Chapter 3
The oranges were an unexpected treat, and Meredith enjoyed the first one immensely.
She’d only had them a few times while living in Yorkshire, being a rare delicacy in that part of England.
She hesitated when it came to eating the second, which Darius had so thoughtfully given to her.
It was his, after all, and she’d already had the one.
She turned back to offer him the second orange.
“Please eat,” Darius whispered as he leaned in again to speak to her from behind. “I bought it for you.” His voice in her ear and his warm breath against her neck in the dark were intoxicating. Thrilling. It sent a shiver down her spine and filled her with a languid heat in her lower belly.
After a brief hesitation, she ate the second orange, delicately peeling it upon the handkerchief in her lap and enjoying the slices one by one.
The play went on, the audience laughing and cheering in all the right places.
Meredith had never been to a proper play before.
She’d attended a house party in Burton Agnes once where the hosting family had performed a silly little comedy which had amused everyone immensely.
But she’d never seen anything quite like this.
The lamps at the edge of the stage lit up the actors, who danced about the sets and played their parts.
The heavy fall of the bright red curtains accented the marvelous sets.
The rich colors, the vibrant and life-like rooms and outdoor scenery made it feel as though she was glimpsing a dozen new places each time the sets changed and the painted backdrops were pushed out onto stage.
Meredith gasped and laughed along with the crowd as everyone reacted to the dialogue.
And then there was the music, the swells of exquisite sound that filled Meredith with an unspeakable joy.
She felt alive in a way she never had before.
She had loved her quiet life in Yorkshire, with its rolling sea and the quiet beach, as well as Uncle Ben’s beautiful gardens and fields, and his vast library.
But this taste of London life was something else entirely.
When the play paused for intermission, Lord Kentwell placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder.
“Your backdrops look marvelous, my darling,” he said, causing her to blush.
“His Grace mentioned that you painted the backgrounds. Did you paint all of them?” Meredith inquired. The countess nodded, her face reddening further.
“Yes. I worked here before I married my Kit.” She lifted her face up to accept a kiss upon her cheek from the intimidating Lord Kentwell. A flash of envy shot through Meredith. She wanted to have what Suzannah and her husband had.
“You worked here?” asked Meredith.
“I still do.” Suzannah grinned at her.
Meredith was shocked and realized her expression might come across as rude, so she added, “I mean, you are very talented, Lady Kentwell. I’m simply surprised.”
“Well, I enjoy it, and I see no reason to change who I am simply because of my marriage. Even if it isn’t expected societal behavior.”
“Not that we care one wit what others think,” Lord Kentwell added with a scowl.
Meredith did not expect to hear such things in London and found it surprisingly comforting. “You are very talented, Lady Kentwell,” said Meredith. “The paintings seem to come alive on the stage. It is truly the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
Suzannah laughed. “I hope you are not embarrassed to be sitting with a clerk’s daughter who paints sets for plays. I know my marriage to Kit caused quite a stir for many of London’s elite.”
Suzannah laughed at Lord Kentwell’s deepening scowl and patted her husband’s hand which rested on her shoulder. Lord Kentwell’s face softened a little.
“I do not mind at all,” said Meredith. “Actually, I think it’s rather splendid. You have a beautiful talent, and it is being put to use. Besides, I do not have any social standing,” Meredith added. “I come from…less than auspicious circumstances as well, Lady Kentwell.”
Meredith hoped she hadn’t spoken too honestly, too earnestly, but she wanted Suzannah to understand that she would never sit in judgment on anyone.
“Then I shall see we shall be fast friends.” She reached out and squeezed Meredith’s arm with a smile. “Please call me Suzannah.”
“Pardon us, ladies. We shall be back in a moment,” Lord Kentwell said before he and Darius left the box.
“Where do you suppose they are going?” Meredith asked.
“I wager they are bound for the box opposite us.” Suzannah handed Meredith a pair of opera glasses and pointed directly across the way to the opposite side of the stage.
She glimpsed four other men sitting there and she recognized them from earlier that evening when she briefly met Lord Kentwell for the first time.
“Those are your husband’s friends?”
