Free Love's Justice (Entangled Scandalous) by Joan Avery

didn’t wish to explain. She addressed the duchess, “I must thank you for your kind invitation. It was most gracious of you to include me.”
    “Nonsense, my dear. Come here and sit by me.” She patted the sofa beside her. “It is a terrible situation you find yourself in. Edith and I were just saying how we admired your strength. Had I known all the facts I surely wouldn’t have invited Lord Stanford. He is a drunk and an idler. But he is family, you see.”
    “Yes, I understand. Don’t distress yourself. I am more than capable of attending to my own affairs.”
    “No doubt you are, my dear. No doubt you are.” The duchess turned her attention back to her daughter-in-law with a question about one of her grandchildren. It offered Victoria a chance to study the vivid room. It certainly earned its name.
    The walls were hung with crimson Spitalfields silk. They made a rich backdrop for the painting of the Stuart Royal family. The exquisite carpet and velvet chair coverings picked up the color, but it was the ceiling that made the room.
    “Isn’t it marvelous?” Emily whispered to her.
    “It’s incredible.”
    “Yes, it was done by Cipriani. There are over two hundred and thirty-nine of the medallions, each one different. Each one is incredibly beautiful.”
    “I see you are admiring the beautiful ceiling,” the duchess said to Victoria.
    “Yes, I have never seen anything quite like it.”
    “No, I imagine you haven’t, coming from America as you do. How do you find England? A bit stuffy, no doubt. A little too set in tradition and rules.”
    Victoria smiled. “A bit.”
    “There’s no need to mince words with me. I may be old, but I am not ignorant of the strictures that bind women in England.”
    “Things are different here. But it isn’t the only country that treats women as second-class citizens,” Victoria added without thinking.
    Emily took in a sudden breath.
    Victoria realized she may have once more overstepped the bounds of English society. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t intend to make anyone uncomfortable. It is my belief, nonetheless.”
    “There is no need to apologize, my dear Miss Westwood. We are, indeed, in a vulnerable position, made more so by our antiquated laws. In Lord Lyndhurst’s death, we lost a passionate advocate. Don’t despair, the Earl of Montgomery was well mentored by Lord Lyndhurst. Your future is not yet set.”
    Victoria was more than a little shocked. Lord Lyndhurst was a leader in overturning the laws that bound women to abysmal conditions in terms of property and divorce.
    “I don’t understand? Lord Montgomery knew Lord Lyndhurst?”
    “Knew him? Lord Lyndhurst took the young Lord Montgomery under his wing and tutored him for many years. Lord Montgomery’s intelligence and empathy made him an apt student. I can think of no better representative of the hope all women have that one day we will be given the rights we so desperately deserve.”
    Victoria was confused. The man the duchess described bore no resemblance to the man she had met. It only made her wonder more. She would not admit, even to herself, the hope this information gave her.
    Hope that had ramifications far beyond the courtroom.

Chapter Thirteen
    “The sun is out!” Lord Percy came bursting into the drawing room where the women sat in quiet conversation.
    “Henry, please.” Lady Edith’s reprimand did little to curb her husband’s enthusiasm.
    “Yes, but it’s been so gloomy out for so long, I hoped you ladies might like to take a stroll outside in the sun. It’s warmed up considerably. I’ve had them set up for archery on the front lawn. And Miss Westwood has yet to see Syon’s beautiful grounds properly. What do you say? Before the others arrive. I promised Father we’d go hunting this afternoon, so this may be your only chance.”
    Edith shook her head good-naturedly. “Well, what do you ladies think? Are you interested?”
    Emily answered enthusiastically, but Victoria was