Devil of Montlaine (Regency Rendezvous Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Claudy Conn

  Regency Rendezvous

  A Scarsdale Publishing Perfection Imprint

  Copyright © 2017 Claudy Conn

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States

  Devil of Montlaine is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Editor:

  Alicia Carmical

  Cover Design R. Jackson Design

  Images: Period Images

  www.scarsdalepublishing.com

  SP

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  The Blue Drawing Room

  Other Regency Rendezvous Novels

  About Claudy

  Chapter One

  Brighton was a town that resounded with tumultuously early-season frivolities. All the haut ton, who normally resided in London, had flocked to the seasonal resort and were busy getting their fashionable homes, estates, and respectable lodgings in order.

  The mood was festive in most parts of the regent’s favorite summer spot.

  However, one notable residence held a household of clucking but devoted servants, all of whom centered their misgivings and concerns around the young maid they served—Lady Vanessa.

  It was not without cause that they frowned and sighed mournfully, for this time their young mistress had dove headlong into a scrape that would certainly, the lady’s maid told Vanessa soundly, cause an erosion within their happy home.

  Ness was the first one to admit she had plunged herself into a terrible situation, and took the time to reassure her maid, now wagging a finger along with her tongue at her, that she would ‘pull through’. However, signs of a quickly ‘crumbling’ calm had already begun. They received word that Lady Vanessa’s parents were expected to descend on them that very morning (a week before they were expected) and Ness was racking her brain to find a solution to her problem.

  According to their curt missive, her father, the earl, and her mother, the Countess of Grey, had lost no time in packing up and leaving London to see to their wayward daughter, and the missive informed her of this fact. She read and reread it. What did her mother know? What had her parents heard?

  She was, however, out of time.

  Her father and mother swept indoors with purpose!

  Her maid bowed her head and hurried away.

  Thus, it was, in the brightness of a well-appointed library, behind tightly closed doors, that the earl shook his head and sank into a comfortable winged leather chair.

  Her mother dramatically produced a handkerchief and dabbed her eyes as she paced.

  Ness cleared her throat and said, “Mama, that shade of soft yellow so suits you.”

  Her mother was momentarily distracted and smoothed her skirt. “Do you think so? I was concerned that it might be too youthful a…”

  “Never mind, never mind,” the earl cut her off, and waved the subject off impatiently.

  Ness looked into her father’s glinting dark eyes and waited, for she could see he was fuming with anger. His tone when he spoke was low, stern, and unyielding. “I am very put out with you. I had business still to conduct in London, and had to drop everything to get here because of your…”

  “Papa, please try, if you will, to understand. After all, I am not a child…”

  “Don’t blink those aqua-blues at me this time, young lady,” her father pounced on her as he sat forward. “It won’t work.”

  “Oh now, really, darling,” the countess objected to this.

  “No, my love. This time she has gone too far,” Ness’s father argued. “We have spoiled the child. We have been too lenient. She thinks she may do as she pleases. She thinks she can do anything a gentleman can do, and she cannot!”

  Her mother turned, took a step to her daughter, and touched her dear one’s cheek. “Vanessa, he is right, you know. This could push us into scandal.”

  “Indeed!” Her father stood. “How could you, Vanessa?”

  “You don’t understand…” Ness almost wailed, but controlled herself.

  “The problem is that I do. I understand all too well,” her father snapped.

  “Papa, my word was questioned. Don’t you see? It is beyond everything that you could be so much like those hypocrites out there!”

  The countess spun on her daughter. “Vanessa!”

  Ness blushed and bowed her head. “I do beg your pardon, Papa. Scolding me, however, without hearing my part at all, is not fair, not at all.” This was intolerable, she thought, but tried to get hold of her wayward temper. It was vexing to be treated as a child, and her agitation displayed itself as she worked her hands—folding and unfolding them. After all, she was one and twenty!

  She eyed her father, whose expression, oddly enough, softened. “You have the spirit of a pixie. You flit around without a care. You mean no harm, but harm seems to follow you, my dearest girl." He shook his head. “Your hair of gold, worn just so, gives your head a halo effect with the rays of the sun shining over you, but you are not an angel, and I shall not allow you to charm your way out of this with me, not this time.” He stalled her with a hand up and a resolute tone. “Don’t you understand that it doesn’t matter how you became the butt of gossip? Yes, you
may have been in the right of it, theoretically, but what matters is the end game, and the end game, my dearest daughter, is that gossip has begun with your name being worked into the discourse.”

