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Post by Raynesleigh on Feb 5, 2012 22:14:33 GMT -5
She supposed, she should be grateful. After all, she had found herself a job and as far as anyone knew, she was just a maid. But she did get the feeling that her employer was suspicious of her. It was her speech. She couldn’t fake a cockney or cheap side accident if she wanted to. After all, she was a lady. Lady Felicity Tremaine to be exact. Daughter of an Earl’s son. Engaged to the heir to a Dukedom. It was that specific reason that she had run away. She had been gone from home six months now. Working odd jobs in the cheap side of town. Seamstress, maid, cook. Anything and everything. It was amazing what a few smudges on the cheek and hair under a cap would do to disguise ones self. She had hidden there until she could no longer and had been found by this man. An Earl in his own right with a younger sister who was a widow to an Earl. She worked as scullery for him. Though he often was watching her. As if trying to unravel the mystery surrounding her.
He was also a bit of a drunk and she had more than once found herself helping Mrs. Crawford with getting him to bed. He would grope her sometimes too but when he was not drinking, which was more often than not these days, he was very courteous yet a bit cool and distant. Almost as if he separated himself from the reality that was his life. Sighing, she was busy changing his sheets. He was supposed to be out and gone for the evening, returning later on this evening. She sighed, finishing with the sheets and covers, fluffing the pillows before pausing to look at the cufflinks sitting in a small and open box on the table by the bed. They were gold and silver. Half a crown each if she were to judge. She lifted one, holding it in her palm. Remembering how she had always had to help her brother with the silly things because he had not known how to do it. He was in America now though. And would be, at least until her father finally expired. The old codger.
Sighing Lissy, as she had adopted the shortened version of her name, was putting it back when she heard the sound of a masculine clearing of the throat. She turned and flushed, realizing what it looked like and that she was still holding the cufflinks in her hand. She saw the earl and curtseyed. “Milord,” she said then bit her bottom lip. She knew she was in trouble. No telling how long he had been watching her admiring the gold and silver cufflinks in that box.
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Frederick Milton, Marquis of Burke was hardly a man worth looking at. He was once a man that had stood tall and proud. But now he was a cripple. He had been in the cross fires of the Boer war and during a battle had gotten the shrapnel of a cannon ball flying near him and causing glass and metal to shatter. That coupled with a few bullet wounds in his lower extremities and one in his back, it left him barely able to stand. He, of course, had been trying to get back to his old self. He had had a wife when he had returned. A shadow of his formal self. That had been three years before. Now here he was divorced. And for what purpose other than impudence. It’s what his wife had claimed. Right before she had left him for some bloody actor and caused a scandal of epic proportions. Something else to add to his repertoire of misery. He had honestly loved his ex-wife, and it hurt him to think that she did not want to be with him because he was scarred.
So he had no willpower to walk again. At least until one of his friends suggested he get a nurse to help him recover. So, listening to Reggie’s advice, he had done that with the help of his valet and now for the past week he had a woman named Winifred working to help him recover. She wanted to be a doctor and was one of those suffragettes but a good woman despite those short comings. He sighed as he heard her egging him on and took a drag of his cigarette. “You remind me of my English teacher at Cambridge,” he mused. “Relentless. Do I have to?” he asked, giving a chuckle as he glanced at her before taking another drag. He could stand but little else. Maybe a step or two but with her insistence he was getting stronger. Even if it hurt like hell. He grabbed the bar and stood, taking a deep breath before looking at her. “So three steps is the goal today is it?” he asked chuckling.
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Genevieve Lawson stood in the crowded ballroom surrounded by all the eligible men as she spoke of her adventures. Apparently they thought her quite a plethora of entertainment. Something she couldn’t begin to understand. But her escort told her that she was only an object for attention because her family was a wealth mill owning family in upstate New York. And because of her large dowry and the fact that her husband inherited everything once her father died, she was prime pickings for fortune hunters and those without titles. Admittedly though, she found herself quite attracted to a young Lord by the name of James Rochford.
Ginny knew it was wrong to have the thoughts she was having but he was roguish and witty and scandalous with the things he whispered in her ear but she found she did not really care a wit. She was falling for him she was certain. Seeing him, she smirked, quickly wrapping up her conversation before walking past him and brushing her skirts against him, innocently to any bystander as she moved to the refreshment table and grabbed a glass of champagne, taking a sip of it before turning and watching the dancing of the waltz, glancing over her shoulder when she saw him approaching, and then pretending indifference as he stepped behind her.
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Everett Cummings, the newfound Earl of Hurst was in that same ballroom, watching the crowd. Looking for someone. Especially Lady Ariana. Ari. Six years ago, they had been lovers and he had loved her. He had been pretending to be a stable hand then but now he was not. Now he was a Lord. No longer Rex the stable hand but an Earl. A very powerful Earl at that. And he meant to speak with Ariana tonight. She had been a widow two years now, plenty of time to of mourned the old bastard. He took a deep breath, finishing off his champagne before seeing her speaking with a few ladies. He sat the glass in his hand down and approached slowly, catching the eye of one of the women who smiled. “Oh Lady Longford I don’t know if you have met an old friend of mine,” the woman, Lady Chastain was saying.
He approached slowly and then bowed his head. “My lady,” he said, standing up and looking her straight in the eyes for the first time in six years. He couldn’t help but remember her. She had been the best lover he had ever had. Innocent, sweet, but in the end. A woman who had used him as a means of satisfying curiosity before she landed herself in the marriage bed of some old codger. Now she was widowed, had a daughter and virtually penniless. He was the one who owned all of her husband’s debts. She just did not know it yet.
