A Wicked Gentleman by Jane Feather Page A

a callow youth who was floundering in deep waters. It was never his practice to cultivate the ingénu crowd of either sex. The young women bored him to tears, not that their mamas would ever allow them to have a tête-à-tête with Viscount Bonham…not anymore…and as for the young bucks, the greatest service he could do any of them was to snub them sufficiently to ensure that eventually they would acquire some town polish.
    So what the devil did he think he was doing furthering an acquaintance with young Dagenham?
    Addlepated was the only answer that sprang to mind.

Chapter 7
    W HAT DO YOU THINK of this straw-colored satin for the dining room chairs, Nell?” Livia fingered a bolt of material at a draper’s warehouse on Goodge Street. “It’s not hideously expensive.”
    Cornelia abandoned the crimson-striped damask that she’d been considering and came over to Livia. “I like it,” she declared. “It will set off the cream wallpaper beautifully.” She glanced around. “Where’s Ellie?”
    Livia looked up, frowning as she peered around the cavernous warehouse with its long tables, bolts of material, and bustling attendants flourishing draper’s shears. “She’s over there.” She pointed. “She’s talking to someone. She must have met someone she knows.”
    â€œI can’t think who,” Cornelia said with a note of surprise, then exclaimed, “It’s Letitia Oglethorpe. I’d know that nose anywhere.”
    Livia stared and gave a little chuckle. “Oh, I see what you mean…Cyrano would be proud of it. Who is she?”
    â€œWe were all debutantes together,” Cornelia informed her. “Letitia became engaged to Oglethorpe halfway through the season.” She shook her head with a rueful laugh. “My mother said she’d done very well for herself, considering the size of her nose. It was very clear she was comparing Letitia’s unlikely success on the marriage mart with my own lamentable failure to make a match. Ellie’s mother said much the same to her.”
    â€œShould we go over?”
    â€œI think we have to.” Cornelia didn’t sound too enthusiastic, but she could hardly leave Aurelia to hold the fort alone. Letitia had always been supremely irritating and unnecessarily condescending. She was bound to be even worse now since she’d have some cause. She was dressed to the nines, and enviably warmly, in a fur-trimmed velvet pelisse with a gypsy bonnet perched on top of her high-piled hair. Privately, Cornelia thought the bonnet a mistake. Its flat style accentuated the nose rather than diminished it. The catty reflection did nothing to lessen Cornelia’s sense of their own outmoded dress, which approached shabbiness when compared with Letitia’s outfit.
    She sighed. “I’d hoped we’d be able to smarten ourselves up a little before making contact with the outside world. But needs must when the devil drives.” She led the way between the tables.
    â€œCornelia…oh, goodness, I would never have recognized you,” Letitia trilled, as they approached. “My dear, you look so…so mature.” She tittered. “We’ve all changed, I’m sure. I was just telling Aurelia, I wouldn’t have recognized her either.” She took Cornelia’s proffered hand in a limp hold before turning her gaze inquiringly on Livia.
    â€œMay I introduce Lady Livia Lacey, Letitia,” Cornelia said smoothly. “She’s just inherited a house on Cavendish Square, and we’re doing some refurbishment.” She gestured around the warehouse. “Liv, this is Lady Oglethorpe. An old acquaintance of ours.”
    Letitia’s pale eyes had sharpened as she took Livia’s hand. “Cavendish Square…why, my dear, such a good address. I was unaware there was any property for sale there. It so rarely comes on the open