Love's Master, page 1
Twenty-three year old Lily finds herself widowed and forced to live with her brother and his family, including his eight year old son William, who is nothing short of a terror. Sure she cannot go another day with his behavior, she begins to search for a new nanny and tutor for her nephew with little success. But when she happens across an advertisement in the Times that seems to be the answer to her problem, she is set on a path that will take her where she’s never been before. Victorian England is a place of strict social codes, and the sensual world she enters is strictly forbidden for a woman of her social stature.
Her guide in this world is a man named Kadar, and the feelings he stirs in Lily threaten to change her forever. However, Victorian society is never far away, and her brother intends on seeing his sister remarried and settled into a home near him in Regent’s Park. Lily will have to choose between Kadar, who makes her feel more alive than she ever believed she could, and Captain Mason Danvers, the gentleman who can offer her security and comfort for the rest of her life.
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Visit Gabrielle’s Facebook page and her website to find out about her books too!
Books by K.M. Scott
Heart of Stone Series
Crash Into Me (Heart of Stone #1)
Fall Into Me (Heart of Stone #2)
Give In To Me (Heart of Stone #3)
The Heart of Stone Trilogy Box Set
Ever After (A Heart of Stone Novella)
A Heart of Stone Christmas
Club X Series
Temptation (Club X #1)
Surrender (Club X #2)
Possession (Club X #3)
Satisfaction (Club X #4) COMING SOON
Silk Series
Silk (Volume One)
Silk (Volume Two)
Silk (Volume Three)
Silk (Volume Four)
Books by Gabrielle Bisset:
Vampire Dreams Revamped (A Sons of Navarus Prequel)
Blood Avenged (Sons of Navarus #1)
Blood Betrayed (Sons of Navarus #2)
Longing (A Sons of Navarus Short Story)
Blood Spirit (Sons of Navarus #3)
The Deepest Cut (A Sons of Navarus Short Story)
Blood Prophecy (Sons of Navarus #4)
Blood & Dreams Sons of Navarus Box Set
Love’s Master
Masquerade
The Victorian Erotic Romance Trilogy
London, 1853
Lily sat in the parlor attempting to read a book and tried to tune out the din caused by her eight-year-old nephew. Repeatedly, he raced back and forth from the kitchen to where she sat, yelling and chasing the cat his parents had given him for his birthday one month earlier. In his wake were toys strewn all about that he’d discarded in favor of whatever else had attracted his attention. At the moment, it was the cat, which luckily could run faster on four legs than William could run on two.
While she loved her brother’s child, she silently lamented the events of her life that had caused her to move in with him and his parents.
If only...
But recriminations wouldn’t bring her husband back. Taken from her just three years into their marriage and before they could be blessed with a child of their own, he’d been a victim of the cholera epidemic that had ravaged the city. Now a widow, she had few choices but to look to her family for support and a place to call home.
Her brother Richard and his wife Elizabeth had welcomed her with open arms, a fact she now suspected had hidden their happiness at the prospect of having an additional adult to tend to their son. The reality was that no one had ever truly tended to William, and as a result, the child was incorrigible. Nannies came and went with alarming speed, as did tutors who simply refused to deal with the child whose temper tantrums were legendary on Frederick Street. Few of their neighbors in the London suburb of Regent’s Park had escaped the scene of the young boy’s misbehavior.
“William!” she snapped as she caught him by the arm.
Stunned into stopping for a moment, he stood in front of his aunt and stared up into her eyes in surprise. Lily looked at the deceptively angelic face looking back at her, knowing the façade was just that. Beneath his rosy-cheeked expression was the terror of her new home.
Holding him, she said, “William, I want you to sit down this minute. I will not tolerate this behavior any more.”
Smiling, the child replied sweetly, “All right, Aunty Lily,” and when she released her hold on him, he promptly ran away screaming after the cat.
Two hours later, Lily was sure she couldn’t stand another day of her nephew’s behavior but was just as sure she’d have to be the one to tackle the issue if it were ever to be solved. Scouring the newspaper advertisements for willing participants to replace the nanny and tutor, both of whom had recently left as their predecessors had, she recognized the names of many of the men and women who sought employment and knew no amount of money could entice them to return.
Sadly, she was forced to admit the solution to her problem wouldn’t be found in the employment section of the Times. She continued to peruse the paper, at least hoping to find some diversion from the noise around her.
William walked up to her and tapped his hand on the newspaper. “Aunty Lily, play with me!”
Looking down at him, she wondered if a little guidance from her might do the trick. “If I do, you must promise to behave. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I promise.”
With a great deal of direction, she found some measure of success in making him behave. When his parents finally returned from their time away nearly an hour later, she was set on broaching the discussion of what would have to be done with her nephew. If she didn’t, she was convinced she’d soon go mad.
