Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Cecilia
    Cecilia
    Cecilia
    Ebook151 pages2 hours

    Cecilia

    By Blair Bancroft

    3/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Cecilia Lilly has but one grand ambition—to become the mistress of a titled gentleman. But when the Marquess of Longmere becomes her "protector," she learns the truth of the old adage, "Be careful what you wish for." Yet even after suffering a severe beating, she finds it difficult to adjust her basic snobbery when help comes in the form of an alleged lord of London's Underworld. No matter how much he offers—vengeance, the opportunity to aid orphans and unwed mothers—she cannot see past his guttersnipe origins. Cecilia has a considerable amount of growing up to do before her world comes right.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBlair Bancroft
    Release dateOct 4, 2014
    ISBN9780985706388
    Cecilia
    Author

    Blair Bancroft

    Blair Bancroft recalls receiving odd looks from adults as she walked home from school at age seven, her lips moving as she told herself stories. And there was never a night she didn't entertain herself with her own bedtime stories. But it was only after a variety of other careers that she turned to serious writing. Blair has been a music teacher, professional singer, non-fiction editor, costume designer, and real estate agent. She has traveled from Bratsk, Siberia, to Machu Picchu, Peru, and made numerous visits to Europe, Britain, and Ireland. She is now attempting to incorporate all these varied experiences into her writing. Blair's first book, TARLETON'S WIFE, won RWA's Golden Heart and the Best Romance award from the Florida Writers' Association. Her romantic suspense novel, SHADOWED PARADISE, and her Young Adult Medieval, ROSES IN THE MIST, were finalists for an EPPIE, the "Oscar" of the e-book industry. Blair's Regency, THE INDIFFERENT EARL, was chosen as Best Regency by Romantic Times magazine and was a finalist for RWA's RITA award. Blair believes variety is the spice of life. Her recent books include Historical Romance, Romantic Suspense, Mystery, Thrillers, and Steampunk, all available at Smashwords. A long-time resident of Florida, Blair fondly recalls growing up in Connecticut, which still has a piece of her heart.

    Read more from Blair Bancroft

    Related to Cecilia

    Related ebooks

    Royalty Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Coming Out

      May 11, 2020

      The Coming Out
      6 min read

    • Article

      Wise old Mrs Merrow

      Jul 27, 2020

      Littlesea was everything the description said: a white stone cottage with beams and higgledy-piggledy walls and steps away from a tiny quay in a private bay. It would have been the perfect spot for honeymooners had it not had just the one single bed

      8 min read

    • Article

      Speedboat

      Mar 24, 2022

      Nobody died that year. Nobody prospered. There were no births or marriages. Seventeen reverent satires were written – disrupting a cliché and, presumably, creating a genre. That was a dream, of course, but many of the most important things, I fi nd,

      14 min read

    • Article

      Beau Brummell

      Nov 6, 2020

      Beau Brummell
      5 min read

    • Article

      The PROMISE

      Aug 18, 2021

      The PROMISE
      9 min read

    • Article

      Men Behaving Badly

      Jul 6, 2018

      Men Behaving Badly
      5 min read

    • Article

      Marking 21 Busy Years In ‘The Firm’ The Countess Of Wessex Reflects On Royal Titles, Family Fun And Giving Her Children A ‘Normal’ Life

      Jun 15, 2020

      She has been a member of the royal family for 21 years this month, but the Countess of Wessex says her children Lady Louise Windsor, 16, and Viscount Severn, 12, are “highly unlikely” to ever use their HRH titles. “We try to bring them up with the un

      2 min read

    • Article

      Recipe Index

      Sep 27, 2022

      Recipe Index
      1 min read

    • Article

      The Bargain

      Dec 10, 2022

      “Which one of you owns G2V3889?” Cygnus glided through a luminescent star field suspended in the center of an otherwise dark, oblong studio, then turned in a slow circle to survey the twenty Agents surrounding him. “Come on, speak up.” Vega shuddered

      16 min read

    • Article

      Judi There Is Nothing Like This Dame

      May 19, 2021

      Judi There Is Nothing Like This Dame
      7 min read

    • Article

      Philomena's Happy Place

      Apr 3, 2023

      Philomena's Happy Place
      3 min read

    • Article

      Echoes

      Jul 13, 2022

      Echoes
      9 min read

    • Article

      Elsi, The Strange Maid

      Aug 29, 2018

      Elsi, The Strange Maid
      17 min read

    • Article

      Philip The Patriarch

      Apr 18, 2021

      Philip The Patriarch
      5 min read

    • Article

      Home to ROOST

      Jan 11, 2022

      Home to ROOST
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Prince Philip Years

