An Affair of Deceit • Regency Romance

Chapter 1: Letitia

No sooner had Isabella caught sight of the masked figure on the horse than her air of delicacy vanished. In a flash of bright silver the sword found her hand; the hard pommel cracked her jailer's startled brow. She had one foot braced on the seat of the coach, and the second fellow found himself with the point of a cold steel sword at his throat, and Isabella's burning eyes fixing him in place. He gaped for air, and the steel pricked his flesh, drawing a drop of blood--

"Letty? Letty! You aren't burying your nose in a novel again?" 

Perhaps Delia Booth meant well, but the nickname-- and the false concern in her voice-- set Letitia's teeth on edge. It was the work of a moment to slip The Chevalier's Charade into her reticule and stare off into the distance, wafting her fan beneath her chin.

"Oh, you poor dear," Delia simpered as she rounded the corner and found her charge looking wan and lonely behind a potted fern. "Did the heat of the ballroom overwhelm you much? I warned dear Mr. Humphries about this very thing! Come, we'll fetch you a glass of lemonade, that'll set you to rights."

Lemonade meant returning to the ballroom, and the slimy advances of Colin Rutley. Letitia sidestepped Delia's grasping hands with the sort of deft experience that one acquires after a lifetime of near misses. 

"You're very kind, Miss Booth, but a few minutes more of quiet are all I need. I am not alone-- see? Mrs. Pruett is..."

Mrs. Pruett had wandered off some time ago, doubtless to powder her nose or indulge in a scandalous tete-a-tete. Delia gave her a pitying smile. 

"Come along, Letty dear. You look so fetching in your new muslin! You must let all the young men have a turn with you on the floor. I insist!"

There was nothing in the world Letitia wanted less than a lot of hopping and gliding about with presumptuous young men, not when she was so close to the climactic last chapters of The Chevalier's Charade. But there were no other excuses she could make, not when Delia was determined to enjoy the ball herself. 

She did her best to hide at the back of the crowd, but she was a tall, willowy girl, and Delia had fussed over her silky blonde hair until it shown in a becoming little fall of curls, and her guardian had reluctantly parted with precious funds to purchase her a new gown. And Colin Rutley was hell-bound on finding her and dragging her off to dance.

He appeared now, like a phantasm, smiling his awful, smarmy smile. His hair was perfectly coiffed; his shirt points stiff with starch. "Miss Sharpe. What a delight. Are you promised away for the next dance? No? I do hope you'll permit me the honor."

"I certainly--"

"Splendid," Colin purred, and all but hauled her into line with the rest of the debutantes.

"Will not," Letitia finished under her breath, suppressing a long-suffering sigh. 

Ever since her parents died in a public coach accident that claimed the lives of many other passengers, Letitia had been in the care of Mr. Edward Humphries, her father's second cousin once removed... or was it first cousin twice removed? He didn't look a thing like her father, but Papa's solicitor had assured her Mr. Humphries truly was who he said he was: distant family, and the only relative Letitia had left in the world. 

At first, Letitia hadn't noticed his smothering, overbearing nature. She had been a girl of twelve, and her parents weren't very sociable people. But when she turned seventeen, and noticed that other girls were given come-outs into society, and dressed in gowns and feathers and paraded about ballrooms while she was locked away in her guardian's parlor, she began to wonder. 

And then Mr. Humphries began to make the most peculiar comments. Letitia had never found him a particularly restful person. Something about him always set her on edge. It was just as well that he was gone for most of the day on business, leaving her to educate herself with the cook, Mrs. Campbell, a pleasant country woman who long-sufferingly made sure Letitia had what she considered to be "a proper education"--- because when he was home, Letitia was hard pressed to avoid him as much as possible.