Invitation by Burke Darcy & Burke Darcy

Author:Burke, Darcy & Burke, Darcy
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781637260067
Publisher: Zealous Quill Press
Published: 2021-04-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

March 1814

The Phoenix Club

Ryder Street, London

“I don’t think rake is a strong enough word. Wastrel is perhaps more fitting.”

Lucien wiped his hand over his face, unable to dispute Evie’s assessment of poor Tobias. His reputation had taken a hit the previous spring, and not because Lady Bentley, the former Lady Priscilla, had overlooked him in favor of her husband. It was because she’d told everyone that he’d wanted to kidnap her to Gretna Green. Her story concluded with her talking him out of it, but Lucien and their friends knew the truth.

Nevertheless, he’d become a pariah, and since Society thought him a rogue, he’d embraced their assumptions wholeheartedly. He’d spent the last several months drinking, gambling, and womanizing his way to the top of the list of London’s Most Scandalous.

He lounged in his usual spot this evening, an oversized chair in the corner of the gaming room, a glass of some spirit dangling from his fingertips. Yes, wastrel was a more apt description. His father was horrified by his behavior, and the more he pressed upon Tobias to tidy himself up, the more deeply Tobias plunged into ignominy.

“He’s fine,” Ada Treadway, the club’s bookkeeper, said quietly. She stood beside Evie, a delicate daisy next to Evie’s brilliant, lush rose. They didn’t spend a great deal of time on the gentlemen’s side of the club, but on Tuesdays, this side welcomed women into their members’ den.

Evie snapped her head toward Ada. “You don’t have a tendre for our resident profligate, do you?”

A light tremor passed over Ada’s shoulders. “No. I simply like him. I like everyone.”

Lucien smiled warmly. “Indeed you do, which is a lovely trait.” Evie had brought Ada back to London with her. Lucien did not know the entire story of what had brought her here, other than she’d been a governess and decided that work didn’t suit her. She’d needed to begin anew, and there was no better place for that than the Phoenix Club.

“I’ll go and speak with him,” Ada said. “He really just needs a friend.” She took herself off toward Tobias.

Lucien looked about the gaming room, where several members played cards and others billiards. He turned to Evie. “Is everything ready for our first ball next week?”

When they’d designed the renovations that had split this one house into the two distinct parts of the Phoenix Club, he’d come up with the idea to have a removable partition on the ground floor that would allow them to open up a large ballroom between the two sides. On Fridays, they would host a ball, which would be the only time young, unwed ladies on the Marriage Mart could enter the club. They were still not members, of course, but they could attend a ball with a sponsor who was a member.

“Yes. I’m rather nervous about it. If the food and drink is not regarded as superior to Almack’s, I will consider it a failure.”

He chuckled. “As will I. But rest assured, that will not be difficult to achieve.

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