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Post by anjelrocker on Feb 5, 2012 23:39:46 GMT -5
He was going to the opera with Lady Marie, not that he liked the young lady since all she ever did was chatter about this and that. Not that he could give a care about what idle gossip she was sprouting off for the moment. However, he had forgotten his good cufflinks as he was at the door about the put his hat one. "Jeffrey..." He called to his valet as he frowned. "I pay you so that you will remember such things." Reginald, The Earl of Hartlepool was looking displeased as he sighed. "I will get them, they are the ones that my father gave me for my eighteenth birthday." Before the old man had passed on, leaving him to become Earl at a young age. He had decidedly gone to Cambridge to have somewhat of an education and from there, he had met Sir James Rochford as well as Frederick Milton, Marquis of Burke. James had continued with his debauchery and gambling ways and it seemed that he was in a state where he needed to pay off his debts since his older brother and father had cut him off. As for Frederick, well... he had married the love of his life and went to Africa to fight... only to come back a cripple and for her to run off with some half bit actor of all things.
Going up the stairs, he was trying not to drink and so, he was a bit of an ass when he did not get the hair of the dog into him. He had taken to heavy drinking since his fiacee had run off to marry a Duke, making the bitch of a woman into a Duchess. The Duke was an old man and she could have been with him and had been a Countess. However, that had not been enough for Caroline Bennett. Sighing as he thought of that, he had been trying to court the ladies of the ton and yet, he could not help but think them silly with their ridicious birds on their heads and such nonsense and so, he had given up. It was not like it mattered, Reginald had been given the diagnosis that he was going to die anyways in about a year. Not that he felt sick but the doctor was the doctor after all.
Entering the room, he stopped and raised an eyebrow at the maid who thought no one was watching her. It seemed like she was about to slip the diamond cufflinks into her pocket. Crossing his arms, he leaned against the doorway. There was something about this one, she was no maid but a lady... perhaps a preacher's daughter who had some hard times or something of the sort. Clearing his throat, he lifted himself from the doorway and went slowly towards her. "Ah... it looks as if you were about to slip that into your pocket..." He paused to remember her name. "Lissy, was it not?" He said as he sat himself on the edge of his bed and looked up at her as she put the cufflink down hurriedly.
"Come now, I will not bite..." He said looking rather bored if anything. "Is there a reason that you were going to slip that into your pocket... feeding a family at home. I do say that there are alot of poor people in London, got your a good job and you need to buy shoes for... what, sixteen children. They do seem to have alot of children for now being able to feed them. A pity, really..." He smiled as if he were teasing her as he watched her.
And that was when he got an idea... what better way to reject society that he loathed and perhaps gain an heir. "Perhaps... I can make all those troubles go away, Miss Lissy..." He smiled slowly. "Will you be my wife... I do not have a ring but I will get that later... oh, do not look so shocked, I'm not jesting." He rolled his eyes.
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Looking prim and proper, Winnie was at the bottom of the short flight of stairs with her hands in her lap as she said. "Oh, he must have been a very wise man then, Milord..." She teased with a grin before sighing."Well, that is a silly question, My Lord. Of course... you do not have to but then, what would the point of my position be?" She smiled sweetly as she held out a hand to him, she was wearing a grey skirt with a white blouse and a black cap and belt. It was also the sweet smile that one gave when they were trying to guilt someone to bend to their will. "Hear, I have a chair for you here and perhaps we can go for a walk... you do have lovely gardens after all." She was trying to be pleasant for the sake of this job but the truth was that he was a stubborn man, but she was just as stubborn.
"Milord, what have I told you about smoking? I know that the Doctor recommends it but I have met the man and he is a fool..." She said quite seriously, Winifred was saving up money so that she could go to university or college to become a doctor to female patients instead of them going to see male doctors. "Only three steps and then, you can do whatever you wish... except for smoking and pickling yourself..." She was also apart of the temperance movement since her father had been a drinker and he had been a mean drunk before he had died.
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He liked this little American minx because she was subtle and yet, so obvious with her flirting. James was bewitched by the woman as she was playing coy, ladies tended to do this. However, since being cut off by his father... Sir James only had a month to be married to someone before he was completely cut off and his newspaper drawings could only earn him so much money. It helped that this Miss Lawson was very wealthy and so, he was trying to woo her with his charm as he watched her with green eyes and slowly when towards her. "Ah, Miss Lawson... You are quite the vision. Like a swan amongst the ducklings..." He grinned as he poured himself some of the punch, of course no one had spiked it yet and if they did then there was a thimble of liquor in it.
"Perhaps, you can do me the honor of this dance. Unless your card is full... I dare say that I am not surprised if it is..." He said with a dramatic sigh. "And if you are to reject me then I will go on with my tail between my legs." Drinking down the glass of punch, he looked to her for a moment and grinned.
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Looking to the 'old friend', Ariana stared at him with her wide violet eyes as if she were a startled deer. What was Rex doing here? Oh, she knew him since he had been out her window that night six years before when he had begged for her to elope with him. To go to Scotland so that they could be free when her brother had rejected his purposal. Oh, how she had wanted to go with him... they had been lovers that summer. It had been the summer when she had felt alive and so in love with him. Reginald had been gone and she had been allowed to go on the property unchaproned. Ari remembered when he had kissed her for the first time after watching the sunset together on the crest of the hill in Northern England. However, she had not gone with him because she knew that it would break her brother's heart.
Despite having loved Rex, she knew that she had a duty to her family else... she would have gone and perhaps she could have had a pretty little girl with his green golden eyes that she had remembered looking into when they had laid naked together in his cottage on the edge of the woods. However, that was long ago as she shook her head and smiled before saying. "An old friend?" She asked the other lady with a puzzled look before he was introduced at the Earl of Hurst and her eyes went wide.
She did not know what to think since he had been a stablehand not an Earl to a large fortune. "Ah... a pleasure to meet you, Milord." She said as she curtised wanting to get as far away from him as possible. She was penniless and trying to pay off her dead husband's debt with the income that she brought it and yet, despite being a generous one from her brother, it was not enough to pay for her daughter's lessons as well as her husband's debts and what little was left for her townhouse and a few servants. And so, she had taken up the pen to write for the papers as Madame Bavard, the norious gossip queen.
