My Lady Coward: An Episodic Regency Romance Read Free Page A

which we
    meet Maria's family...
     
    Any courage Maria had felt before finding Richard's compass disappeared. Her husband's mistress was in the habit of buying him gifts. Maria may not have been very knowledgeable in the ways of a duke and his mistress but she was fairly certain this was not usual behavior.
    Did Richard buy gifts for Lady Hensley with Maria's money? The horrifying thought took up permanent residence in Maria's mind. There was no way for her to find out. The money her father settled on her became her husband's the moment they'd married. What he did with it was his business.
    Maria's melancholy kept her to her bed, thunder pounding through her brain while a storm roiled in her middle.
    “Your grace? Milady?”
    Maria stirred, opening her puffy eyes and raising tear-stained cheeks to her concerned maid, Colette.
    “Oh, mistress,” the maid sighed.
    “Leave me, Colette,” Maria ordered, burrowing deeper into the bedclothes.
    Colette's pretty features hardened. “No, I refuse,” she said roundly, yanking the coverlet from her mistress's determined grasp. “You must rise, madam. How shall you win him if you hide away?”
    Shock snapped Maria's eyes open and brought her to a sitting position. “What did you say?” she asked, stunned and angry at the woman's audacity.  She'd never felt such overwhelming rage and the fact that it stemmed from embarrassment mattered not at all. Servants did not speak so to their employers. Not if they valued their employ.
    Colette squared her shoulders, hands on her hips. Her dark eyes flashed but she said nothing, letting her defiant stance speak for her.
    So even her personal servant viewed her as unworthy of the respect due a true lady. Maria's anger dissipated, replaced with the usual calm acceptance for which she was well known. The same calm acceptance that saw her through a wedding to a near-stranger and thrust into a new life amongst people who neither liked nor understood her.
    The same calm that masked her love for her husband and the pain of knowing he kept a mistress.
    “You overstep yourself,” she warned Colette, her returned calm allowing her training to regain its hold on her emotions.
    “Yes, madam,” Colette said, her servile air belied by a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Will madam wear the emerald velvet with the gold piping?”
    “Yes, madam will, you impertinent girl. I've half a mind to turn you off for your behavior.”
    “You never would,” Colette said confidently as she prepared a bath for her mistress before the fire. “What other French lady's maid would work for the upstart duchess?”
    “Is that what they call me?” It was possible, Maria supposed. Richard had been the Season's prize; handsome, titled, and in possession of a very desirable property, he was every young debutante's dream husband.
    And he was kind. He treated Maria with respect and gentleness.
    No doubt he treated Lady Hensley the same.
    On that singularly melancholy thought, Maria fell back on the bed. How could she possibly coerce her husband away from a woman of Lady Hensley's charms? She knew how to go about in Society and, despite her reputation, enjoyed Society's approval.
    “You are more of a lady than any title can produce,” Maria heard as Colette left the chamber.
    Pleased that her maid, at least, approved of her, Maria allowed a tiny smile to emerge. One that quickly disappeared a moment later as her thoughts returned to her absent husband.
    Society had left for country estates and house parties several weeks ago. Only a few families remained in Town. Maria had decided against attending Lady Hensley's ball, the knowledge that the woman stayed while Richard went enough to appease her agitation.
    “Madam!”
    The groan that emerged from Maria's throat was neither ladylike nor voluntary. But it was heartfelt. Her stomach protested, the storm within building until Maria gasped, diving for the chamberpot beneath her bed. The maid was before her, holding her