      May 13, 2021

      The Prince Philip Years
      10 min read

    • Article

      Illusion

      May 22, 2019

      Illusion
      2 min read

    • Article

      Country To The Core

      Nov 24, 2021

      Country To The Core
      5 min read

    • Article

      Power Of Three

      Sep 11, 2019

      Power Of Three
      2 min read

    • Article

      Personal Space

      Jun 5, 2022

      Personal Space
      2 min read

    • Article

      One Is Not Amused

      Jan 28, 2020

      One Is Not Amused
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Cecilia

    3/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Cecilia - Blair Bancroft

      Cecilia

      by Blair Bancroft

      Published by Kone Enterprises

      at Smashwords

      Copyright 2014 by Grace Ann Kone

      For other books by Blair Bancroft,

      please see http://www.blairbancroft.com

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

      Welcome to the second book in The Aphrodite Academy series—Belle, Cecilia, Holly and Juliana. These are stories of the dark side of the Regency era, of young women who were not so fortunate in their birth or their experiences as the heroines of traditional Regency novels. They are, however, still romances, and somehow manage that Happily Ever After ending we all love.

      Chapter 1

      London, January 1817

      Coo, now ain’t that grand! A young woman, garbed in a shocking shade of pink—the matching ostrich plumes in her headdress askew from snagging on the velvet draperies at the entry to their box—gazed open-mouth at the glorious gilded interior of the Royal Opera House.

      Hush, you ijit! Her companion, clashingly arrayed in scarlet, nodded toward a third young woman just taking her seat at the front of the box. She’s one of Lady R’s girls. Speaks like a treat, she does. Knows ever so much—least that’s what dearest Willy says. So keep your mummer shut. No need to sound like we jes popped up out of the gutter.

      Naturally, the object of their discussion heard every word, for neither Shocking Pink nor Scarlet had been raised to gossip discreetly. And, Cecilia Lilly had to admit, the spectacle truly was grand. Granddaughter of an earl, she prided herself on a sophistication few young women in her present circle could claim, but the Royal Opera House was indeed stunning. To Cecy the bright and shining theater, currently filled with the cream of the ton, seemed the embodiment of her long climb from daughter of a Nonconformist black sheep—a Methodist minister, would you believe?—to the pinnacle of society. She was here, actually here. And in company with a marquess.

      And all thanks to Lady Juliana Rivenhall and the Aphrodite Academy, where she had learned to converse on all manner of subjects, in French as well as English. Where history and literature, art and music, even cooking and keeping close account of household expenses, had been part of a curriculum that also included how to please gentlemen of nearly every persuasion and inclination. Lessons delivered in detail so graphic even Cecy had occasionally blanched.

      From under lowered lids, she shot the man seated next to her a small smile of satisfaction. Jason, Marquess of Longmere, had been generous. While attempting to appear nonchalant, Cecy smoothed the folds of her deep blue satin gown, the bodice and hem richly embroidered in opalescent beads. Her fingers strayed to the strand of diamonds around her throat.

      Oh yes, Longmere was exactly what she wanted. The first night they’d met, last summer at Vauxhall, Lady Rivenhall warned her about him, making it clear the marquess had not been among the men invited to meet the latest graduates of The Aphrodite Academy. But Cecy hadn’t listened. Longmere, head of the Sommerton family, was tall, handsome, distinguished, a true aristocrat, titled and wealthy. What more could a girl want? She had insisted Lady R accept his offer and never looked back.

      At the moment he was gazing at the scene before him with bored indifference, ignoring both Cecy and his guests—one of the odd privileges of a great title and vast wealth. And something she must learn to accept. Cecy returned to her perusal of the vast theater. It was well lit, with large lantern-like chandeliers hanging out over the pit from the posts that supported the lower three galleries, as many as fifty or sixty in all, she guessed. In the pit below their private box, young bucks and members of the hoi-polloi openly ogled any lady unwary enough to sit forward in her box, and of course the ladies who came with the sole purpose of attracting as much attention as possible. Above the pit were five layers of galleries, the final one so high just thinking about the precipitate distance to the stage robbed Cecy of her breath. Surely, the patrons up there could scarcely see the stage, let alone hear what was being sung or said.

      Then again, everyone knew Londoners came for the spectacle of seeing and being seen as much as for the drama, music, or dance on stage.

      Longmere’s rich baritone sounded beside her, answered by tittering laughter from Shocking Pink and Scarlet—their escorts, the marquess’s friends, Viscount Pinkney and Sir John Upham, joining in with insinuating murmurs. A shiver twisted up Cecy’s spine—the why of it a mystery. This was the life she had chosen. Not all the women she encountered were going to be upper class courtesans of the quality produced by the Academy. She had no right to feel a faint distaste for her companions. None whatsoever.

