Once Upon a Maiden Lane (Maiden Lane #12.5)(11)

Jo raised her head from Mary’s shoulder, her eyes red, her cheeks wet, and her lips parted imploringly.

This woman who was her sister and wanted Mary to call her Jo.

Mary answered helplessly, “Yes, I will.”





Chapter Four



Triton, of course, disapproved of Clio’s interest in the land dwellers’ ships.

“Why do you watch them?” he would ask, puzzled, his heavy brow crumpling in a frown.

But then, Triton went on grand adventures, swimming around the world’s seas and having exciting battles with giant squid and such. As a lowly mermaid, Clio never got to do such wonderful things.

Triton just couldn’t understand the allure of the exotic.…

—From The Curious Mermaid



That night Henry ran up the steps to Keating House, the London town house belonging to his father, the Earl of Keating. Henry had moved into his own establishment more than five years earlier, but Mother insisted on having the entire family for dinner once a week. This was a firm standing order and any excuses outside of being bedridden with the plague were not tolerated.

Actually Henry enjoyed seeing both his mother and younger sisters and hearing what gossip and scandal held their attention that week.

It was his father whom he occasionally found trying.

Phillips opened the door, and Henry grinned at the elderly butler as he entered. “Have they sat down yet?”

“I believe the earl and countess just went in,” Phillips said with a chiding glance as he took Henry’s hat and gloves.

“Then I’d best hurry.”

Henry leaped up the white marble staircase. The family dining room was on the upper level at the back of the house. He strode down the hall and pushed open a pale-blue door.

Inside, Mother, Father, and his two younger sisters, Kate and Becca, sat at the long ebony table.

Kate flashed him a smile while Becca widened her eyes in what looked like a warning.

“Henry!” His mother pursed her lips to try to hide a smile and held out her hands to him. “Late again, I see.”

“Alas,” Henry said, taking his mother’s hands and bowing to kiss both. He glanced up from his bow. “But I do come bearing a gift.”

Mother seemed to be attempting to maintain her stern expression, but she absolutely adored presents—as well he knew. “Well, then, show me.”

He slipped his hand into his coat pocket and brought out a thin, small book with a flourish. “I found this at Adams and Sons yesterday and thought you might be amused by it.”

His mother took the book and opened it. A smile lit her face when she saw the title page. The book was a new edition of William Shakespeare’s sonnets. “Hmm. Poetry. You do know how to exploit my weaknesses. I suppose there’s nothing to do but forgive you, then.”

Henry had opened his mouth to reply, but his father interrupted him. “That book isn’t the only thing you found at Adams and Sons, I hear.”

Henry felt his smile die as he bowed to his father. “Indeed, sir. I see the gossip has arrived ahead of me.”

The earl wore an irritated expression, his heavy jowls red underneath his white wig.

“Gossip!” Father snorted explosively as if Henry had maligned his character. “’Tis not gossip when the news is that the lost Albright girl has been found. Angrove has told me that the countess is convinced that the girl really is Lady Cecilia.” He paused to take a long drink of his wine before continuing, “The man’s my oldest friend, but I don’t know if I want a maidservant as the next Countess of Keating. Is the girl even literate?”

Henry felt his jaw clench—a regular occurrence when he conversed with his father. “I did meet her in a bookstore, Father. I hardly think she’d have been there if she couldn’t read.”

He rounded the table and sat beside Becca, accepting a glass of wine from Thomas the footman, which he drank gratefully. He had no wish to quarrel with his father.

“That may be so,” the old man was saying, frowning heavily, “but we’ve known Lady Joanna since she was a babe. The girl is quite fit to be a countess—pretty, dances well, and can make conversation. I’m rather fond of her.”

“As am I,” Henry said calmly. It wouldn’t do to point out that he’d long suspected that Joanna’s affections were otherwise engaged. His prospective bride’s emotions and opinion hardly mattered to his father. “I’ve always liked Joanna. But Lady Cecilia is just as lovely as her sister—they are twins, after all—and I feel she’s bright enough to learn whatever she needs to be my wife.”

He managed a smile at the end of his defense.

Not that his father noticed. His focus was on the beefsteak before him. “Ha. Is that so? Still. We are familiar with Lady Joanna.”

Across from him Kate was looking at him with wide eyes while Mother, at the opposite end of the table from the earl, looked as if something foul were in her wineglass.

Becca cleared her throat. “I confess I’m quite eager to meet Lady Cecilia.”

“Oh yes,” Kate chimed in quickly. “Why the life she’s lived must have been…erm…fascinating.”

Kate winced and shot Henry an apologetic look.

He stifled an urge to roll his eyes and leaned to the side as Thomas served him. His sisters were only trying to be helpful.