After a dinner that included more of William’s bad behavior and a temper tantrum over the suggestion he eat his vegetables, his mother took him to prepare for bed and Lily took the opportunity to discuss the situation with her brother.
“Richard, I think something must be done with William.”
Her brother looked past her, his face a practiced expression of feigned interest. “Everything will be better when we hire a new nanny and tutor.”
“Please excuse my interference, but nothing is going to be better if William doesn’t learn to behave.”
The silence that met her statement along with the continued stare past her told Lily he knew she was right. It also told her that her suspicion was correct—if anything were to change, she would have to change it.
Touching his hand, she continued in a far softer tone. “Richard, I appreciate how much you’ve done for me since Jeremy’s death. Let me help you with this.”
Her brother sighed and seemed to admit defeat. “Fine. You may be in charge of finding a new nanny and tutor for William.”
Lily rose to leave the table, but Richard stopped her. “I want to discuss something with you. I have someone I want you to meet. A gentleman.”
“Why?”
“Lily, your mourning period has been over for months. You need to rejoin the world.”
“I’m not out of the world, Richard.”
“I invited Captain Mason Danvers to join us for dinner soon. He’s a wonderful man, a veteran of the Army. I’m sure you’ll like him.”
Quietly, she said, “I’m not sure I’m ready.”
“I understand how difficult this is for you, but you’re a young woman who shouldn’t be stuck living with her relatives.”
Lily knew what her brother really meant was that as much as he loved her, he didn’t want to be forced to baby-sit a grown woman for any longer than society dictated. And that meant he was actively searching for a potential husband for her.
All she hoped was that his choice was someone she could grow to like.
For hours, she thought about the surprise life had thrown her. Married at nineteen to a man who had swept her off her feet, she had taken to the role of wife easily, believing the rest of her life had been plotted out for her as it was for other women lucky enough to be successfully married.
Jeremy had been the perfect husband, kind but with the ability to handle her stubborn streak. And as a lover, he’d been patient and devoted—just what any young woman would want to initiate her into the world of marriage.
She watched as the day faded into darkness remembering the feeling of having someone close as the night settled in. Sadness came over her as it always did when she thought about her husband’s passing before they’d had the chance to have a child. Reconciled to a life without Jeremy, she’d turned to Richard for help.
But could she deal with the type of help he now offered? She sympathized with his desire to have her settled with another husband. Who wanted a twenty-three-year-old sister hanging about, especially a willful one? She couldn’t change who she was, but would this Mason Danvers want her as much as Richard wanted him to?
Lily remembered meeting Captain Danvers once before when Richard and Elizabeth had insisted she attend the Jarret’s Christmas party. Still in mourning, she’d relented and joined them, but looking back now, she was sure she hadn’t made much of an impression dressed in her mourning clothes and wearing a look of sadness she’d accepted as fitting for a widow, even a young one.
He’d struck her as confident, if not a little too brash, and a man who probably wouldn’t look twice at a woma
She’d never thought of herself as a beauty, no matter what Jeremy had said, and as the memory of Mason Danvers grew in her mind, she wondered if Richard’s efforts to entice the man to marry her were all for naught. For what men like him preferred were women to compliment them. And she was not that woman in any sense of the word.
Lily sat with the newspaper in her lap, praying that someone new could be found among the advertisers she’d already been forced to dismiss as possibilities. A fitful night’s sleep tossing and turning while her mind raced over having to meet Captain Danvers caused her nerves to be on edge, and she was embarrassed to admit she dreaded William’s impending arrival in the breakfast room. Desperate to find a new nanny or tutor, she buried her nose in the paper and began what she hoped would be a fruitful search.
The advertisements offered nothing, and as she sat dejected, she turned to the Agony Column, knowing at least she’d find kindred spirits in the lost lovers and desperate souls searching for that which life and circumstance had taken or failed to provide.
Even a brief perusal of the notices in this part of the Times provided a reader a glimpse into the often lonely world of the strangers who inhabited London and its suburbs. With any luck, Lily hoped to get lost in the world of these strangers so as to forget the one she’d been thrust into and which seemed to offer only one way out: marriage to a certain Captain Danvers.
As the chaos of the day began with William’s appearance at breakfast, she strived to block it out, focusing instead on the suffering of those outside the house. The column was a particularly long one, with notices of long lost relatives urgently seeking their family members and lovers conveying the details of their illicit meetings. She came upon the last advertisement and her heart skipped a beat in excitement. Worried she’d misread it, she read it again.
“K. is a strict disciplinarian and not afraid of a rather unruly pupil.”
