- -
- 100%
- +
‘That apology for a man might be your father but he is rotten to the core, always has been. The males of the Howells family are all either tight as a duck’s arse or addlepated. He is both.’
Belinda saw the first glimmer of hope she’d experienced for several long weeks. Ever since her parent had spoken about how they needed money and fast, and hinted she was the way they would get it. Then told her how he expected her to behave and it had been the last straw. ‘He…’ What could she say? She agreed with the pronouncement. ‘I fear you are correct.’
‘I know I am, and you were right to come to me.’ Lady Lakenby harrumphed, and patted Belinda’s shoulder. ‘Now I’ll wait a while and send a message to Clarissa. Once we’re sure your father has been there and gone. Simms will go and loiter.’
The way she began to help went a long way to lift the heavy lump of fear in Belinda’s stomach. She knew she had been correct to think of Lady Lakenby as the first person she could approach to beg for help.
‘Now, child, we shall plot,’ Lady Lakenby declared, once her footman had been given orders on how to stake out Belinda’s father’s house. She pushed her turban back from her forehead in an impatient gesture. ‘Damn thing, why do I wear it?’
Belinda knew it to be a rhetorical question. Lady Lakenby took ideas into her head, and followed them until, as she said with a twinkle in her eyes, ‘The damn fool idiots think it’s the newest fad.’ Then she moved on.
‘I think we need to get you out of his reach,’ Lady Lakenby said. ‘He’ll immediately think of Clarissa and then it is easy for someone to remember me. You must disappear. It will annoy Cedric, and make him wonder when and where you will pop up like the skeleton at the feast, and it will give us time to decide the best way forward. Now let me see. Would you like to go to live at Sinton?’
‘Yes, who wouldn’t? However, as much as I adore your country house, I will not,’ Belinda said resolutely. ‘Well,’ she tempered her refusal, ‘not permanently. I need to earn my living.’ She stood up and began to pace the room. ‘As I walked away from my father’s house I vowed never again to be at the mercy of a man. I will make my own way in this world.’
‘How?’ Lady Lakenby, always known to her god-daughter Clarissa and therefore to Belinda as Lady L, asked placidly. She seemed much more composed now she had ideas and plans and had decided how best to carry them out. ‘Sit down for heaven’s sake. You’re giving me a crick in my neck looking up at you, to say nothing of making me giddy following you around the room. What are your skills?’ She cackled with laughter. ‘Apart from upsetting your fool of a father.’
‘To do so is not a skill, it seems it was my purpose in life. A very easy one. Apart from that? I can sew. Very well as it happens.’ Belinda gestured towards her shabby gown. ‘Not that this shows my sewing skills, but it does advertise my patching and darning ones. I’d like…’ Belinda hesitated, and then rushed on. ‘Mad though it may seem, I’d like to make apparel for the ton. But not just for anyone, only for a very few. A select and chosen few. To be the one person people yearn to have a garment made by.’ She sat down on the nearest chair with a thump that rattled the cups on a nearby table. ‘Incognito.’
‘Oh yes.’ Clarissa entered the room just to hear the last remark. ‘Incognito. Dressed by Belle.’
‘I expect I’ll need to go somewhere unassuming like Leamington Spa, or Bath where the tabbies are,’ Belinda said, with less enthusiasm than she had for the idea in general.
Lady L looked thoughtful. ‘You could do that,’ she said slowly. ‘But you know if you are going to hide, ’tis best to hide in full sight. Here in London I think. Oh yes indeed, we can manage that with ease. Dressed by Belle is the perfect designation for the way your clothes will be known to all and sundry. A label to aspire to acquire.’ She smiled delightedly. ‘All is coming together now. Clarissa, ring for the Madeira and then please inform the staff we leave for Sinton in the morning. It is time for us to put our heads together and plot. Belinda—no—henceforth you will be called Belle. Belle, how is your French?’
* * *
Six months later, Belinda hummed as she put the last stitches into a frilly and very feminine evening cloak to be used as a teaser to draw ladies’ attention to her work. Clarissa, who had arrived unexpectedly a few hours earlier, looked up from the book of sketches she was studying closely.
‘These are marvellous you know, Bel. Your talent holds no bounds. This chemise? The one with the scalloped hem? It is outstanding. Sexy hinting of all things arousing but demure and innocent. I love it.’