Of course, no one knew of it and she would not allow them to know since she needed this income to pay off the debts as well as so she could pay her loyal servants. A maid named Anne, a butler named Stephen and her daughter, Vivian's governess, Natasha.
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Post by Raynesleigh on Feb 6, 2012 10:38:27 GMT -5
Lissy looked at him. "My lord...I wasn't stealing," she said but she knew it certainly looked that way. "ANd I live in the servants quarters here because I don't have a family..." she trailed off as he spoke about marriage. She could not help but look shocked as he proposed marriage to her. Oh dear heaven. She swallowed.
"I hope you do not take this the wrong way my lord...but are you sober? You um...cannot be serious. You are an Earl. Earl's do not marry scullery maids..." she said. That was a given fact. Her father had had affairs with several maids in general but even in his widower years did he ever marry one. Especially the ones he got pregnant. She had so many little half brothers and sisters running about it was amazing she had not found one of her half siblings in the past six months running the streets. She cleared her throat. "And even if you are serious...and not jesting, one has to wonder about your reasons. There...there is no love between us and most aristocratic men would rather have an affair with me than take me as their wife...I..." she trailed off. "My only troubles were I needed a job, I place to stay till I saved enough money up to go to America on a steamer...I'm just a maid my lord..." she murmured. She couldn't imagine marrying him. It's why she had run from home. Then again, her husband intended had been a man in his sixties. This man here was only in his late twenties, perhaps early thirties. And he was alright enough she supposed, but marriage. that entailed letting him touch her. She knew the few times he had drunkenly kissed her and groped her, it had set off a heat inside of her but was she going to have to think of other reasons besides rising heat to accept this. Then again, any woman who was truly in her position would be glad to get a marriage out of her employer. To rise up in society.
She took a deep breath, tucking a strand of brown hair behind her ear. She was half-italian, her mother being from Florence and had skin that had more color to it then was fashionable and her hair was a chocolatey sort of brown and thick waves that when loose trailed down to her waist. Again, quite unfashionable. But she had never cared about such things. And it was obvious he didn't give a damn about society.
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"You know whell I don't pickle myself. Smoking is my only vice and I only have a nip of Brandy every now and again. As long as you keep the opium out of my sight I'll be alright. Nasty stuff," he said then outed the cigarette on the metal of his cigarette case and then tucked it away in his pocket before moving down one step. The pain that shot up his back and through his legs was tremendous but he only winced. "I can't wait to get out of that damnable thing. THere is nothing worse than relying on someone else. I used to be a whole man," he remembered fondly then sighed, taking a deep breath and moving down a second step. This time the pain was more severe. Her idea of walking was therapy. Physical therapy and he knew that if he eventually walked again, he would find her going to school. He knew plenty of people and could pull a few strings in her honor. It had been there deal. Help him to walk, and he would help her into Medical school. It was a win win situation so to speak. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes against the pain, sweat breaking out on his brow but he pressed onward. "I'm going to make it all the way down these stairs. Even if it kills me. So you just stay over there with that chair madame," he said simply and then winced before taking a third step. His muscles constricted against the movements but damn it all, he had to use them. As terrible as they were. He cleared his throat, more sweat breaking out. The only reason he pushed himself so hard was because one day he wanted to see that bitch he had once called a wife and stand tall before her and let her realize that patience would of been a means to an end. And though he might still be heartbroken, he had to prove her wrong.
Another step came and he took it, letting out an inward groan and then standing for a few moments still, he took the last two steps and then eased into the damned invalid's chair, taking several deep breaths and then mopping his brow with his hankerchief. "Grant me a moment," he said, closing his eyes. This was bloody difficult but it was a means to an end.
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Ginny smirked. "As it happens I have been entertaining so many people with my stories in barbaric America that they forgot to ask me. I haven't a single name on my dance card My Lord," she said simply and then smiled, showing him proudly. "And swans are ugly creatures my lord. I would sooner be compared to an ape perhaps. Now perhaps if you compared me to a humming bird or perhaps some exotic animal like a tigress, I might be more apt to think of it as a compliment," she teased him then smiled, taking the charcoal from her reticule and quickly writing his name down on her dance card before doing so again at the bottom. "See milord, now you have my first dance, and my last one," she teased him then stuck both back in her reticule before looking at him smiling. "I would neer dare to reject you milord. I find you quite a lovely entertainment and companion. You are not at all the stuff bucket these other English aristocrats are," she mused thoughtfully. "And I like that. It makes me feel like I am back home in America. Society rules here are much much stiffer in comparison to those of New York Society." SHe smirked and then looked at the dancing couples, finishing off her champagne.
"I fear I am far to brash to be considered a good bride to many familys of these ilk. Dukes and Earls, Marquis and Barons. It is an awful confusion trying to remember how to adress someone around here..." she laughed good naturedly. "Shall we to the dance floor my lord. If you must know I have been aching to dance with you all night." She tucked a loose blonde curl back behind her ear and looked at him hopefully
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"I pray Lady Langford, might we take a turn, I believe a Waltz is about to start up. A slow one. It would be a chance for us to talk, get to know one another better," Everett said simply, offering his hand to her. "I admit my lady, I have been watchiing you from afar and you are quite enchanting. I beg humbly for a dance so I might get to know you better," he said, offering his hand. Of course, Lady Chastain was also urging.
"Oh do take a turn with him my lady. I know well how good a dancer the Earl is," she said with a smile and gentle urging that made Everett inwardly glad. It was, after all, a simple dance and for a lady to refuse an Earl, A powerful title and one that hardly ever brooked refusal unless he was getting the cut from society. Which he wasn't. Not dancing with him, was close to social suicide and he imagined she did not wish that.
