Frederica let out an airy laugh, but quelled it quickly. ‘The last time I saw him, I was fourteen years old, when he stayed with us that summer at Hampford Castle. Samuel gave me a box of chocolates and told me I was immature and badly behaved.’
Mama put her hands on Frederica’s shoulders. ‘As I recall that summer, you and your little sisters put your papa’s pet bear cub in his room in the middle of the night and scared the poor fellow out of his wits.’
Frederica grinned fondly at this memory. ‘He didn’t have many wits as I remember.’
‘But you have both wits and talent,’ her mother said, squeezing her daughter’s shoulders lightly before releasing her hold. ‘And I can think of no better person to leave my perfume company to.’
Her heartbeat raced in her chest as warmth radiated through her body. She grabbed her mother’s arm and tugged it. ‘You are leaving Duchess & Co. to me?’
Mama smiled like a lioness after a successful hunt. ‘I am leaving Duchess & Co. to another duchess. Mantheria is not interested. Please tell me that you will accept Samuel and become aduchess.’
Frederica dropped her mother’s arm and turned back to the window. She breathed in slowly and exhaled, but it did not slow down her racing pulse. There was nothing in the world she wanted more than her mother’s company. She had always been afraid that Mama would leave it to Matthew, one of her elder brothers, who was a fine businessman. Frederica had little experience with running a company, but she had grown up practising languages and mathematics to prepare herself. She even planned to expand her mother’s perfume business into red scented soaps with phenol. Adding phenol to the sodium tallowate, sodium cocoate, and glycerine had helped her scratches heal without infection. Three fragrances went well with it: camphor, rosemary, and eucalyptus. Trying different combinations, she had made at least one hundred cakes of them as she waited for something to happen during the early Season.
Gulping, she turned back to her mother. ‘When do I get your company?’
The look on Mama’s face was triumphant, she knew that she had won. ‘I will deed half of it to you when you marry and the other half when I am dead. It is slightly less profitable currently, for I used a large portion of the savings to pay Lord Pelford’s family debts.’
Frederica did not want her mother to die any time soon and she knew that she still had a lot to learn from Mama about how to run her own business. She held out her hand. ‘It’s a bargain.’
Her mother shook her hand tightly, not letting go. ‘You will dress in your blue sprigged muslin and have Wade thread flowers through your hair. Do not forget to put a dab of perfume on your inner wrist. And perhaps if you still look as pale as a ghost, tell Miss Wade that she has my permission to add some rouge on your cheeks.’
Her mother finally released her hand and Frederica threw her arms around her mother’s neck, hugging her tightly. She kissed her cheek. ‘I won’t disappoint you, Mama.’
‘With the business or with Samuel?’
Frederica laughed. ‘Either.’
‘I only met your father once before I married him,’ she said, ‘and we were not even alone. But any marriage can work, if both parties are committed to its success.’
She thought of Samuel and sobered. She was willing to commit, but she could not be certain that he would be. When they were younger, the harder she’d tried to get his attention, the more he’d ignored her. It had been infuriating. He’d had the unique ability to get underneath her thick skin. No person had ever aggravated her more.
‘Yes, Mama.’
Her mother sighed. ‘If you wish to love your husband, choose to, as I did. Love is not a feeling, but a choice.’
Frederica nodded again and left the room. She could try to love Samuel, but she doubted whether he would do the same. Was a perfume company worth a lifetime without love? Slumping, she walked up the grand staircase to the second floor. She opened the dark mahogany door to her room and found Wade waiting for her. The lady’s maid had already laid out the sprigged muslin day dress that flattered Frederica’s figure and colouring. Miss Wade was not yet thirty, but her thin face seemed older because of her perpetual frown. She wore her vibrant brown hair in a severe bun, and her plain dress emphasised her slender figure. She stood and executed a sharp curtsy to her mistress.
‘I suppose Mama has already spoken with you.’
Wade curtsied again. ‘Yes, my lady.’
‘Well then, do your best to make me presentable,’ Frederica said, sitting down heavily on the bed. ‘For as you, and undoubtedly every other servant in the house, already knows, I am to be engaged to be married today.’
Wade assisted Frederica out of her morning gown and into her prettiest dress in the palest shade of blue. She added fresh white flowers to Frederica’s coiffure and carefully added a bit of powder to her cheeks. Frederica held still as the lady’s maid put on her gloves, silk stockings, and slippers that were dyed the same shade of blue.
‘Thank you, Wade. That is all. I should like to be by myself for a little while.’
Once Wade closed the door, Frederica opened the top drawer of her dresser and pulled out her pistol and powder. It was time for some target practice in the garden.
Chapter Two
When Colonel Lord Samuel Corbin’s father died and he’d succeeded to his dignities, Samuel had every intention of selling his commission in the British Army and returning to civilian life. Unfortunately, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the island of Elba on the same day. Samuel could hardly desert his friends and his country on the brink of war, despite his bereft mama’s many pleadings in her letters. But he had asked for a short leave of absence to return to England and put his affairs in order.
It was seven years since he had last set foot on English soil. His memories of home and his father were still painful. He’d run away from them as a youth of seventeen, but he must face them now as a man.
Samuel fought fearlessly during the Peninsular Campaign, as only a young, stupid officer could. His foolhardiness had come with several rank risings and eventually the Duke of Wellington made him a member of his staff. After the war, Samuel had not returned to England with his regiment; instead, he’d accompanied Wellington to France and to the Congress of Vienna. There he’d stayed quite happily until the little emperor decided to rule the world again.
Not that Samuel had been avoiding England.