‘Good.’ Belinda snipped off her thread and held the cloak in the air to see it better. ‘I designed it with you in mind.’
Clarissa blinked and went into peals of laugher. ‘To drink my chocolate and talk to the cat in? That’s the only picture I can foresee. And happy I am with it. Men are nothing but trouble.’
‘Hmm.’ Belinda decided that one day soon Clarissa would receive a rude awakening. Her father was too prominent in the ton to be allowed to keep the status quo, surely? ‘I’m sure the cat will appreciate it. But if not, well one day maybe someone else will.’
‘Put it in your portfolio,’ Clarissa advised. ‘That way it will see the light of day. Or should I say light of the candle?’
Belinda laughed and shook her head. ‘Incorrigible.’
‘Oh yes. Oh and I meant to say, Lady L should be here soon.’
‘Lady L is here,’ the lady in question retorted as she erupted—there was no other word for it—through the doorway from the hall, and discarded her pelisse by throwing it over a chair back. ‘Did she forget to tell you?’ she asked Belinda in French.
Belinda grinned and answered in the same tongue. ‘We got carried away with flounces and scalloped hems.’
‘Slow down when you talk, you two,’ Clarissa pleaded. ‘I’m a novice in French compared to you both. I didn’t forget so much as I got distracted. Well, Godmama, so would you be, with this.’ She held the chemise up. ‘Isn’t it perfect?’
‘Perfect,’ Lady L agreed with satisfaction. ‘Which brings me to the reason for my visit. I think you’ve achieved everything necessary. I believe it is time for Belinda to return to the capital, with the new persona of Madame Belle. Your French, ma p’tite, has improved beyond all recognition.’
It was true. Belinda and Lady L spoke in that language constantly. Even Clarissa now professed herself to be proficient, and she had, as she cheerfully admitted, no aptitude for languages other than her mother tongue.
During those happy months spent at Lady L’s country house, Belinda had hardly had time to think. Most of the time, either Clarissa, Lady L or both of them were there with Belinda and provided willing bodies to be dressed. Every time one of them appeared, they brought with them bolts of silk and lace and anything else they or Belinda thought might be useful.
‘The shoes are ready?’ Lady L asked. ‘You have enough pairs to begin with? Do you need more? She had sought the help of the local shoemaker who was now contracted to make footwear for Belle, and the comfortable but fashionable boots and shoes she wore were testimony to the fact that his work was well above average. To be able to offer that extra service was ideal.
‘Certainly enough for now, and Jones has the templates ready for whichever are needed next. We’re as ready as we can be. I have a book of sketches, enough silks, satins and whatever to create several wardrobes.’ She thought for a moment. ‘All I need now is customers and somewhere for a salon and workshop.’ That was the one thing that gave her sleepless nights. Where would her customers find her?
Belinda had practised her designs on both Lady Lakenby and Clarissa, as well as creating new work clothes for the servants and the best clothes Lady L gave them as part of their Christmas box. Belinda was relieved when all were received with pleasure. Belinda waited with bated breath as Clarissa and Lady L wore her designs to one event or another in London and then reported back to her how much they had been admired. Gradually she’d learned how to add her own special touch to clothes so they would be recognisable as a gown, or pelisse or whatever, made by Belle.
Belinda hadn’t missed the city at all, working diligently to increase her basic stock—the gowns and undergarments to show prospective clients her work—and accepted Lady L knew best. Each item of clothing had footwear to go with it, and Lady L said forcibly that anyone who balked at buying that as well as the garment didn’t deserve to be accommodated again.
‘Well ’tis but three weeks to the start of the season and I have news,’ Lady L said triumphantly. ‘I’ve found your premises.’
Belinda jumped as her heart missed a beat. ‘Pardon?’
‘The perfect spot for your salon. And I’ve taken the liberty of arranging the paperwork to buy it.’
‘But…’ Belinda began to speak as Lady L held her hand in the air in an imperious manner. ‘No more—don’t argue, child, it’s so wearying. It’s done and it is in your name. Saves me trying to explain why I’ve left half my fortune to you.’ Lady Lakenby held her hand up again, as Belinda knew her jaw dropped.
‘You…t…’ she stuttered as her mind became blank. ‘You can’t.’
‘Don’t be stupid, of course I can. There are only three people who matter to me. Phillip, who wants for nothing and whose fortune is more than enough, Clarissa and you. Phillip has long known he’ll get the long case clock and all the books in the study, and he is satisfied with that. Clarissa agrees with me that you should get half of the rest and everything is tied up tighter than a gnat’s cravat.’
