From where he stood, Jeffrey, the footman, heard every word between the two ladies. He had left the door of the parlour ajar, intending to learn more about Prince Edward's visit earlier. What he heard was even more fascinating.

Jeffrey was quick to share what he overheard with a passing scullery maid who ran downstairs to tell Cook, who charged out of the kitchen to find her sister, the lady's maid next door, who told her mistress.

The rain had turned into a drizzle made more miserable by the chilly winds. However, the weather did not impede the speed gossip travelled. Soon, the news of Lady Evelyn's "secret" betrothal travelled down the boulevard and spread at the speed of the wind. By the time Lady Ann was ready to take her leave, several servants gathered outside the door with beaming smiles.

"Best wishes for your future happiness, my lady!" one maid blurted out. "I'm certain you will make a fine, fine Lady Davenport!"

Both ladies stopped in their tracks before they whirled around in unison towards the speaker.

"What did you say, you silly girl?" Ann asked.

"Lady Evelyn's engagement, of course," the flushed faced servant blustered as she looked around to the other servants for support. "We all knew when his lordship came to tea there must be something to it. We wish you all the happiness in the world, Lady Evelyn."

"How--? Who did you hear this from?" Evelyn demanded.

Lady Ann touched Evelyn's arm and shook her head. She turned towards the red-faced, flustered maid. "Who told you? Was it the footman or butler?"

The frightened maid's face turned several shades of red. "I mean no harm, ma'am!" the maid cried out, then bowed her head under Lady Ann's stern warning look. "It was Jeffrey, the footman milady."

"Even the walls have eyes and ears," said Ann to a distraught Evelyn. "By now, the news would have travelled halfway across the City. Prepare yourself for all the wolves in sheepskin will descend upon you now."

***********************************

The moment Lady Ann returned home, she threw off her wet things and retired to her bedchamber with word that none were to disturb her. She missed the look of misgiving that passed between her servants.

Henry Wilkes was sprawled on a roomy chaise in an alcove with his hooded eyes raised to the ceiling, lost in thought.

"Have you been waiting long, Henry?" Lady Ann asked.

He rolled over to prop himself up on one arm to her graceful movements as she shed her wet layers. "You are worth every moment, my lady."

Ann went to him and gave him her hands to kiss. "What a day I've had!" she declared, dropping onto the chaise beside him.

"Tell me," he murmured against her warm, lilac-scented skin. She purred when he leaned forward to nuzzle her neck and help unlace her bodice. Her large, dark nipples bounced as they popped out over the top of her corset. Her gown pooled at her feet in a sea of pale green.

"Ingratiating myself to Lady Evelyn was far easier than expected. As I've told you, her cool exterior is just that. I found the poor little thing in desperate need of sympathy."

"Learn anything useful, then? Is she worth a hundred thousand pounds? Who would leave such a prize with the Warwicks?"

"I can't tell you if that is true or not, though I sometimes wonder where you receive your news." Ann released her pinned up hair into a tumble of golden, honey-coloured waves down her back. He lifted back her hair to kiss her neck. Her hooded eyelids fluttered when he turned his attention to her hands and sucked two of her taper fingers into his mouth. His hot, wet tongue caressed her soft flesh. He had such an eager, skilful tongue. She fell forward into his arms as he blew on her earlobe ever so slightly. Ann closed her eyes and forced herself not to think of how feminine Henry's hands felt. She tried not to think of a set of longer, more muscular arms, a broader chest and more expert hands.

"Regardless of what she's worth now, she'll soon have wealth beyond imagining," she said, as her eyes narrowed with a look of pure hate. But Ann softened at Henry's quizzical look, and she smiled a wry, humourless smile. "Why? Haven't you heard? The search is over! Lady Evelyn is soon to be Lady Davenport!"

"You sure?" Henry grabbed a handful of Ann's still supple skin, then slapped her rounded rump with an open palm. How long before the ravages of time claimed her hourglass shape, he mused? Ann was still a great beauty, but there were already clear signs of her age in the thin lines across her forehead and down either side of her thinning lips. No doubt she fought a valiant battle against those lines with all the bottles of lotions and potions spread across her vanity. Henry didn't mind. He enjoyed the favours of a woman exceeding him in age. They were so eager and grateful. And Lady Ann was quite adept at the games he enjoyed.