Could it be? Had she found a tutor for William? As she attempted to ignore his stomping and temper tantrum over his mother’s timid request he finish his oatmeal, Lily read and reread the notice, her anticipation building at the thought of someone finally disciplining the child properly.
“Elizabeth,” she said as he stormed out of the room to abuse the cook, “how would one find a person who advertised in the Agony Column?”
Her sister-in-law looked relieved at the idea of discussing other people’s distress. “I don’t know for sure, but you would likely have to advertise a reply.”
Lily almost leaped from her chair, thrilled by the prospect of hiring William’s newest tutor—a strict disciplinarian!
“Elizabeth, please have John arrange the carriage for me. I’m going into town.”
As the carriage rolled toward London, the steady rhythm of the horses’ hooves hitting the road relaxed Lily. Closing her eyes, she shut out everything but the sound and allowed herself to fantasize about the mysterious stranger she hoped would soon bring calm and order to the house.
My mid-morning she’d placed her reply to the potential tutor and was on her way back home. As her carriage pulled up to the house, she congratulated herself on being such a take charge woman. Her triumph was cut short, however, by the vision of Mason Danvers she spied through the carriage window. Taking a deep breath, she resigned herself to the fact that what she’d dreaded had begun. As he helped her out of the carriage, she felt his gaze roam over her. Ever the military man, he was surveying the prize he sought to capture and devising a plan of attack, she thought to herself.
“Miss Scott, how are you today?”
Lily immediately felt irritated by his negation of her three years of marriage. Pretending he was a stranger, she asked in an indignant tone that was only partially false, “Do we know each other, sir?” as she haughtily took back her hand.
Bowing, he said, “Pardon me, dear lady. I understand you may not remember me as I do you, but I’m here at your brother’s request. I’m Captain Mason Danvers. Please let me escort you into the house.”
Lily looked at the man her brother had chosen for her intended. As appealing as she remembered, he appeared to be genuinely interested in her, she realized to her surprise.
“Thank you, Captain. That’s very nice of you,” she answered more politely than genuinely.
She let him take her hand once more and felt the strength of his hand press gently against her skin. The power he possessed seemed to exude from his very pores, and she decided perhaps she should try to like him.
The problem was just as his every movement seemed to convey a very attractive strength, his speech conveyed a far less attractive overconfidence at times that she found more and more distasteful.
“Richard, I look forward to discussing that business deal with you. I believe I can help you as much as you may help me.”
Lily watched as he strutted into the parlor with her brother. Her first real meeting with Captain Mason Danvers had left her with mixed feelings for him. True, he seemed to have some fine qualities, but as she watched him staring at her from an entire room away, she sensed she was the business deal he’d wanted to discuss.
Well, if he thinks closing this deal will be easy, he’s definitely overestimated himself.
“Master Kadar, your newspaper and tea.”
Kadar watched as his servant placed a tray containing the items next to him on the small table that stood beside his chair. “Have there been any letters this morning?”
The servant reached into his jacket and retrieved two letters. “These just arrived.”
Taking them from him, Kadar excused him with a wave and began reading the first of the two letters. What he found pleased him, and he made a mental note to arrange a meeting with the letter writer in the near future. A quick skim of the second letter produced the same pleasure and another reminder to meet that person also.
After a sip of tea, he opened the newspaper to find out the news of the day. Eventually, he came back to the Agony Column and reading through the brief but tortured listings for that day, his eyes came upon an unexpected ad responding to his own.
“L. is in need of a strict disciplinarian. Please advise to allow a meeting.”
His focus was riveted to the words as he read them. Who was L? Quickly, he thought of all the “pupils” he’d hoped to reach with his notice and none possessed a name beginning with the letter L.
“Akil!” he bellowed to the servant, who hurriedly ran into the room in response.
“Yes, Master.”
“Did you deliver the exact advertisement I gave you the other day?”
“Yes, Master. The exact one. ‘K. is a strict disciplinarian and not afraid of a rather unruly pupil.’”
“Get me yesterday’s Times.”
As he waited for Akil to return, he wondered who the mysterious L. could be. Known only to a few people in London, he’d used the Agony Column many times before to meet people like him. Always reliable, it had offered him an anonymity he desired but a trustworthy method of reaching out to his kind.
“Here is the paper, Master,” the servant said as he nervously handed him the Times of London for May 16, 1853.
Running his finger along the page, he traveled over notes for secret lovers’ meetings and ads from those who longed to find estranged loved ones in code and foreign languages. Finally, at the bottom of the column, he saw his advertisement exactly as he’d ordered Akil to submit it and exactly as his servant had just recited it back to him.
Who was this new “pupil” looking to join the two who’d already responded as he’d expected they would?
“Well, L. wants to meet,” he muttered as the servant stood waiting to take the previous day’s newspaper.
“Will there be anything else, Master?”