  “If Ricky had been the one…there would be backslapping and much jesting. It is not just. It is not fair that because I am a female such a miserable fuss is being mucked up. Why, it is archaic!”

  It was at this point that the earl’s son, who had been standing in the doorway unnoticed, cleared his throat as he stepped inside and agreed with his wayward sister. “I must say, Papa. Nessie has a point, you know. After all, she couldn’t let the challenge go unanswered, and she was most definitely challenged. Besides, I don’t see the point of all this fuss. It is no different than when we raced about the country at home.”

  “Home, being the country where our friends and neighbors watched you both grow up, is not the same thing,” the countess offered gently. “You are in society now, and your sister has been introduced to the beau monde, where we are hopeful she will make a match of…”

  “NO!” Vanessa stuck in almost violently. “I will not make a match, as you call it. When I get married, it will be for love. I am not a piece of property.” Ness turned and gave her brother a thankful eye, thinking to herself that he was, with his bounty of golden hair and his clear blue eyes, quite a dear and handsome man. They had always been best of friends, as he was only a year older. He always seemed to take her side.

  She started towards her brother when her father’s sharp voice stopped her. “This is the outside of enough. This is not a game.”

  She and her brother remained quiet as he glared at his son. “Why do you continue to encourage her? You care for her, don’t you?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then help us keep her name from being bandied about. Help us stop her from ruining every chance she has with her wild notions of women’s rights. What utter nonsense.”

  Richard put up his chin. “I quite see your point, Papa, but I don’t find her opinions to be nonsense.”

  This elicited a series of choked sounds from his father, before the earl put a hand to his forehead and whispered, “Heaven preserve my sanity. How is it I raised such children?”

  His wife smiled. “You raised them, as I did, to be fair and honest. You raised them to rise up against injustice. You raised them to see the humor in absurdities. I think we accomplished our goals.”

  The earl sighed and returned to his chair, sinking into its folds and pyramiding his hands.

  No one spoke.

  Vanessa and her brother exchanged glances and then their father said, “In my salad days, I was full of ideas. Some of those were beaten by the realities of life, and experience. Others survived and thrived. You are quite correct. Had it been your brother, who had engaged in such behavior, we would not now be having this conversation. As matters stand, women of gentle birth and breeding may not, I repeat, my dear and beloved daughter, unfair as it actually is, may not engage in activities deemed unseemly.” He turned to his son. “What does surprise me in this particular instance is your behavior, Richard. How could you have allowed this to go forward? Why didn’t you take her place? I quite see that she felt her horse needed defending. I, in my heart, sympathize with our Ness on that point, but how could you have allowed her to race against Lord Walton herself?”

  “Do not rake Ricky over the coals, Papa,” Ness stuck in. “While he is older, he still could not stop me if he thought to, and he didn’t think to because I am one and twenty and quite fully grown and capable of making decisions. Papa, don’t you understand? The challenge was not only to my horse, but to my skill as a horsewoman!”

  “Really? Explain,” her parent said, suddenly distracted.

  “You see,” Ness swallowed, “we were at Aunt’s rout last week, and overheard cousin Randy having something of an argument with Lord Walton. The next thing we knew, Walton was saying his bay gelding could outrun any steed Randy could think of. Well, Randy had only just seen me put Shadow to the test that morning and insinuated Shadow’s name into the argument.”

  “Good lad, that Randy, knows prime blood.” Richard said, bringing down his father’s narrowed eyes on himself once again.

  “Exactly.” Ness, realizing she had caught her father’s interest, hurried on. “Well, naturally, Walton laughed, and Randy got insulted. By that time, Rick and I were drawn into the argument. Walton said that there wasn’t a man in Brighton who could run Shadow against his bay and win. Well, Papa, I couldn’t let that stand, now could I?”

  Her father closed his eyes. “Go on.”

  “We all know what Shadow can do, so I told him he was vastly mistaken.”

  “A prime setdown she gave him, Papa,” Richard said, and grinned.

  “Of course, she did,” her father said with a shake of his head.

  “He went on to say that Shadow was naught but a lady’s horse!”

  “Did he, by God!” her papa snapped, now totally drawn in. “Why, Shadow’s reputation is quite well known. Fie on him.”