Ann turned her back to him, then peered back at him over a graceful shoulder in a suggestive manner. Henry hopped to. He was quick to help her out of her undergarments until just her stockings and garter remained. He took great care to remove her stockings before draping them across her extended palm. This was a game she had introduced to him.

"It's a bit of a mystery, isn't it?" he said. "That insipid little thing should all of a sudden be Lady Davenport. Why have we not heard of her till now?"

She twisted the pair of delicate stockings around and around into a rope before she wrapped it around his neck. "All anyone thinks of now when they hear Warwick is that ghastly woman and her grubby sisters. They've sullied that title quite thoroughly, haven't they? You young people forget the position Lord Warwick once held. I do take your meaning, though; the Mallorys wouldn't welcome a nobody. Her lineage can't be a mystery to them. Ah yes! I've not told you the most diverting part. This engagement will be news to Lord Davenport!"

"Blimey! How?"

"Lady Evelyn's mysterious guardian had negotiated the marriage with Northumberland without the interested parties' knowledge. So yes, part of the rumours must be true. Lady Evelyn has very powerful friends indeed."

"How antiquated," Henry said, amused. "Though I must confess, an arranged marriage has its appeal. The whole notion of courtship, where one has to act poetic and gallant, feels so common."

Ann chuckled as she tightened the stockings around his neck till he gasped for air. "Well, all women enjoy being romanced."

Soon his face turned red, and he quickly tapped her arm. When she released him, he gasped for air several times before he asked, "But not you, my lady?"

"At times, even me."

"I wouldn't think Lord Davenport's the amorous sort. But, evidently, he needn't be."

"Great wealth and power simplify things."

"Is that what attracted you to him?" Henry sneered as he scratched his chin. "It can't be for his rousing conversations. The man's a near deaf-mute from what I've seen. Perhaps it hides a rather stupid mind."

Ann couldn't explain the sudden indignation rising in her chest. Henry Wilkes was a salve for her injured pride, but he pales in comparison to Lord Davenport. She tossed the stockings aside. "Or you're unworthy of his conversation."

"Perhaps," Henry said with good humour. "Though I wonder if he would still possess this level of fascination if he were a cobbler. We can only speculate, of course. He is Lord Davenport, and the rest of us are all beneath his notice. Did it not hurt your pride that he refused to acknowledge you publicly?"

"He did not--" she knew Henry was aiming to wound her now. And he was succeeding. In Ann's mind's eye, she saw Lord Davenport's indifferent gaze when they last encountered each other. A deep sense of loss choked her as she looked at Henry's sneering face. "Little men could never understand what makes others their superiors."

"Well, we know such superior men deserve far better than a worn-out old baggage."

Her anger bubbled over, Ann shoved Henry away from her.

"Ah yes. There's the hellcat I like!" Henry laughed when she cracked the back of her hand across his face. He kept laughing as she belted him across his other cheek. "Harder, you old wench! Think of how Lord Davenport will stick it into Lady Evelyn. He's not foolish enough to reject an unploughed field for your barren wasteland."

Lady Ann stiffened as her eyes shot daggers at Henry. "Get out!"

Henry grabbed her wrist before she could hit him again. He grabbed the other wrist, too, before rolling her over. He forced her hands down beside her with a soft kiss on her cheek. "Davenport used you and discarded you. He'll never think of you again. Ever. But I find you are far more interesting than some insipid girl. I'm the only one who still sees worth in you."

Fury blinded her as she kicked her legs against him. Pale Henry with his soft hands was too strong for her, though. "Get off me, you vile boy!"

"Yes! Fight me. Hurt me. Pretend I'm him!" Henry settled between her thighs to rub his short, turgent cock against her.

"You could never be him. Not in the darkest night, and after a vat of spirits," she shot back. The crack across her face was unexpected. Her head whipped around as a million stars exploded before her eyes. Ann was too stunned to utter a sound as she stared up at Henry's unchanged expression.

She flinched when he leaned towards her, but it was to plant a tender kiss on her lips. "You and I are the same, you see. We have in us such potential that others are too blind to recognise. But I am your friend. I want to hurt those who have hurt you. I do know your darker secrets, after all. Things you cannot have revealed."

She glared at Henry in disbelief. He looked as though he was merely discussing the weather with her. If not for the stinging pain in her cheek, she might not have believed he struck her with such violence. His hooded eyes showed no emotion at all, but his veiled threat could not be clearer. It was then that she felt true fear. Fear and regret. His youthful attention had flattered her, so she allowed herself to trust him. In a moment of weakness, she drank too much and revealed more to Henry than she had ever done with anyone. Too late did she realise she had shared her secrets with a demon in the disguise of this handsome boy.