Clarissa nodded enthusiastically. ‘Although I do wonder at your turn of phrase, Godmama. A gnat’s cravat indeed.’
‘Better than a duck’s arse or some such thing. Now that is vulgar,’ the lady replied with a smirk. ‘Right, so listen well, both of you. No one will be able to get their hands on what is yours. If you try to pass it to anyone, other than a child of your own or failing that the offspring of one of the others, it will all go to a home for cats. In your case, Belinda, so will your cottage.’
‘What?’ Belinda blinked and held on to the elbow-height cabinet for support. Where did Lady L find her expressions? However, that was the least of her thoughts—she was more concerned with the majority of Lady L’s statement. ‘I what?’
‘You need a bolthole. As much as I love having you here, I know you would adore somewhere to call your own. Honeysuckle Cottage is that somewhere.’
Belinda sat down with a thump. ‘That’s not a cottage, it’s a house.’ It was also gorgeous. And it was hers? Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. This unconditional love was something she would never take for granted.
‘Don’t quibble. It is also yours. Now, hold fast, don’t go dashing off to look at it—not yet.’
Belinda’s vision was blurry, and she had bitten her lip so hard, to stop herself crying with joy, that she had punctured the skin, but nevertheless she smiled. She hadn’t moved.
‘Hear me out,’ Lady L said. ‘Then you can dash off, dance around the rose bush or whatever, but do not jump into the fountain naked. It’s bloody cold, the bottom is slimy and the servants do look askance when you do.’
‘Lady L.’ Belinda giggled until tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘You haven’t.’
Lady L winked. ‘No? Ah well you youngsters are so staid compared to me and my compatriots. Now where were we? Ah yes. Belle’s salon will be in Bruton Street, where only the best will survive. You are the best. And as I know full well what a worrywart you are, it’s a big enough building for you to live very comfortably over the shop so to speak. Don’t you dare cry, Belle, or I will and that will ruin my rouge.’
She patted Belinda’s shoulder. ‘There now. I must get used to calling you Belle, eh? Just pour three glasses of Madeira, so we can celebrate, and then we’ll see how soon we can get back to London and start the next phase of your journey to become the best shared secret in the ton.’ She smiled mischievously. ‘Oh after you’ve decided what furnishings in Honeysuckle Cottage are not to your liking, of course. I know you youngsters, your ideas are probably much too outré for me.’ Lady L gave a barking laugh, as she contradicted herself. ‘In furnishings anyway.’ The cat, which had been snoozing on the hearthrug, opened one eye and closed it again. He was well used to his mistress’s ways.
Lady L winked. ‘In all seriousness, Belinda, if you don’t like the way I furnished it, it is of no consequence. However, I thought that if you want to retire there at any time you can. Mrs Perris will keep an eye on it for you, and Violet and young Bessie are to be available whenever you want them. All are very happy with that arrangement. But mind, no stealing my housekeeper.’
Belinda giggled, sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, before she poured Madeira into crystal goblets. ‘As if I would, or could for that matter. All your staff are incredibly loyal, which is how it should be. Ah, Lady L, I do love you so. But are you sure?’
‘That you mustn’t steal Mrs Perris away? Very sure. As for the rest. Of course I am. Just you be the best of the best.’
‘Oh I intend to.’
‘Then that is my reward. Now, Clarissa has decided to return to town early from her father’s house and be your first customer.’
Clarissa nodded enthusiastically. ‘I’m going to be the one who is in the know and prepared reluctantly to share my knowledge with a select few.’
‘As you know, there’s a lot want to see you and use your work, and few who deserve to,’ Lady L said. ‘Clarissa will sort out those who she deems worthy. It is up to you to accept them or not. Don’t forget exclusivity will bring you more cachet, and you must decide who you wish to have the honour of wearing your garments.’
‘True, and it damned well will be an honour. There’s just one thing…’ Belinda hesitated. How could she phrase it without sounding ungrateful? ‘Are you certain that I’m not about to be unmasked? I do not want any scandal or difficulties attached to you. And…well…’ She stopped talking as Lady L fixed her with a gimlet-eyed stare. ‘Oh, Lady L, I’m scared.’ There she’d been honest.