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Post by anjelrocker on Feb 6, 2012 19:55:56 GMT -5
He crossed his arms as if to thing for a moment when the young woman asked him if he was sober, looking at as he did this. He supposed that he had a glass too many of the brandy this evening as he glanced at the maid. "Well, I am not three sheets to the wind and in a right enough mind to know that you speak like a lady and act as a lady should if that is what you are asking." Moving himself from the doorframe, Reginald went towards her. "Is this not some girlish wildest dream? A dashing Earl asking his maid to be his wife? I mean, I will tell you that it is for selfish reasons..." He started as he paced a bit before stopping not thinking that he had to explain his abrupt proposal to a scullery maid but she was very pretty and from what he could remember, she had the softest lips that he had the pleasure of tasting.
"As for my reasons, selfish ones at that. I do not care much that you are only a maid. Of course, my father would be rolling in his grave if he thought that his son would wed a maid but... it is a new world and I am a man who will not live to see it." He glanced at her looking quite serious into her dark chocolate eyes. "I told you that I was being quite serious about this because I am sick of having to take out society birds to theatres and the sort so that I may kiss her hand and be rejected." He did not want to deal with the courting game, he simply wanted to wed and atleast have a chance at having a son.
"I want to produce an heir... and that is my reasoning for asking you to wed me... ah, you are a woman..." He said thinking it better as he went down onto one knee infront of his maid. He felt silly but then, ladies did like this sort of romantic feeling to it as he grasped the cufflink from her hand. "It is not a ring but I will be able to give you a proper ring before the marriage, Miss Lissy. Is that short for Elizabeth, no?" He asked her knowing what he was doing in his own bedroom as he could hear his valet calling.
"Sir?" Jeffrey said as Reggie looked over his shoulder. "Grant me a moment, Jeffrey. I am busy." He called back as he looked up into those chocolate eyes and said. "Will you, Miss Lissy accept my proposal? I am not a man who makes such jokes." He said taking her hand into his own and kissing it. Yes, they did not love each other but if she would produce an heir, son or daughter then he could use his money to make sure that they lived in luxury until the end of her own days. He put the cufflink into her hand and tightened in own around it. Reginald was a fool... but one who did not want to be rejected. And if he was, well... he give her the money for that ticket to America if she so desired.
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He had taken a total of five steps as he was sweeting quite fiercely as she watched him for a moment having helped him into the wheeled chair as she moved his legs gently so that he would be comfortable. "I think you are more of a tyrant to yourself then I am to you, milord." Winnie said gently knowing that they were going to work on his core muscles tomorrow with working the muscles of the back and the abs so that he could hold himself up a little better. Perhaps, in time he would be able to walk with crutches and then perhaps on his own. Never the less, she was impressed as she looked up and smiled. "Perhaps, soon... you will be a whole man once again."
Standing up, she went behind the chair. "I suppose if you wish to smoke then, I will push you along. The fresh spring air is good for you and with summer coming, well... your gardens are alright in bloom." She said trying to be positive since he was a negative sort. Not that she could blame him since one of the maids had told her the story of him returning from the war only for his wife to run off to America with an actor. It was a sad tale since he had loved his wife and she had betrayed him so.
Of course, she would prefer to talk about politics or something that was not the weather. "Are you alright, Milord?" Winifred asked him as she paused for a moment looking to the hills of his home. It was a very pretty place, a quiet country manor in Dorsetshire.
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"Well, it seems that every man in this ballroom is simply an idiot..." James said with a zeel as he looked to the pretty young lady who said that swans were ugly. Not quite what he thought but he supposed that she was as feisty as a tigeress as he grinned. "Ah, I see now that you happen to be even more exotic when a swan but a peacock amongst common geese." He said keeping his bird reference. "It gives me no greater pleasure then to be your dancing companion for this dance, Miss Lawson." he made a bow to the young lady before taking her hand.
He quite liked that she was considered brash and perhaps not proper... she was quite entertaining and she had a nice set of tits on her as well. Of course, he would not say this to her just yet, he would wait until after she was wedded and bedded and it would give him no greater pleasure as he walked with her towards the dance floor. Sir James Rochford had a rather large grin on his face as he started. "Ah, now you can entertain me personally with these stories of the barbaric America... does this make you also barbaric... only pretending to be a gentlewoman." He winked down at her.
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She did not want to take a turn about the dance floor with him but she knew that she could not pretend to be ill as she so hoped. Smiling akwardly, Ariana bowed to Earl of Hurst knowing that this had to be some sort of trick after all, he had been a stablehand in her family's country estate for five years. She remembered that it had been about from the time that she had been forteen to when she was nineteen. That had been the year that she had fallen in love with him, before that... she had watched him from afar. Only speaking to him sometimes when she wanted to go riding and yet, that afternoon when she had gone riding with him since no one could go for her daily ride. Well, he had kissed her for the first time and that had been the beginning of the affair.
"Certainly... nothing would give me a greater pleasure..." She said through her teeth wondering where the hell James was since she had come to the event with him since she was looking for a husband and he was looking for a wife. Taking his hand, she seemed to remember when they had been together so long before as she bit her lip and the music seemed to start as she hissed. "What are you doing here, Rex?" She asked him with a frown thinking that there was something about the way that he was looking at her that it had something to do with her but she was not a fool enough that it was his love for her or that sort of nonsense.
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Post by Raynesleigh on Feb 6, 2012 22:38:09 GMT -5
Looking at him in nothing that could be more than pure astonishment, she swallowed. "It...it's Felicity...My mum...she called me Lissy when I was a child," she said then took a deep breath and watched him give her that diamond cufflink. She swallowed and then bit her bottom lip. "I fear my lord, we might not suit. And you said you wanted an heir off me...uh...we might not...suit physically...oh my lord this is so very awkward..." She swallowed and took a deep breath. "I don't...know...if I could..." she admitted. Which was the truth. He was alright of a character she guessed. Not exactly the social aristocrat everyone else she had ever met was. And the idea of being a brood mare was not the best of futures. But why was he so urgent to have a child. She decided to ask.