Henry continued to smile at her. "Shall I ruin her for him, then? Soil her innocence so he's forced to abandon her to keep his honour?"

"In due time," Ann said, humouring him now. Her left cheekbone stung with every word she uttered. "I want him to suffer. But we must be careful and clever to avoid making an enemy of Lord Davenport. He's not known to be merciful."

"Glad you're past it," Henry quipped. He cupped her face and held her immobile as he kissed his way down her body. It was all she could do not to shudder in disgust.

"All this was Lord Davenport's fault," Ann thought to herself. He's to blame for this yawning emptiness inside her, and for that, he deserves everything she planned for him.

She pushed Henry aside to rise and crossed the expanse of her bedchamber. She went to steady herself against her dressing table to escape the man with her for the memory of the one who will never be with her again. Henry knelt on the cushions as he watched her movements, graceful and purposeful, like a cat. She fumbled through all the varying shaped bottles and jars on her vanity before retrieving a cigarillo from an ornate box.

"Come back!" he implored with a theatrical groan after a while.

Ann made no response as she lit the cigarillo with her quaking hands. She arched her long neck to expel a puff of smoke upwards. Then she looked at Henry again. It was easy to forget how her face stung from his blow when he looked at her with such innocence. But she won't forget that he was her enemy, same as Lord Davenport. All in due course, she told herself. For now, Henry may prove useful.

"I've suffered no man to play me for a fool, Henry. Not my husband. Not any of my lovers. I intend to play the long game," Ann whispered. "I intend to ruin him by sullying his new wife till his precious reputation is in tatters. I intend to bring him down low."

"You do realise that men often pack their disagreeable wives off somewhere out of the way."

"He might do." Lady Ann said as she blew smoke out one side of her pursed lips. "We women are not without resources. Needs must. "

"It'll take more than feminine wiles to break Davenport."

"No, dear boy, he is not infallible, as you lot like to believe. He may be strong. He may be powerful. But he is forged by his past and bears the scars both physical and hidden."

Henry grinned wolfishly. "Scars? What scars? Oh, do tell!"

Ann's smile was cold, enigmatic. "I've told you enough. Some secrets I must keep, at least for now."

He pursed his lips as he considered her words. "What's to be my part in this, then? Do not think to leave me out, sweet lady."

"In due time," she replied, biting down on the end of the cigarillo and sucked puffs of smoke from it.

"When?" he pressed further.

"Patience, dear boy. You see, therein lies the power of women. First, we watch. Then we plan. We use the inherent weakness of our foes against them by moving them like so many pieces on a chessboard. The key lies in understanding your opponent's motivations and weaknesses."

Henry conceded the point. He got up and went to take Ann in his arms again. "Fine. You shall play your games. But later. Enough scheming for now. I'm bored! I've waited for you all afternoon. Shan't I receive a reward for my patience?"

Lady Ann narrowed her eyes as she leaned back to gaze deep into his hooded eyes. "And why are you so eager to see him brought low?"

He wrapped his arms around her with his nose nuzzled against her neck. "On the one hand, I should thank him for freeing your attention," he said between kisses. "Every moment with you has been a revelation, dear lady. The things you have taught me are sublime. But, on the other hand, he's insufferable, isn't he? The like of me is beneath him. I know it. Yet he'll take his winnings from me all the same."

She couldn't stomach looking at him. "You hate him-- because he bested you at cards?"

"Ruthlessly!" Henry declared with his usual glibness. He stepped back to shed his shirt and unfasten his trousers. "--when he deigns to suffer my company that is."

"You're not serious."

"I don't hate him at all. I don't hate anyone. But there must be symmetry in the world. He's titled. He has wealth beyond measure. Women desire him. Men emulate him. A roomful of Whigs and Tories will pause to hear him speak, and they never listen to anybody. He has everything. How is such a man to be tolerated, I ask you? So it's my duty, our duty, to see him humbled a bit, don't you? All for the sake of restoring fairness and balance. Needs must, as you say."

Lady Ann allowed Henry to draw her to him once more. She uttered a little sighed when he kissed the hollow of her neck, then drew in her breath when he pushed up into her.

"Quite so," she thought as she clung to Henry's shoulders to meet his urgent thrusts. "Lord Davenport had indeed been blessed with abundance in every conceivable way."