‘You’d be a fool not to be. However, once we’ve got you settled and sorted I declare no one will recognise you, not even your fool of a father. Look at you. Do you see any resemblance to the girl you were six months ago?’
Put like that, Belinda could only agree with all Lady Lakenby had said. Helped by lemon juice and careful cutting and styling, her hair was now a soft blonde instead of a dirty straw colour, and it framed her face in tiny elegant curls instead of hanging long and lank down her back. Her skin was clear, bright and blemish free, and she’d lost almost two stones in weight due to eating sensibly and not on leftovers or food that filled her grumbling tummy but did not nourish her. Her clothes suited her, fit her, and there was not a darn in sight.
In short she was nothing like the girl who had defied her father, except in temperament. That was no different.
‘I’m no longer that person.’
‘Exactly. So take this new you off to your new home and let Jessop or Mrs Perris know if anything needs changing. I’m going to rest before dinner.’ Lady L walked to the door, and then turned around with a swish of travelling gown. ‘Should I ask your maid to start to pack?’
Belinda laughed. The butterflies in her tummy were ones of excitement not worry, and she was happy that the next phase of her life was about to begin. ‘If she needs to. Just tell me when to be ready to leave.’
Chapter Two
London 1815
‘Madame Belle, I’ve a request for a consultation here.’ Tippen, her assistant, seemed somewhat perturbed. ‘I’m not sure as you’ll want to say yes, but, well…’ She glanced at Belle and coloured delicately. ‘It’s not someone who you’ve associated with before, well not here anyway. Not exactly someone…’ Tippen wrinkled her nose. ‘Well, it’s a man who has requested the appointment. And it’s not as if you need any more clients—not really.’
‘You know I’ve had men request appointments on more than one occasion.’ Belle was now intrigued and wondered why Tippen seemed so agitated. They’d worked together from even before the business had launched. Lady L had suggested the daughter of her dresser, a skilled seamstress, would be an ideal companion and help to Belinda, now no longer Lady Belinda Howells, but Belle the modiste to the chosen few. As Lady Lakenby and Clarissa had predicted, the Dressed by Belle label was much sought after, especially as it had been made known to the ton by those two ladies just how particular Belle was and how exclusive her clothes.
Now several years of hard work later, there was an air of mystery about Madame Belle, which those whom she chose to dress did nothing to dispel. No one wanted to incur Belle’s displeasure for fear of being told they were no longer welcome at her salon. That would be tantamount to disaster and lost credibility, which would probably never be recovered. If anyone did recognise her as the former Lady Belinda Howells they were careful not to mention it.
As Tippen generally knew who would be acceptable and who not, this cryptic conversation puzzled Belinda.
‘Why do you think I might not want to dress the lady concerned? I assume it is a lady and not the gentleman himself?’ Usually, she’d go with Tippen’s ideas, as they generally mirrored her own. Plus it was true they had no need of more clients. Nevertheless, Belinda’s interest was piqued. Tippen must have mentioned it all for a reason.
‘Well, this wardrobe is not for the gentleman’s wife.’ Tippen said it in a worried tone, as if the identity of just who wanted to be ‘Dressed by Belle’ would upset Belinda.
Belle put down the lace she was using to create an intricate rose, and gave her full attention to Tippen. ‘Right, you have my full, intrigued attention. I assume he is a gentleman of the ton?’
Tippen nodded.
‘Who wishes me to dress his mistress, or is she not quite so well esteemed? Or am I now supposed to be amenable to making pantaloons and shirts?’
Tippen sniggered. ‘That I would like to see. You measuring a gentlemen to make sure his, ahem, attributes fit in.’
Belinda gaped and then the picture Tippen’s words created filled her mind and she laughed. ‘Left- or right-sided my lord? Now how much extra knit do you think we’ll need? Are you one who grows or one who shows? Let me measure you. Oh Lord, Tippen, could you imagine it?’
I can. Oh my I can.
Tippen nodded enthusiastically, and continued to snigger until she had to wipe her cheeks with her hands. ‘Oh yes.’
‘And me.’ Belinda sobered. ‘Ah well, it’s a nice dream for us. It’s not something that is likely to happen in our lifetime, not even if we live to be one hundred. So it is one of this gentleman’s women? Whom he will not mention, unless I agree to dress her. Therefore I must assume she is not convenable. Oh, and you still haven’t mentioned who he is.’