"Um...you are also quite young milord. I doubt more than two and thirty. Why the rush to marry my lord. If I accept, you at least, owe me that explanation," she said taking a deep breath and looking at him. Hearing his valet and wondering if he was right in the head.
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He sighed. "I'm fine..." he said simply as he fought to catch his breath. "And I don't think I could take a smoke now if I wanted too. As for the tyrant part, I only do it because I want to be whole again. Even if I push myself to hard, I will eventually be back to my old self. Or at least close to it. Just think, two months ago, I couldn't even stand. I'm beginning to think a nurse knows more than a doctor about such things," he said with a chuckle. "My doctor, I have come to realize in your care, is a damned idiot," Frederick said with a soft chuckle and then sighed, scratching the back of his head and leaning against the back of the invalid's chair.
"I suppose you know part of the reason I push myself. I am tired of being a miserable sod. I'm twenty-eight. I shouldn't be this bloody digusted with myself. Not to mention, I need a wife...and...I can't get one not being able to walk around a ballroom. Tell you what. Once I'm able to stand on my feet, I'll teach you to dance. I saw you trying the other night...it was rather pitiful," he chuckled.
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She laughed softly, moving to dance with him. It was a slow waltz and she was all to aware how close they were as they danced. This of course, was not their first dance. They had done so several times before. "I am not barbaric at all, merely...independent of spirit and mind. I don't give a flying fig about these women and their snooty ways. I tell it like it is. If that makes me barbaric, then I would hate to see what they think of my mother if they ever saw her. She curses like a sailor," she said teasingly then took a deep breath, feeling her cheeks flame. "I like to think I am a gentlewoman. But I would cause quite a scandal if they saw me riding bareback in trousers. I did it all the time back home," she smiled, twirling and then coming back to him.
"I am also a deep believer that a woman and a man should be equals in a marriage. Something you don't get here. Men hold titles and women hold babies. In America, you can draw up a contract before marriage that if they divorce or the other person dies, the woman can inherit property. You english are positively old fashioned."
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Everett sighed. "Now is that any way to greet your first lover. If anyone should be angry sweeting it's me...after all, you chose money over love...and to think, I had the money all along. And it's not Rex. It's Everett. I'm surprised you remembered me. It has, after all, been six years..." He smirked and turned her then drew her back to him. "I have a business proposal for you. I know exactly the dire straights you are in. I own most of your husband's debt. He had a bad habit of gambling and investing in disgusting things like brothels and silly business ventures. I know the debtors are calling at your door, and with a single agreement, I can remedy all of it, get your money back in your coffers, make all that piling of debt disappear...I like to think I am being fair," he smiled then drew her closer.
"After all, I can put you back in pretty dresses, your daughter won't end up in a work house, you won't end up as a seamstress or in debtor's prison. You'll be able to show your pretty face in all London society. The money. I know you need it, and I can give it all back," he swore, giving a smile. "If you don't smile they will be suspicious. I'm sure you don't want that," he said simply. Giving a smile as he twirled her around the room. "Don't you want all of your troubles to disappear sweeting?"
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Post by anjelrocker on Feb 6, 2012 23:32:09 GMT -5
He thought that he had already explained that he would not be in this world for too much longer. Looking up at her with a raised eyebrow and wondering why the silly woman was not saying yes to this proposal. Reginald sighed. "Because I am going to be dead in a year, sweet Felicity." He said to her, quite likely the name since she was just as pretty as her name. "I went to see my doctor about my stomach problems and he said that I have cancer and that I only have a year to live." He explained further as he told her of his selfish reason for wanting to get married. "I want an heir before I leave this world. If you grant me that, one child that you will be able to raise as you wish to be my heir. I will make sure that you live in complete luxury with servants and a nurse for the child. After all, he will be an heir to an Earldom." He was looking quite proud of himself as he waited for her reply.
Apart of him was growing impatient with all this dilly dallying around. "Now, do you see why I wish to wed you... you are a pretty young woman and I do not care if you are not of my class. I suppose that is what I like... the scandal of it all." He smiled as he had rejected the society that he had once been apart of so heavily and he had rejected the offer for his sister to be wed to a stablehand that she had fallen for. "Come now, do say yes I am getting quite tired... you will be a Countess and then, the Dowager Countess. Ah, a title and the riches... a dream for an orphan, is it not?" He asked her. "And, you do not really have to deal with me for too long if you end up thinking that I am a foolish man." He laughed but it did not seem to reach his eyes.
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"It is because the nurse spends more time with the patient then the doctor does. We see how the patient reacts to certain things and their preferences." Winifred said softly having been a nurse in the Boer War, not that she had known the Marquis but she had known men like them. Their pain and suffering as some were much worse off then he was. However, she had not said a word... she was only a young woman from Wales. "Only twenty-eight and you sound so bitter, Milord." She said softly in her sing song accent. "As for finding a wife, you will be in good shape soon enough and then perhaps you could teach me to dance."
She smiled as they walked in the summer of the spring. "Soon enough, you will be twirling the fine young lasses about the ballroom." Winnie was teasing him. "As for my dancing, well... the frontman who was trying to teach me... well, I am quite sure that he had two left feet..." She said but the truth was that she was not a very good dancer but she was too stubborn to admit it.
"Do you promise, Milord?" She asked him with a sigh.
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"Oh dear... the shock of it all... a lady in trousers." He had seen ladies in bloomer so that they were able to ride bicycles. "We are not as old fashioned as you like to think of us, Miss Lawson." He said to her with a teasing grin as he twirled her around and then back to himself. Catching her hair with flawless grace of a man who had been practicing dancing since he was a boy, James continued. "We are getting a number of these suffragettes and they are believing in eating only vegetables as well as giving women the vote..." He said. "How scandalous... however, I think women have the sense to put up with us men then they can had the right to vote."