“Indeed.” Suzannah chuckled. “Have you had a chance to meet them?”
“Not exactly,” Meredith admitted. “I only just arrived at the duke’s home a few moments before we left for the theater.”
“And what brings you to London? You’re from the north, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I came all the way from Yorkshire. But I’m afraid it is not under the best of circumstances.”
“How do you mean?”
“The duke’s uncle passed away this week. It is why I am here.”
Suzannah gasped. “Goodness, I didn’t know about Darius’s uncle. I am very sorry to hear about that. I take it you were close to him?”
Meredith was puzzled how Suzannah so freely used Darius’s Christian name, which, given what she knew of high society, was quite unexpected. But she sensed there was much she would come to learn about her new guardian in the days to come.
Meredith felt a flare of guilt and sorrow as something new occurred to her.
“I only just realized I should be in mourning. I don’t even own a black gown.
And I certainly shouldn’t be here. It is my first night in London and I have made a terrible blunder.
” Tears of shame and sorrow burned her eyes.
She wanted to blame it on her exhaustion, but everything had happened so quickly.
Some part of her hadn’t quite accepted the truth that Uncle Ben was gone, and her life had been turned upside down. Only now was the reality sinking in.
Suzannah touched her hand. “It will be all right, Miss Montague. When Darius returns, you can speak to him about it. Until then, tell me about yourself.”
“You must call me Meredith.”
“Of course, Meredith.”
Soon, she found herself telling Suzannah everything about her life.
About her mother and how she came to live with Uncle Ben.
It was surely unwise to share so much about herself, but there was something so calming about Suzannah that she felt she could trust her, even with the most embarrassing aspects of her upbringing.
“Now we are friends in earnest,” Suzannah said, once she had finished. “Now, I should be honest about my own history. My father was a clerk for a shipping company. Seven years ago, he was blackmailed into accusing Kit of grand larceny of goods from one of Kit’s own ships.
“Kit… Your husband, Kit?”
Suzannah nodded, a sly smile on her face.
“The same, though we barely knew each of other then. Kit was sentenced to serve seven years in Australia. When he returned, he sought vengeance against the men who had ruined him, including my father. But father had died prior to Kit’s return, so he sought vengeance against me, in his stead. ”
Meredith gasped. “What did he intend to do?”
The smile grew. “Oh, I think you can imagine.”
“But… you both seem so happy!”
“And we are. Kit’s plans were ruined by the one thing he never expected.
Love. It is a much longer story than that, of course, but I’ve said all that I should for now.
I mention all this to say that Kit has bad days, as have I.
We both know what it feels like as we are outsiders in a place where we should be welcomed.
You are one of us, Meredith. You will never be alone so long as you live in the Devil’s Square.
” Suzannah nodded toward the men in the box across from them.
Darius and Kit were standing at the back of the box talking to the other four men who’d stood up and turned to converse at their arrival.
“They all live on the same street as His Grace?”
“Yes. They grew up together as boys, and those bonds run very deep.”
“Who are they, exactly?” Meredith asked as she studied the men through the opera glasses again.
Suzannah gave her a wicked grin. “I like to call them The Rogues of Devil’s Square.”
“Rogues?” Meredith had never met any gentleman with reputations wicked enough to be dubbed rogues. Even Harry was more a rake, and he lacked the charm that Darius’s friends seemed to possess.
Suzannah giggled. “It is a rather dramatic nickname to be sure, but do not be frightened by it. Be intrigued. Besides, I believe it fits. You must consider what these men have done with their lives these past seven years. Rather than leave Kit to his fate and move on with their lives, they turned their minds toward acquiring knowledge and power to help Kit find justice when he someday returned to England. When you realize that justice and legality are not always aligned, you understand why I call them rogues.”
She pointed to the box across the way. “You see that man on the far left, closest to the stage? The one with brown hair and hazel eyes? That is Lionel Thistlewaite, Viscount Basildon. He is the son of the Duke of Summerstone. He is the most methodical and coolheaded of the group. He has a darling little sister I shall introduce to you soon, Octavia. She is close to us in age.”