Was it that the woman was an opera dancer or some such like? Whom Belle had made a point of not accepting as clients, mainly because their protectors were usually the husbands of those ladies she did dress. The ramifications of an accidental meeting were enough to make Belinda’s blood run cold.
Tippen drew herself up straight, and took a deep breath. ‘Nothing like opera dancers, or I don’t think so. It’s just that, it’s well, oh my, the gentleman concerned is none other than Lord Macpherson.’
It was as well Belinda had put down her needle or it was a certainty she would have pricked herself. She absently rubbed the crescent-shaped scar on the fleshy part of her hand.
‘Ah. As in Phillip, Clarissa’s brother?’
Tippen nodded. ‘The very same.’
‘Interesting.’ Belle took a deep breath and counted to five, very slowly, in order to decrease the pace of her heart. Even after all these years, she still held on to a certain amount of tenderness for him. ‘Did he recognise you?’
Tippen shook her head. ‘He never messed with the servants and I was naught but a child when he visited Lady Lakenby regularly.’
‘Did he say who the woman is?’ Belinda was curious. Clarissa had confided only a few days earlier that she thought Phillip had a new mistress but couldn’t work out who it was. She had also said it was the third woman in as many months whom he was thought to be bedding. Clarissa’s exact but crude expression was ‘one week plucking, three weeks fucking and they’re out’. Belinda accepted she would never reach the heady heights of knowing him as he did those women, and indeed was happy with the life she had made—with the help of other strong women like Clarissa and Lady L. However, she couldn’t help but wonder… What is it like to be desired in such a way? In any way? Is it enough?
Tippen coughed delicately and Belinda realised she must have been wool-gathering.
‘Sorry, you were saying?’
‘Very close-mouthed he was. He said that unless you agreed to dress the lady, you would have no need to discover her identity. It was strange really. I did wonder if he’d recognise me, but he didn’t. I know I haven’t seen much of him these past few years, since I was in service and not one of the scrubby village kids, but I was around sometimes when he visited Lady Lakenby with Lady Clarissa.’
‘People only see what they expect to see,’ Belinda said with a smile. ‘Not you or me.’ The test would be if he recognised her as his sister’s friend.
‘That’s true, but what do I tell Lord Phillip? He’s waiting for an answer.’
‘What?’ Belinda stared at her companion. ‘Waiting here?’
‘Well he wouldn’t go away until I approached you. Very insistent he was that I asked you now, and gave him the answer straight away.’
‘Oh Lud. How on earth do I explain that even if I do see the lady there is no guarantee I’ll agree to outfit her?’ That was the cardinal rule. Even if Madame Belle agreed to a preliminary meeting, that didn’t mean she would take you as a client. There was also a rule that one agreement did not necessarily mean any more garments would be made. Each approach was decided on its own merit. So much depended on how much advice a client took on board, and as Clarissa had once put it, how well they continued to show off their clothes to their best advantage.
‘For if one has gone to seed, why be an advertisement for that?’ Clarissa had said prosaically.
Belinda agreed.
‘Madame?’
Oh Lord she’d yet again forgotten why Tippen stood in front of her with a look of query on her face.
‘Where is he?’ She automatically slipped into the voice she used for her clients. Luckily.
‘If you mean me, I’m here.’ The gentleman in question strolled into the workroom and bowed. ‘Lord Phillip Macpherson, at your service.’
Belinda had to force herself not to scowl. Just like fine wine he’d matured well. Damn it.
* * *
Phillip straightened up from his bow, and studied the stunning woman in front of him. She was dressed in understated elegance, held herself like any lady of the ton, and made his body harden with instant, unexpected desire. That jolted him. He might be renowned throughout the ton for his prowess in the bedchamber—or in an empty room at a ball—but rarely did someone affect him in such a manner. In fact, he thought as he willed his body to behave, the last time a lady had affected him so strongly, she was a young friend of his sister’s and he had fought against that attraction. Belinda Howells had been too young and too innocent for him. Then she’d dropped out of view and Clarissa had told him she’d moved to the north. He’d felt a pang of disappointment. She intrigued him. Pity about her awful family of course. Those he held in contempt. But Belinda now? If she’d been older…
He shut that thought away. She was a friend of his sister’s, welcome in his father’s house. No way could he have dallied there. But, she had affected him in the same way it appeared the lady in front of him did. Because once more his body was demanding he paid proper attention to a woman probably not suited to or interested in him. More’s the pity.