Lady Be Reckless (Duke's Daughters #2)(30)

There had to be someone out there in all of Society, who wasn’t entirely biased against someone because of how they’d been born?

Although likely not. Look at Olivia, the most passionate arguer for equality he could imagine existed. And yet she too had called him a bastard. And then felt terrible about it, but the thought had been in her mind.

“That is how most of the people in my world—now yours—see marriage. As a likely match between buyer and product for sale, with marks awarded in beauty, personality, and ease of doing as they’re told. Wit, if the buyer is more open-minded.” Bennett sounded as disgusted about it as Edward felt hearing it, but it didn’t make his words any less true.

“What about you?” Edward asked his friend. They were almost done with the row of horses; there were three other rows to get through, but Edward knew Bennett would make an excuse to leave before Edward had entirely finished. “What type of lady will be able to wrest you away from your constant work?”

“Since my brother stole my betrothed out from under my nose?” Bennett retorted. He didn’t sound bothered by it, and having seen Lord Alexander, Bennett’s brother, and his wife, Lady Eleanor, Edward could tell it was a love match. And Bennett, by his own admission, had no time for love. But there had to be something, someone, who could get Bennett’s attention more than the latest Parliamentary proceedings could.

Perhaps that was why Bennett hadn’t even considered Lady Olivia. They were too similar, both fiercely determined to right wrongs and balance injustice. There would be no respite from their respective causes if they were married. It would be relentlessly moral, and not at all the kind of relationship either one of them would truly want, despite what one of the two might have to say.

“I suppose I will have to get married someday. I am my father’s heir, after all.” Bennett tilted his head to the side in thought. “I would like a lady who is gentle. Soft, almost. Someone who will be a comfort and a pleasure to return to after a long day.”

Someone entirely unlike Lady Olivia, Edward thought.

“But that is a long time from now,” Bennett said in a weary tone. “There is too much to be done for me to consider anything so frivolous.”

Edward had often envied his friend—namely, his friend’s legitimate birth—but he had just as often felt sorry for him. That he bore the weight of the world on his shoulders, that his father didn’t seem to care much about anything, let alone his eldest son. Edward was eternally grateful that Mr. Beechcroft had been such a remarkable father to him, even though the law would say he wasn’t his true father.

“Well, then let’s be frivolous for just a bit longer.” Edward gestured to the next row of horses. “Give me your opinion on which filly would make the best bride.”

Bennett laughed, shaking his head at Edward’s nonsense.





Chapter 10




Keep your hands folded and in your lap at all times.

Lady Olivia’s Particular Guide to Decorum



“Welcome, my lady, we are delighted to see you again,” Miss Saunders said, a warm smile on her face. She gestured with open arms to Olivia. “Look, children, at who is visiting today. It’s Lady Olivia.”

Olivia nodded to the children, most of whom were staring at her open-mouthed. She’d met Miss Saunders while at the Society for Poor and Orphaned Children and had found herself drawn to the young woman who couldn’t be more than a few years older than herself.

Miss Saunders, however, had come from a much different life than Olivia, and it showed in her expression, the worry in her brown eyes. She had come into some money from a distant relative and set up a small school near to the society, teaching a few of the brighter children how to read and write in hopes of eventually getting them out of factory work and into something less dangerous for their small bodies—apprenticeships at London shops, or work in a well-to-do family’s home. Some place where gentle manners and a rudimentary education would come in handy.

Olivia came every few weeks to give Miss Saunders a break from teaching. Thus far, it was only Miss Saunders, so the school was only open for a few hours in the afternoon, but Olivia hoped to bring some of her Societal acquaintances to visit once the children were taught well enough to impress the ladies.

Olivia’s contribution to the effort was slight, but Miss Saunders was grateful nonetheless, almost too grateful, she felt. Olivia couldn’t help but wince when Miss Saunders gushed about her generosity, as though coming to read to such interested, engaged children for an hour or so was a hardship.

Still, it felt good to be wanted.

“Can I take your wrap, my lady?” one of the young girls said in a shy voice.

Olivia smiled at her, beginning to remove her shawl. “Certainly, Mary. That would be splendid.”

Mary took the shawl as though it were a precious egg, holding it aloft in two hands and carrying it over to Miss Saunders’s desk, laying it on the table carefully, smoothing out whatever creases might be there.

“What have you chosen for me to read today?” Olivia asked once Mary had returned to sit beside her classmates on the wooden benches at one end of the room.

“This one, lady.” A small boy stepped forward and handed her a book, its age apparent from the worn cover and spine.

“Holiday House,” Olivia said as she approached and sat in the chair facing the benches, settling the book on her lap. “I have not read this before.”