He had done a number of drawings on this very subject. "You are quite the blunt one but with a fiery spirit... Miss Lawson." He said with a small smile. "I bet that you are a tigeress in other such ways."
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There was something that was not quite right about this deal as she was looking up at Rex with a frown before smiling knowing that he was right that if they saw her frowning as such then they would think something was wrong. He had been her first lover but he was not the same man, she supposed that she had broke his heart but her own had been broken as well. And yet, it had been because she could not leave her brother since it had been the time when his fiancee had left him for a Duke. It had never been about the money but he would never know that. "Of course I do but you are about something else, Everett." She would never use Rex for him again for he had been her sweet, kind lover from years ago.
She had loved this man and he had been pretending to be something that he was not. "Nothing comes for free... daring. What do I have to do?" She asked knowing that she could go to her brother but her pride did not want to. "I am also the sister to an Earl... what if I ask my brother to help me? Then I would not have to rely on you... Do not call me that, we are not lovers anymore." Ariana said quite seriously.
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Post by Raynesleigh on Feb 7, 2012 7:50:38 GMT -5
Lissy bit her bottom lip and then nodded slowly. That was not to terribly selfish. The man was dying and he needed a son. A son she could grant him and when he died she would not be controlled by her father. He was using her and she was using him. So thinking, she took a deep breath and nodded once more. "I accept your proposal my lord," she told him, hearing his valet knock and call once more for him. She swallowed, hoping this would not turn into a grand mistake. Once her name was on that marriage license, there was little anyone could do to her then. She would be free. In a manner of speaking. And gods teeth but she hoped that he did not toss her out when he realized she was the daughter of an Earl.
"If only to try and give you the thing you most wanted," she said simply. "I do not need fancy things and a title....." and that was the truth. But he was a social outcast and she wished to be so maybe there was more to them having something in common then she might think.
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"Most definitely. I keep all of my promises. Believe me when I say that recommendation to Oxford only increases every day. You are a compassionate woman and helping others is your calling," he said with a chuckle as she pushed him along. "And I suppose I sound bitter because before I went off to war, I had a father, a wife, a child on the way and a bright future. War was glorified. But it was stupid of me to go. To witness and be apart of such horror. Then I come home to find father dead, myself a marquess, my child deaf and my wife uncaring for my state of mental health or physical well being. Then when she realized that I could not bed her, she quickly divorced me and married some two bit stage actor, leaving me alone to care for my deaf daughter when I could barely care for myself..." he shook his head. "I know men have worse lives, but I did love the spiteful bitch...."
He groaned at the jarring and took several deep breaths.
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Ginny smirked. "If I did not know better my lord, I would say you were making a remark that is nearly uncouth. Are you trying to seduce me my rakish lord?" she asked as they moved along the dance floor, nearly bodily touching and her whole being was a flutter at the possibility of him doing just that.
"Because you know you cannot seduce me without first marrying me and I have heard you are not the marrying type," she teased him greatly then gave a soft laugh as the music ended and she drew from him, cheeks flushed and gray eyes glittering.
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"yes well, he is to wrapped up in his own problems just now. I propose that we continue what we had from the past. I still have at least physical feelings for you and I can tell by the flush of those pretty cheeks that you remember as well." he smiled and then drew away as the music ended, leasing her off the dance floor. "Be my mistress, at least until I grow tired of you and to that point, you will have all of your dead husband's debt cleared and you and your daughter will be set for life. We were lovers once," Everett mused. "And I am sure that we can find happiness and pleasure in each others arms once more. It's only to get you out of my system because despite everything, you are one of the best if not the best lover I have ever had the pleasure of coupling with. Know that if you do not accept however, I will see to it that everyone knows that you fucked a stable hand as a young girl and that you are penniless. I will see you cut from society like you cut out my heart and those mounting bills will be left unpaid....."
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Post by anjelrocker on Feb 7, 2012 9:38:02 GMT -5
It was in that moment when she had accepted that Reginald's face and lit up and he looked up into those chocolate eyes of hers. "Well, m'dear... you have not made a terrible choice if you are feeling anxious about this situation." Lifting himself up, he was taller than she was as he grasped her hands and lifted them to his lips. "There is much to do but for this evening... you will be able to relax." He said to her as the sound of his valet's voice was on the other end of the door and he looked over his shoulder at the older man came in looking deeply puzzled by the pair of them. "Ah, Jeffrey... my good man... fetch my other cufflinks." He said as the valet did and Reginald announced. "Miss Felicity Greywood is to be the lady of this house as well as my wife." He grinned as the box with the other pair of cufflinks fell to the floor and the valet quickly gathered them up as he was looking to his Lord and then to Miss. Greywood.
"Your wife, milord... are you quite well?" Jeffrey asked not knowing really what to say about this strange arrangement as Reginald exclaimed. "Better than ever, my good man... for the lovely Miss Greywood has accepted my offer of marriage. Now, she is to not be doing anymore chores since she is no longer a maid." He said quite seriously as the valet raised an eyebrow. "Oh, do not look at Miss Greywood like that... the woman is not with child and she had been a very good employee but I seem to be bewitched by her loveliness and so... she will be staying in one of the guest bedrooms until the wedding day." He said before continuing as he looked to Miss Greywood and said. "And you will join me for breakfast tomorrow morning and from there... we will go to Bond Street so that you can be fitted with some of the most beautiful gowns... yes, Miss Greywood... I will also be getting you a ring and it is nonsense that you do not want a title. You will be the mother of the future heir after all."
Taking her hand, he kissed it again before looking at his pocket watch and saying. "My... is that the time... I can not take you to the opera tonight, m'dear but soon... I will. Promise." He wanted to grant her every happiness so that she would perhaps give him the same in his final days.