  “Precisely,” Ness said, feeling the moment return with force. “But Walton was both rude and obnoxious, and continued in that vein. He asked me if I seriously thought I could ride my little mare and beat his champion. His champion? Where? I have never heard of his bay being a champion. How could I stand for that?”

  “No, I quite see that you could not, and how ungentlemanly of him to draw you into such a situation. If I didn’t wish to bury this, I would call him out on it,” her father grumbled.

  “By then, Papa,” Richard stuck in, “a rather large crowd had gathered, ladies and gentlemen. Tittering followed amongst them.”

  “Indeed, Papa, they began to laugh at my claim that Shadow was the better mount and that I, a woman, could beat Walton,” Vanessa continued. “Do you see?”

  “I do, all too well, proceed,” her father answered.

  “I told him that not only could a lady’s mare beat his gelding, but that a lady could beat him!”

  “Did you, by Jupiter!” Her father’s expression clearly displayed the conflict going on with his heart and brain. “Upon my soul, Vanessa.”

  “I did not mean for it to happen, Papa, but I felt obliged to prove my words. And…I won the race. Does not that make it all very proper? I mean, Papa, I won!”

  “What matters is that you are a daughter of the House of Grey and an heiress to boot. That is what will save us in the end,” her father said on a heavy sigh. “I shall not compromise in this situation, Nessie love. You are right. It isn’t fair. It isn’t just that you should be thought of as unseemly, but that is the way of the world. Men go about the countryside behaving like lunatics, racing, taking over mail coaches…doing whatever they please and get a slap on the wrist. A lady cannot. Had you raced within your property lines…within your aunt’s grounds, eyebrows would have been raised, but it would have been left at that. But, Ness, darling, you raced on a public road! Wagers were made. Your name was associated with all of that. Do you see?”

  Ness did see. She lowered her eyes. “Yes, Papa, I do.”

  “This escapade can be handled in only one manner.”

  “How is that?” she asked on a note of concern, for there was something in his tone that made her hold her breath.

  “Banishment, my dear.”

  “What?” brother and sister shrieked in unison.

  Ness turned and went to her mother. The two hugged one another fiercely, and the countess kissed her daughter’s forehead.

  “Mama…?” Ness pulled away.

  “Oh, my dear, it won’t be as awful as you imagine,” the countess soothed.

  Her daughter took another step back. “But, Mama…”

  “We are sending you off to Guss. You adore your godmother. It has all been neatly arranged with Lady Penrod when we were in London and first heard the rumors…of your behavior here in Brighton.”

  “I say, Mama…this is a bit harsh,” her brother stuck in. “I mean…Cornwall?”


  “She is Vanessa’s godmother and you are both fond of her. You have often said so,” the countess returned soothingly.

  Richard put a comforting hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Sorry, sis…this is really too bad.”

  “You, Richard, will accompany her!” the earl stuck in, his eyebrow up, and his dark eyes glinting.

  Ness watched her father. There was no talking him out of this. He even meant to punish her brother for not stopping her from racing. She closed her eyes.

  “What?” Richard gasped. “Papa…only think…Cornwall?”

  “Next time you think your sister is in the right of it and you don’t do something to prevent a scandal, you will remember there are consequences. You will both remember,” their father said on a grave note. “Absence from society may bring matters into perspective, and it will give that society time to find another scandal to chew.”

  “For how long?” Richard choked out.

  “Until it is time for you to return to Cambridge and Nessie to enter the London Season once again,” their father answered gruffly.

  “Papa, surely Rick doesn’t have to be banished. He could not have stopped me had he tried,” Ness attempted to defend her brother.

  “I, had I been here, would have nipped it in the bud. He must learn to do the same. One day he may have a headstrong daughter, and he will understand and remember this moment,” the earl said uncompromisingly. “And in the meantime, daughter, you will confine your movements to the house.”

  “Oh no, this is too bad of you, Papa. Are you saying I cannot exercise my horse? I cannot go for walks?”

  “Not without your brother in attendance and in the off hours, away from town,” put in her mother, glaring at her husband, who Ness realized actually meant to keep her in the house.

  “Very well then, only do allow Rick to return to Brighton after he deposits me in my Cornwall prison,” Nessie said, chin up.

  “I wouldn’t do anything so shabby, Nessie, as to return without you,” her brother said staunchly.

  “Are you suggesting, Richard, that I am sending my dear-hearts off somewhere undesirable? Really, I am not a monster, after all,” his father said sadly.