      Another glance at Longmere, the epitome of the English aristocracy. As he bandied words with Shocking Pink and Scarlet, his medium brown locks artfully disarranged in a Brutus cut, his cool blue eyes warmed slightly, as if belying the ever-present disdainful curl of his lips. Hastily, Cecy turned back to examining their fellow theater-goers. In spite of Longmere’s armor of superiority, she had hopes, of course. There, she’d said it! If Belle could marry her viscount, why couldn’t Cecilia Lilly snare the marquess? She was, after all, the granddaughter of an earl, no matter how appallingly far from the fold she had strayed.

      Perhaps if she hadn’t lost her virginity at eighteen, been cast out at nineteen . . .? Followed by well over a year of earning her living by associating with a deteriorating sample of England’s not-so-finest . . .?

      But surely being rescued by Lady Juliana Rivenhall and accepted into The Aphrodite Academy counted for something. She was no longer a beautiful face being passed from one wealthy banker or merchant to the next but a courtesan of the first stare, the chère amie of one of the highest-ranking noblemen in England.

      The cacophony of the orchestra tuning up startled her, forcing her eyes toward the great red velvet curtain still shrouding the stage. The noise around her rose to a crescendo as everyone attempted to speak above the squeaks and squawks of the instruments. Cecy longed to ignore her strict training and cover her ears with her hands. She winced as the giggles of Shocking Pink and Scarlet turned raucous, topped by the salacious guffaws of their companions. Really! How Longmere could tolerate them she didn’t know.

      The overture was robust, silencing much of the general hum of conversation, but once the curtain rose, the soloists were hard put to be heard above the self-centered buzz of the audience. Strangely, Cecy found she minded. All those beautiful sounds, all that skill being wasted on so many indifferent pairs of ears.

      The farce, which followed, was only half over when there was a general shuffling in their box. Cecilia? Longmere took her arm and guided her out. Goosebumps rose on her arms as she felt a chill wafting from his direction. Had she paid too much attention to the stage? Too little to Longmere? Was she supposed to take umbrage over the other women openly flirting with her protector? Caught up in the music, had she missed vital clues to her survival?

      There were classes at the Academy that covered the delicate topic of pleasing the men who paid the bills, and Cecy had tried to pay attention, truly she had. But certain she already knew all there was to know about men, her thoughts had frequently drifted into dreams of a glorious future instead of heeding the advice being offered. Truthfully, Longmere was not the only one afflicted by arrogance. She blamed her own tendency toward this aristocratic disease on her grandfather, the Earl of Kingsbury. No matter how far she had fallen, it was always there, telling her she was right, even when she was being bull-headed, intransigent, and headed down a totally wrong path.

      Was that what she was doing at the moment? she wondered as the marquess wrapped her fur-lined cloak about her shoulders? Did she expect Longmere, his friends, and their two tarts to adjust to her rather than the other way round? Surely that’s not what Jason thought. She had given good service, she knew she had. She had a fine cottage, exquisite gowns, an overflowing jewelry case, a fine horse and carriage to show for it. Yet a frisson of nerves passed through her. Some atavistic warning instinct? Or was it all in her head?

      As they exited the Opera House, a cold wind off the river enveloped them in a blast of winter, effectively swamping Cecy’s fears under a desire to arrive at their next destination as quickly as possible. Which was, alas, a gaming hell on King Street, where Cecy endured two long, infinitely boring hours. She wasn’t sure where her distaste for gaming came from—possibly it was due to her friend Belle’s experiences, or else she simply wasn’t born to find entertainment in throwing money away. If she had money, she held onto it, with absolutely no desire to risk it on the turn of a card, the bounce of dice, or the vagaries of a wheel.

      At near four in the morning, when the marquess and his party had imbibed far too much brandy, port, punch, and ratafia, as well as losing what Cecy considered a staggering sum of money, the six of them once again squeezed into Longmere’s coach. A somewhat fuzzy vision of her canopied bed in her cottage in St. John’s Woods rose up before her, beckoning . . . Just Jason and herself, alone at last. With a sigh, Cecy snuggled tight against the marquess’s shoulder and closed her eyes. This was an evening which could not come to an end soon enough.

      She came to herself as she bounced hard, her eyes popping open to a view of heavy black velvet hangings that seemed to go on forever. Not her bed. Where . . .?

      Giggles. Lascivious chuckles. A whoop, a flash of skin . . .

      Cecy’s head swam. She should have been more careful, not drunk so much. She knew that, but she’d been with Jason for months now. She trusted him.

      So why were there other people in the bedroom? Jason’s bedroom, she suspected, though she’d never set foot inside his townhouse on Cavendish Square. Which did not at all explain what they were doing here or why the room seemed filled with people.

      She squinted, attempting to focus, even as she heard the thump of multiple boots. What looked like a black evening coat flew across her line of sight, to land in a heap on the floor. Jason, Jason?

      Nothing to worry about, my love. We’re but having a small orgy. Strong hands seized her bodice and ripped her gown from neck to knee in one grand gesture.

      Jason? She grabbed the shreds of her dress, pulling them together as tightly as

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1