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afford the expense?
    The first immediate problem to resolve was
how to deal with their patrons. After all, Lucy possessed no legal
standing. All legal standing rested with her brother upstairs in
his bed, incapacitated. So where did that leave them? Lucien wasn't
apt to tend to his business any time soon. While some of the
merchant class might work with her, the ton most assuredly would
not. And the ton constituted a majority of their business.
    Lucy needed someone to help her device a
plan. There was only one person she could trust and that was her
dearest friend, Lady Monique. Sitting at the ornate oak desk which
had belonged to her father, and now Lucien, she removed a crisp
sheet of foolscap. Lucy flipped the lid of the inkpot open and
dipped the nib of the quill into the ink. She paused in
concentration, and began to write.
     
    Dearest Lady Monique,
    I hope my letter finds you hale and hearty. I
do not know what you may have heard about my recent circumstances,
but I have a great need for your wise counsel. While I know this is
not much notice and Season has gotten under way, if your social
calendar would permit, I would benefit from your company.
    If you are able to visit me post haste, I
will instruct my servant to wait upon you and bring you here. If
not, please send word as to when I might expect you. Besides, it
has been far too long.
    Always yours,
    Lucille Goodwin
     
    Lucy read the letter to herself and decided
it was satisfactory. She blotted the paper carefully and waved the
letter in the air. She folded the letter and removed her personal
seal from the desk. Lighting a candle, she melted the wax, poured
the wax over the folds in the letter and imprinted it with her
seal. She would send the letter with Cedric today in the hopes
Monique would be able to leave without delay and be here tomorrow
evening.
    Lucy walked from the salon and into the large
entrance hall. She climbed the main staircase taking one stair at a
time. Reaching the last step, she exhaled. Like a sleepwalker, she
drifted down the wide hallway and entered Lucien's room. Alistair
hunched over Lucien and sponged his forehead.
    "How is he?"
    "The same. Though this morning he's been a
little more restless. He's been speaking some, but it's mostly
gibberish."
    Lucy sat on the edge of the bed and stroked
Lucien's hair. "You'll be fine," she said, more for herself than
for him.
    "Soon you'll be riding again and I'll be
picking out our horses, just like always."
    Eyes soft, Lucy recalled when their mother
passed away. Their father had been engulfed in grief. He had been
overwhelmed in trying to accept the loss of his wife and the
demands of his growing horse breeding business. Their father had
been unable to cope well with the additional needs of two young
children.
    She and Lucien had in many ways been left to
fend for themselves. They were alone, not so much in a physical
sense, but in an emotional sense. They too had been overwhelmed
with grief over the loss of their mother. She and Lucien had clung
to each other during that time and comforted one another. There was
no one else to turn to, only each other. Now Lucien lay helpless in
bed.
    Lucy would care for Lucien and nurse him back
to health. She had to do the same for his business. The breeding
business was her brother's inheritance from their father. Lucy
wasn't going to let anything happen to Lucien, or to her father's
legacy. Moreover, the business was their sole source of income and
what stood between them and ruin. And me becoming the plaything
of that repulsive man. Lucy needed a plan . Dear heavens, I
hope Monique will be able to free herself.
     
     
****
     
     
    Monique had swept into the house the night
before like a burst of summer breeze. For the first time in days,
Lucy laughed and enjoyed herself with carefree abandon. They
chatted and caught up on recent gossip. Monique's brother would
send a coach for her on Sunday to take her back to Town.
    Both women avoided the topic which