Free To Seduce a Bride by Nicole Jordan Page A

the instant they opened their mouths.”
    â€œYes,” Chantel chimed in. “Wit and charm are important, but proper diction and accent are crucial. Those and deportment are the biggest handicaps preventing them from acquiring wealthier protectors.” Breaking off, Chantel suddenly stared at Lily as well. “
Could
you teach our girls, dear?”
    Lily found herself frowning as she considered the question. The idea of helping young women sell themselves to rich men unsettled her more than a little, yet she didn’t want to refuse outright. “Perhaps. It should not be much different from the academy my sisters and I started three years ago. We teach girls from the merchant classes how to become more refined and ladylike, so they can hold their own in genteel society.”
    â€œIt might solve all our problems,” Fleur admitted with enthusiasm.
    â€œIs there some other way for them to help you repay the debt?” Lily hedged.
    â€œNot such an enormous sum.”
    Lily couldn’t dispute her. Respectable jobs as servants earned perhaps ten pounds per annum. Even the most elite positions open to women—housekeepers of large estates, governess to wealthy families—rarely paid more than fifty pounds.
    â€œThere is always my settlement,” Lily suggested. When all three women looked blankly at her, she expounded. “The funds Lord Danvers settled upon me at my emancipation from his guardianship. It amounts to twenty thousand pounds, Fanny. You are welcome to have it.”
    Giving a little gasp, Chantel clapped her hands together in delight. “I knew you were a right ’un, Lily darling.”
    But Fanny frowned. “I could never take your money, Lily.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œBecause you have plans for those funds. In any case, your fortune isn’t enough to satisfy the entire debt. We would still owe Mick an enormous sum, and you would be destitute again.”
    â€œI suspect Roslyn would gladly share her portion.”
    â€œPerhaps, but I have no intention of asking her. You both were virtually penniless three years ago, but now you are finally able to afford an independent life of your own. I won’t spoil that under any circumstances.”
    It was Lily’s turn to frown. “Fanny, if you think I will let you enslave yourself to a man you don’t even like simply so I can spend a fortune I never expected on jaunting all over the globe, you have gone completely daft. What kind of friend would I be?”
    â€œYou know you have always wanted to travel.”
    â€œSo I have, but the circumstances have changed. You need the funds far more than I do.”
    Fanny smiled faintly. “Thank you, dearest. I will consider accepting if the situation becomes truly dire, but not until then. Seriously, Lily, I believe Fleur’s idea of helping our boarders to acquire wealthy patrons would serve far better. Raising their station holds such tremendous advantages for those girls, I’m certain they will agree to help us pay off the debt in exchange for the exceptional training we can provide. So what do you say? Could you teach them to speak and behave with more gentility?”
    Lily pursed her lips in thought. Manners and deportment were certainly
not
her forte. She was far more at home coaching the Academy’s pupils in sporting activities such as riding and archery, and physical skills such as dancing. But she could manage if the girls were willing to learn.
    â€œWill your boarders be willing to apply themselves?” she asked.
    â€œI have no doubt they will.”
    Her reticence must have continued to show, however, for Fanny murmured, “It is asking a great deal of you, I know. You needn’t help if you are uncomfortable, Lily.”
    â€œNo, of course I want to help,” she said quickly, trying to control her squeamishness at participating so directly in the courtesan trade. “It is just that I wonder whether