nights had been restless and her heart heavy until she recalled that she was Fanny Fairbanks.
“He does not deserve to be happy with another after all that he put you through,” Richard said ominously.
Fanny supposed he referred to when the entire village of Penporth had barred her from their social gatherings when it became evident she was pregnant without a husband to show for it. Friends whom she had played with for years had turned their backs when she approached, and the whispers would follow her about like a determined shadow. Their family had cultivated the trumped-up story that she had married her fiancé before he marched to war. Many had questioned it, and with the lack of support from Simon’s much more elevated family at the time, that story had come apart at the seams.
Fanny had not wept for her lost reputation. She had given herself to Simon unreservedly a few days before he went to war, for she knew with her entire heart that they loved each other. She believed him when he had promised that he would marry her when he returned, and they would live happily together.
“He does not remember me.”
“The hell you say!” Richard snapped. “I am going to call that bastard out and put a bullet in him.”
Fanny made a sound low in her throat, and she could not tell if it was an agreement or a protest.
“What do you mean?” Nicholas asked.
“When we met at Lady Pomeroy’s ball a few nights ago. I looked into his eyes, Nicholas. Simon did not know me.”
