The Cursed Canvases, page 11
“Oh, my poor dear.” Mama folded her in an embrace. “I could just smite your lout of a husband.”
Annabel had been inclined to teariness, but Mama’s indignation made her laugh instead. “That’s already happened, if you recall—the poor old dear. And I’m quite well. Just…confused.”
“Men. The world would be a much simpler place without them, wouldn’t it, Winters?” Annabel’s maid had appeared, bearing a bronze muslin walking dress trimmed with bands of brown silk.
“That it would, your ladyship.” Winters had been a housemaid at Belsever Magna before becoming Annabel’s maid. “Perhaps not as amusing, however.”
“I’ll take simple over amusing any day,” Mama said firmly. “Is that a new dress?”
“No, an old one we remade. Don’t you care for it? I think it’s one of Winters’ best efforts.” Annabel smiled at her maid. “One does not dress up too much for this event, so I understand.”
“Hmm.” Mama eyed the dress as Winters laced Annabel’s stays and helped her on with a petticoat. “Very pretty, but—” She pressed her lips together, and said, more firmly, “Very pretty.”
Mama herself was, as always, beautifully turned out, today in cream-colored muslin with a high-necked lilac sarsenet mantle. Annabel knew that her straitened circumstances and limited dress allowance troubled her fashionable parent, but Mama had sufficient delicacy to not make too great a fuss about it.
While Winters dressed her hair in a simple style, Mama wandered around the room, examining her treasures: miniatures of the boys when they were three by Richard Cosway, a pair of Limoges vases Freddy had given her when the boys were born, the small but exquisite watercolor of an orchid that the boys’ friend Augustus Blackburn—Gus—had painted for her.
“That’s a pretty thing,” Mama commented, peering at it closely.
“Isn’t it? You’ll probably have the opportunity to meet the artist later today.” Gus would almost certainly be there with the boys this afternoon—or at least with Martin, while Will rowed.
“I’ll look forward to it—good heavens, darling!” Mama said, pausing before the portrait of Grandmother Shellingham. “Do you really want a picture of Grandmama in your bedchamber?”
“Why? What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s so—unconducive!”
Winters gave a strangled sort of cough but heroically maintained her countenance; upper servants never betrayed that they’d heard a word uttered by their superiors unless directly addressed. Annabel, however, had no such constraints. “Mama!”
Mama shrugged. “All I can say, dear, is that if I’d allowed your grandmother’s portrait in my bedchamber, you and your brothers and sister might not be here today. Poor Papa!” She surveyed it a moment longer, then shook her head.
“How is Grandmama, anyway?”
“Oh, very well. There are still fifteen chairs in the dining room that need new covers. I think she’s signed a pact with the devil to stay alive until she’s done embroidering them.”
Annabel grinned. Why didn’t that surprise her? Grandmama sometimes seemed to forget that her eldest son was himself a grandfather now.
“You’re ready, milady,” Winters said, setting down her comb and handing Annabel her earrings.
“Thank you, Winters.” Annabel slipped them on. “Speaking of Papa, shall we go down and join him for coffee before he thinks we’ve forgotten him?” She stood up, took Mama’s arm, and led her from the room. As the door closed behind her, she heard poor Winters giving way to her pent-up mirth, and smiled in sympathy.
Turmoil on the Thames will be out on July 5, 2022. Reserve your copy now!
About the Author
Marissa Doyle graduated from Bryn Mawr College and went on to graduate school intending to be an archaeologist, but somehow got distracted. Eventually she figured out what she was really supposed to be doing and started writing. She’s channeled her inner history geekiness into a successful young adult historical fantasy series and continues happily to write fantasy of various types for teens and adults. She lives in her native Massachusetts with her family, including a bossy but adorable pet rabbit, and loves quilting, gardening, and collecting antiques. Please visit her at her website, www.marissadoyle.com, and at her history blog, Nineteenteen.com.
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Also by Marissa Doyle
The Ladies of Almack’s series
The Forgery Furore
The Vanishing Volume
Lyrics and Larceny
The Cursed Canvases
Turmoil on the Thames (July 2022)
An Event at Epsom (August 2022)
The Missing Missives (September 2022)
Skin Deep
By Jove
The Leland Sisters series
Bewitching Season
Betraying Season
Courtship and Curses
Charles Bewitched
Between Silk and Sand
Evergreen
What Lies Beneath
Copyright and Credits
THE CURSED CANVASES: A LIGHT-HEARTED REGENCY FANTASY (THE LADIES OF ALMACK’S BOOK 4)
Copyright © 2022 Marissa Doyle
All rights reserved. No part or the whole of this book may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, or utilized (other than for reading by the intended reader) in any form without the prior written permissions of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. The unauthorized reproduction of this copyrighted work is illegal, and punishable by law.
Published by Book View Café LLC
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ISBN: 978-1-63632-044-1
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are fictitious and/or are used fictitiously and are solely the product of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, places, businesses, companies, institutions, events, or locales is completely coincidental.
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Book View Café is an author-owned cooperative of professional writers publishing in a variety of genres, from fantasy to romance, mystery, and science fiction as well as select non-fiction.
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Marissa Doyle, The Cursed Canvases
