Page 2 of Enchanted by the Lyon (The Lyon’s Den Connected World #93)

M rs. Cassandra Vaughn held onto her reticule as though such a small object could somehow calm her racing heart. Seated in the darkened carriage, she was thankful Emily was keeping any thoughts she had to herself, leaving Cassandra to wallow away in self-pity.

Lucius … when had her fascination with an apparent rake gotten so out of control?

Here she was sitting next to one of the women who used to share his bed of all things, and Cassandra had even gone so far as to form a sort of friendship with her.

She was certain it was only because she missed her own dear friends who were now all happily married.

Their destination tonight was the one place that might see Cassandra married, if the Black Widow of Whitehall could perform another one of her matching miracles.

After all, Mrs. Dove-Lyon had already delivered on her promises to three of Cassandra’s friends.

Was it too much to hope for that she, too, could come away from her past sins married to a man with whom she had fallen in love?

Before tonight, she hadn’t even realized that the man for whom she held an attraction even knew she existed.

But she knew that if he did, Lucius Ford, the Earl of Blackthorn, would never admit it.

Until tonight, that was the closest she had ever come to the man.

But he was best friends with the men who had all married Cassandra’s lady friends, although they were more like sisters of the heart.

How ironic, and perhaps there was more to Bessie Dove-Lyon’s plans than any of them had been aware.

Her mind drifted back to the past when Cassandra had taken into her house women who had fallen on hard times.

Then there was her friend Patience, who had been with her the longest. Josephine and Moriah followed a short while later.

Their reputations had all proceeded them as they became known as belonging to a group dubbed the Wicked Widows Club according to that nasty Teatime Tattler gossip rag.

But the Widow part was no longer the case, at least where her dearest friends were concerned.

They had all remarried and well. Cassandra was the last of them to remain single although her situation was going to be far more difficult to remedy than the other ladies.

Or so she reasoned. How would any man—especially an earl—ever accept her as a potential spouse?

Maybe if her parents were still alive, she could have mended the rift that had come between them before their unexpected death.

A disgraced daughter of a baron would have doors quickly shut in her face.

With their passing many years ago, Cassandra no longer had any living relatives she could claim who were in the good graces of Society, thus giving her the opening she needed.

Not that she was ever really close to members of the ton .

She had been too young. And she had never really discussed her first marriage with her lady friends.

Marriage to a merchant’s son had only gotten her so far when she had given in to love at such a young age.

Her parents had disapproved, since his family wasn’t nobility.

Worse, in her parents’ eyes, anyway, Rupert and his brother were orphans; their parents had perished in a boating accident when both their sons were still very young, and her husband’s older brother Barlow had really never accepted her.

She and Rupert had only been married a year when a riding accident had been the demise of her husband.

But that was only the beginning of her misfortunes.

He was barely buried in the ground before his brother had swooped in, claiming ownership of everything in her household.

Her brother-in-law had claimed that he paid for all of Rupert’s living expenses, and that he was also now responsible for his accumulated debt.

He had shoved a large stack of receipts in her face without giving her the opportunity to review them to prove his point before she was told a bag was being packed for her and that she needed to get out.

Alone and left out on the streets didn’t give Cassandra a lot of options in order to survive.

Her first benefactor had been… unpleasant.

She certainly had not chosen wisely with him and thankfully she was able to quickly end their association.

The next two were hardly any better but they had helped her keep a roof over her head.

After that, she’d made a promise to herself to never pick a lover who would beat her again.

She’d rather end up on in the gutter than to live under those conditions.

When she’d met Neville Quinn, Earl of Drayton, he had been a welcome relief.

Unfortunately, she had done the unthinkable: she had fallen in love with the man.

He had all the qualities she had wanted in a husband, and she had hoped that in time, he might choose her for his wife.

She should have known he would pick a lady amongst his own kind and not one he had taken as a mistress.

Still, Neville had been so generous with settling their accounts that she had been able to purchase her townhouse and never take another lover unless she wished it.

She had also made several investments that had been profitable allowing her to live extremely comfortably.

But there wasn’t much difference between Neville and the man she had been obsessed about for the past year.

Lucius would one day need to wed. Now the only question was…

could the Black Widow of Whitehall’s matchmaking skills make such a miracle happen between him and Cassandra?

“You seem far too melancholy, Cassie dearest, when we are about to enter the Lyon’s Den for a bit of fun,” Emily drawled as though bored with the silence between them. “What has Lucius done now to gain your displeasure?”

“Done? Why I barely know the man,” Cassandra replied, trying to appear offhand and hoping that she succeeded.

“Hmmm… if you say so. But from what I could see just now, he was fascinated with you. He’s a wonderful lover if you desire to take him to your bed.” She sighed and fanned her face with her hand.

“Emily!”

The lady gave her a coy smile and shrugged. “I only speak from experience. I would advise you, however, not to get too… well… clingy. The moment I began to make demands on the man was the day he gave me a handsome settlement.”

Hm, Cassandra thought. She’d made that mistake with Neville. Given the opportunity, no matter what her feelings, she was determined never to give them away again.

“I must admit I do miss having him in my bed,” Emily continued. “Although, I certainly won’t complain on how he settled my accounts. He can be extremely generous with his money.”

“I am not interested in his money, Emily,” she retorted tartly.

Emily laughed. “Trust me when I tell you, there are far more interesting things to do with the Earl of Blackthorn than being overwhelmed with all his wealth… and there’s plenty of it. I know from experience.”

“I honestly don’t wish to know about your past relationship with the earl.” Cassandra picked up her fan dangling from her wrist and began to wave the object in front of her face as if it was a weapon.

“I can see I’ve touched on a nerve,” Emily began before reaching over to take Cassandra’s hand.

“Given how I know you’ll be attempting to put your past behind you, Lucius Ford is one man who has absolutely no desire to be shackled to a wife.

If he is your objective as a potential husband, I’d advise you to look for another.

Conquering that wicked rogue will never happen in a million years. ”

“Haven’t you heard that reformed rakes make the best husbands?” Cassandra snapped with a raised brow.

“ Pfft … not in Lucius’s case. There are plenty of other members of the ton who will overlook your past, Cassandra. Choose one of them instead. You’re still a beautiful woman. One of them will be perfectly suitable.”

Cassandra rolled her eyes and turned away staring into the darkness of night outside the window.

She hardly wished to be saddled with some boring member of the ton who was perfectly suitable .

She wanted someone who could challenge her both intellectually and physically.

She knew what she wanted in a husband, but more importantly and for whatever reason, she wanted Lucius.

But would he conform to the man she knew he could someday be?

The likelihood may not be in her favor but she was aware that passion hid at the edge of uncertainty.

Cassandra had nothing to lose in hoping for a love match with Lucius.

She raised her gloved hand to move a strand of her hair but a hint of citrus, spice, and something else she couldn’t identify caused her heart to flutter.

She couldn’t help the smile that formed on her lips knowing that her gloves from when she had bumped into Lucius held the delicious scent of the man she had been infatuated with for over a year.

She inhaled deeply, enjoying this treat while the carriage made its way through the darkened streets of London.

The carriage turned onto Cleveland Row and began to slow in front of a four-story, light blue building known as the Lyon’s Den.

How many times had Cassandra already been inside with her friends in order for the Black Widow of Whitehall to work her magic?

Too many to count. True… she had paid the woman an extraordinary amount for each match she had made for her friends and that price had doubled since Cassandra had Lucius in mind.

But Mrs. Dove-Lyon seemed amicable to the match and appeared confident and more than capable of turning the tables in her favor.

Cassandra had the feeling Lucius would soon have a losing strike that even he might begin to question.