Those Scandalous Ravenhursts Volume 3. Louise Allen

and it would reassure Eden that she had spoken to her father. He would not take kindly to being summoned to the house to be inspected, she was sure of that, but on his home ground he might be less prickly. She would order champagne with the refreshments and think carefully about who to invite to join the party for the evening. No one who would be shocked by a man wearing a diamond ear stud, that was for sure.

      The committee for Lady Dereham’s Charity for the Employment of Soldiers Disabled by the Late War—or Bel’s Battalion, as her husband irreverently referred to it—was somewhat diminished in numbers that afternoon. Bel’s cousin Elinor was on the Continent with Theo Ravenhurst, her new husband; Elinor’s mother Lady James Ravenhurst was studying Romanesque churches and the Grand Duchess Eva de Maubourg, a cousin by marriage, was at home in Maubourg and not expected in London until early March.

      Jessica had been welcomed into the committee on her marriage. It was a positive coven of Ravenhurst cousins, her husband Gareth Morant, Earl of Standon—himself a cousin—had joked. Maude would have become a Ravenhurst if her father’s intention to marry her to Gareth had come to pass and she had known most of the family since she was a child.

      The Reverend Mr Make peace, Treasurer, was already seated in Bel’s dining room, fussily arranging his papers on the long mahogany table while assuring Lady Wallace, a lady of a certain age and indefatigable energies, that the money she had extracted from her long-suffering husband had been safely banked. Mr Climpson, Lady Wallace’s solicitor, and legal adviser to the charity, bowed punctiliously to Maude and pulled out a chair for her while Jessica waved gaily from the other side of the room where she was talking to Bel.

      The minutes read, and matters arising dealt with, they sat through Mr Makepeace’s interminable report. Maude surfaced from a daydream involving Eden Hurst and herself alone in her box at the Unicorn to discover that the charity was in excellent financial health.

      ‘In fact, our only problem at the moment appears to be finding other sources of employment for the men on our books,’ Jessica remarked. ‘We have bought three inns now, which employ all those suited for the various roles those offer.’ She scanned the lists in front of her. ‘We have placed sixteen men with various craftsmen and a further twelve in domestic service or stables, but there are still fifteen unsuited and, as you know, more come to us every week, despite the war being over now for almost two years.’

      ‘What about theatres?’ Maude asked, the idea coming straight out of her daydream. ‘Stagehands, door-keepers, scene painters, carpenters—there must be many types of work the men would be suitable for.’

      ‘Excellent,’ Lady Wallace applauded, shushing Mr Makepeace, who started to say something about immorality. ‘What a clever idea, Lady Maude.’

      ‘But however will we find out what is available?’ Jessica asked, all wide-eyed innocence. ‘Who can we possibly ask?’

      ‘It just so happens,’ Maude said, attempting to kick her friend under the table and painfully finding the table leg instead, ‘I know someone who might be able to help.’

      ‘I was going to ask you and Gareth to join me in my box on Monday,’ she said to Jessica as the others departed. ‘And then you could have met Mr Hurst because he is taking champagne with Papa and me during the interval.’ At least, she hoped he was; she hadn’t written to him yet. ‘But if you are going to be so unkind as to tease me, I will ask Bel and Ashe instead.’

      ‘Ask us what?’ Bel came back into the room and eased herself down on a chair. ‘Oh, my feet! I have been playing with Annabelle all morning and I am quite worn out with that meeting on top of it.’

      ‘How exhausting can playing with a baby be?’ Maude demanded. ‘She’s tiny.’ A doting expression came over Bel’s face, so she added hastily, ‘Anyway, will you and Ashe be able to come to the theatre with us on Monday?’

      ‘We’d love to. Your box at the Unicorn? Do you mind if we bring another gentleman with us? Ashe has a navy friend coming to spend a few nights.’ She looked up, obviously making connections. ‘Is that where you think you may be able to find employment for some of the men?’

      ‘Possibly. I am intending to invest in the theatre and Papa wishes to meet the manager before he will support me.’

      ‘I should think he does.’ Bel narrowed her eyes. ‘You are up to something, Maude Templeton.’

      ‘As I said, investing. Of course, it is somewhat unconventional,’ Maude said airily.

      ‘And of course Mr Hurst of the Unicorn is very good looking,’ Jessica added slyly. ‘Gareth and I are definitely coming on Monday. I’m not missing this for anything.’

      ‘No!’ Bel sat up straighter, weariness forgotten. ‘Hurst? But surely I have heard of him.’ She bit the tip of her finger in thought. ‘Eden Hurst? But he is notorious for his affaires with married ladies! Ashe warned me about him, although I gather he is hardly predatory; he just stands around looking handsome and they throw themselves at him as they did at Byron. But Maude, even if he is a lay preacher in his spare time, he still has to be utterly ineligible, you wicked woman. Darling, I don’t think this is sensible; he’s received, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be ruined by associating with him.’

      ‘I wish to invest in his company,’ Maude protested, flustered that Bel had immediately leapt to the conclusion that she wanted Eden Hurst. As for his reputation—well, she refused to think about that just now.

      But Bel had seen Jessica’s face and Jessica knew only too well what she wanted. ‘Oh, very well, Jessica will tease until you know it all anyway. I intend making Eden Hurst fall in love with me. He is intelligent, charismatic, dynamic and beautiful. When I talk to him it is not like any other conversation I have with anyone. I was right when I sensed he was meant for me; when I am with him I feel more alive than you can imagine. There is so much passion in him, so tightly controlled. Passion for the theatre, I mean,’ she clarified as Jessica rolled her eyes.

      ‘He just doesn’t know yet that I am the woman for him. I intend to give him every opportunity to realise it.’

      ‘Goodness,’ Bel said weakly. ‘And then what? You cannot possibly marry him. Think of his reputation.’

      ‘If he marries me, he will not be having affaires. And why should he not marry me?’ Maude demanded. ‘He is very well off. And his father, I believe, was an Italian prince.’

      ‘But was he married to Mr Hurst’s mother? That’s the point,’ Jessica queried. ‘Hurst is not exactly a Italian name, now is it?’

      ‘Er…no.’ She turned in a swirl of skirts and plumped down in a chair. ‘It is no use the pair of you looking at me like that. You don’t have to tell me it is going to be difficult. I want to marry an illegitimate, half-Italian theatre owner with a reputation. He is quite a rich illegitimate theatre owner,’ she added hopefully.

      ‘Maude,’ Bel said gently. ‘Money is not going to be the issue. Breeding is.’

      ‘I have enough breeding for both of us, and he is a gentleman, even if society won’t see it,’ Maude declared, beginning to be alarmed despite herself. She had expected Jessica and Bel to support her.

      ‘Yes, but what does he think about this?’

      ‘Nothing at all, as yet, other than I am very unconventionally intending to invest with him. I have been cool and businesslike. I intend to grow upon him.’

      Jessica snorted inelegantly. ‘Maude, I am your friend, so I can say frankly that you are a very beautiful woman. The man has kissed you—passionately, by all accounts. And you are waiting to grow on him? I should imagine your financial assets are the last thing on his mind at the moment.’

      ‘He has done what?’ Bel’s face was a picture.

      ‘Kissed me. By accident. He thought I was someone else,’ Maude explained patiently. ‘It was wonderful, but he appears more than capable of restraining his animal passions when I am alone