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"Milord..." Winnie stopped the chair as she went around and crouched in front of him seeing that he was having a panic attack of some sort as she took his arm and pulled up his sleeve. "Shhh..." She whispered to him with sympathic eyes as she rolled up the sleeve and ran her nails up and down his forearm trying to soothe him from the fit. "It is alright, milord..." She said quietly as she thought of her own horrors from her days in South Africa as a nurse. She had done this to the soldiers who had woken up in the night having fits and nightmares. It had always seemed to work for them as did it for her siblings when she had done the same with them growing up without a mother.
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"Ah, perhaps... but with a lady as beautiful and charming at yourself... one would think twice about being a rakish rogue." He teased her. "And perhaps being the unmarrying type... after all, I think that I would give up a good amount so that I would taste the sweetness from those pink petal lips." James moved in ever so slightly but she had noticed at he twirled her once and the music came to an end. "My, Miss Lawson... you are positively flushed... perhaps we shall get you a refreshment to enjoy out in the gardens. I heard that this house had some of the loveliness gardens in all of London." He said to her as he escorted her off the dance floor and towards the refreshment table.
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The man was blackmailing her as she looked up at him as if to search for the man that he had once been and yet, he was no longer that kind stablehand that she had fallen so deeply for. "You are doing this for revenge on me... Asking me to be your mistress." She had looked appalled but she was no longer the young girl that he had fallen in love with either. "My... someone is bitter." Ariana smiled as if to mock him. "Very well, I will be your mistress but only until my husband's debts are clear..." She said as she gently removed her arm from his arm. "You are just upset that I got tired of your first... a pity, you were a good lover but, I have had other since." That was a lie but she did not want him to think that she had any feeling for him left. He could think her a cold hearted bitch all he wanted and she would play the part to perfection.
"Now... you will call on my tomorrow afternoon while my daughter is having her walk with her governess." She said simply. "And we will discuss these matters in private." She did not want her daughter to see the bastard that her real father had become.
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Post by Raynesleigh on Feb 7, 2012 13:29:03 GMT -5
Oh dear heaven. He really had been drinking a bit to much. She swallowed hard and then flushed and took a deep breath. The servants would definitely be gossiping about this. If they found out she was an Earl's daughter and news reached her father before they wed, she would be in a heap of trouble. One week. That's how long it took to file a license. Hopefully they could just elope. She didn't like the idea of a large ceremony and guessed he did not either.She took off her cap and brushed the loose tendrils of dark hair back and swallowed."I...suppose I will see you in the morning then," she said then blushed. She guessed he was just saying those things to make Jeffrey believe that they were in a moment of passion or some such. But she was sure to get the disdain from the servants without his looking. Especially from the housekeeper Mrs. Pierce. "I...I will go down and get my things," she said then rushed from the room, only to find a lot of the servants were listening in the wings. She did not say anything just walked down to the servants quarters and drew her few belongings into her arms and then came back upstairs as a room was prepared for her. She found she had a dress and a night gown to where though the nightgown was so flimsy and thin it probably belonged to one of his mistresses once upon a time. She swallowed, sitting it down and then put the dress up to wear tomorrow.
There was a basin of water and fresh cloth to wash with and she used it to advantage then sank down on the edge of the bed in her corset, chemise and few petticoats. She could not believe she had agreed to marry. But she supposed that she had little other choice than to accept what she had already. It would be for just a year or so and she would give a dying man his wish, and with his death, he would give her hers. Unpinning her hair, she ran her fingers through it then looked out the window at the gas lit streets, watching people come and go. This time next week or so, she would be married. And married meant sharing a bed with him. She could only hope that this would not turn out to be a mistake.
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He took a few more deep breaths before closing his eyes. "I'm sorry...I sound like a moping idiot," he said simply after a moment. "I just...I can't do things with my daughter because of my condition. I can't take her horseback riding through the park or play with her. And she...she can barely talk...that school she goes to does little to help her with speech but now that she and I know sign language, at least we can communicate..." he sighed. "You don't now how often I wish that woman would drown. I should of realized she was a selfish whore when I married her. But I was young and stupid.And in love. Believe me Winifred. DOn't ever fall for that fools trap," he said, adjusting himself and then looking at her. "You are much to smart and pretty to fall for something so inane," he said simply. Frederick sighed and looked at an approaching servant with a note and he took it, quickly opening it and reading then nodding. "If she is here, bring her out," he said simply and then waved him off. Even though he was in immense pain, he lifted himself and took the two steps to the stone bench. He refused to greet his child in that invalid's chair and that was that. As soon as he adjusted himself, she came running toward him in a pretty little blue dress. She looked much like her mother.
Red-gold curls, blue eyes. She had his nose and little else. She came to him and hugged him then crawled into his lap, her spindly frame wrapping around him. He held her close and kissed her cheeks before drawing back, watching her smile at him and then she lifted up a folded piece of paper. He opened it and smirked before sitting her on her feet and then sitting straight before signing and speaking at the same time. "It is very good. Thank you my sweet," he said and watched her eyes take both in and she smiled before signing and trying to speak but it came out more gargled and unintelligable.
"Teacher said you would like it," she grinned and then looked at Winnifred and smiled before giving her best curtsey, stumbling only slightly. Frederick touched her shoulder and she turned.
"Katie...this is my nurse...she is helping me to learn to walk...like your teachers teach you to speak...and to sign. Yes?" She followed it and nodded. "Good...now...her name is w-i-n-n-i-f-r-e-d. What do you want her sign to be when you talk about her?" he asked. She bit her bottom lip. Obviously contemplating it and then smiling as she made a sign using the letter w with the motions of happy. He nodded. "Alright then. Winnifred," he made the sign. "Winnifred, this is my daughter...Katie..." he said simply then pointed to Winnifred to which Katie turned, pointing her finger and making her new sign for Winnifred's name.
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Ginny smirked and knowing it was dangerous, she could not help but go with him. She walked with him to the refreshment table and moved her fingers over her hair. She walked with him, out into the nearly vacant garden, taking a sip of her punch as they walked. There was a bit of a bite to it now that hadn't been there before. "How old are you my lord?" she asked curiously. "I'm nineteen. In case you did not know already," she said giving a smirk as she glanced at him in the near darkness and then looking forward. "You cannot be more than thirty..."
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He frowned at her. "I have every right to be," he said simply but the nodded. "Very well, we shall speak more on this tomorrow." He sighed and bowed. "I'm certain we will come to a rater fine arrangement," he said simply and then smiled and walked away from her, moving to Lady Chastain to walk and speak with her, putting on a smile. He did feel a little bit of guilt, but it was well deserved. he was being an ass. But six years ago, she had destroyed him. He had left the job the day after she married that sorry old bastard and he had started drinking. Every day, every night, trying to drown away the pain. It hadn't worked. Two years ago, his father had died and he had been in mourning a year. And it was at the same time that her husband had died that his brother had. He had seen her at the graveyard the same day his father was buried with a small child. That same sorry bastard who had drowned her in debt. Yet she had chosen that man over him. He might be bitter, but she had destroyed him. And now he just wanted her poison out of his system. A few fucks and she'd be gone. At least. That was the plan.
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Post by anjelrocker on Feb 7, 2012 15:07:39 GMT -5
He had escorted the young Lady Marie to the opera that night as he had promised but seeing that he was engaged, Reginald broke off the ties since she did not seem that interested in him anyways. He returned home at a late hour, have a glass of brandy and went to bed. He was in his right mind and he sure as hell knew what he was getting himself into. Reginald was getting married and despite it not being for love, he knew that there would be some peace of mind. As well as, he was going to try to quit his excessive drinking for the sake of this wedding.
The next morning, he was feeling a little rough but not as terrible as he had some nights as he remembered that he had asked Miss Lissy to marry him. Taking a moment to thing of this situation, he nodded more to himself as his valet entered his chambers. "Ah, sir... you are up." The older man said to him as Reginald spoke. "Yes, I believe that I will be having breakfast with Miss... Greywood." He mentioned as the valet looked surprised and coughed.
"So, you remember proposing to the maid then, Sir?" He asked as Reginald nodded. "I said that I was in the right frame of mind and you would do well not to question my decisions." The Earl of Hartlepool said as he rose from the bed clad in nothing as the valet nodded. "Will I have a bath drawn for you, Milord?" The valet asked as he was pulling out this clothing for the day.
Reginald nodded liking that his townhouse had bathrooms so that he could have a bath whenever he wanted. Not like when he was a child and they had to bring the water up kettle by kettle. "Yes... do that Jeffrey." He mentioned.
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A little over an hour later, he was sitting at the breakfast table awaiting his bride to be to join him as he sipped at the black coffee and frowned before turning the page on the morning newspaper noticing that his friend, James had gotten a drawing in there and it seemed the Frederick was writing once again under his penname. He had not seen his friends in some time due to James' philandering and Frederick's boohooing about being an invalid. It was at that moment that the day opened to Miss Greystone entering as he stood up. "M'dear... you are looking as pretty as a picture." He said taking her hand and kissing it gently in greeting.
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Looking to the young girl, Winnie thought that despite her being unable to speak that she was charming as she made a curtsy to the young lady. "I am pleased to meet you, Katie." Offering her hand in greeting so that the young girl might know that she was being kind. She thought that the new sign for her name was delightful as she mimicked the father and daughter. "Sir, would you like me to leave you with your daughter?" She asked thinking that it would be best for him to share that time with her since she had been gone for quite sometime to the blind and deaf school. And surely, the daughter wanted time to be with her father without some boring nurse to be watching.
However, he could not go long distances without being in the chair and he had not wanted his daughter to see him in it. And so, she was to stay as she stood watching the father and daughter sighing to one another in their own secret language. She was curious about the sigh language as she was watching.
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"Twenty seven." James told the young woman as he was slowly walking with her amongst the gardens. There seemed that there were not many out in the gardens as he was now enjoying the punch since it had some alcohol in it. "It seems like someone put a little more than a nip into the punch." He grinned at her but he did not make any unclout gestures as he was looking to the moonlit gardens. "Only nineteen and yet, you act as if you are much older then your age." He said simply before stopping for a moment. "You really are beautiful, Miss Lawson... I do hope that you realize that I am not just saying that to charm you."
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Oh, she supposed that he had a right to be upset but really, they were lovers and as much as she had loved him. What did he expect her to do? Live with him in some cottage with five children running around and one hanging off her breast. The truth was that Ariana was the bastard daughter of the former Earl of Hartlepool. She had been the daughter of a maid that he had had an affair with and it was not until she had been seven that she even knew that she had a father or a brother. She had grown up poor and so, she had lived on the streets of Whitechapel, hungry at night and having to pickpockets for a few coins to bring to her sick mother.
It was when she had been nine and her mother was on her dead bed that she had been told the truth of it. And so, she had gone to the house and had told them who she was and that she was the daughter of the Earl. And for whatever reason, they had believed her. It had been a miracle how she had been taken off the streets and treated so well because she was the daughter of the Earl. Of course, she had been given a governess... a woman that she had loathed but she liked that she was feed three times a day and that she could do as she wished when her governess was not nagging her.
Despite it all, Ariana had not wanted her daughter to grow up poor and so... she had chosen the money over love. Not that it had gotten her anywhere since he was right that she was almost on the verge of being tossed into the streets and the idea of her daughter having to go to a workhouse. Well... as she was sitting in her parlor awaiting his arrival, she drank her tea with a little bit of milk but no sugar since it was expensive.
The idea of lowering herself to be his mistress... all of it was a deep pain to her heart.
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