Free Taffeta & Hotspur by Claudy Conn Page A

away from her friend. She used flirtatious
banter to accomplish this and saw her aunt heartily disapproved.
Later, she would have to tell her aunt she was simply running
interference because Catherine did not like Bruton.
    Sighing heavily when she had a free
moment from all these maneuvers, she realized what was most
discombobulating was the fact she missed Tarrant the moment he
walked out of the room. It was absurd. She wasn’t even sure she
liked him—how could she miss him?
     
    ~*~
     
    Taffy knew all about Vauxhall Gardens.
It was a deliciously opulent place where those who wanted could
hide in the darkness and steal a kiss and more—so much
more.
    Weeping willows hung with a welcoming
and sensual invitation, affording lovers their secrets from the
curious. Tulips and daffodils were arranged in a wild bold
profusion of colors and were deliciously inviting to the
eye.
    Rogues, ladies, the elite, and the
lowly strutted in their own style, as the Gardens were open to all.
Youths laughed, dowagers clucked, and nearly everyone there felt at
least a moment’s thrill.
    It was the beginning of the Season,
and Vauxhall was ablaze with torches and the newly installed gas
lamps. Music filled the air. Jugglers and jesters paraded in
mischievous abandon. Roués ogled, and Lady Taffeta drank it all in
with innocent wonder.
    “ Cathy, are you as astounded
as I?”
    Her friend laughed and shook her head,
“It is all a bit much for me, although I was surprised by Vauxhall
the first time I was here last year.”
    “ It is all so full of wonder
and yet oddly appalling at the same time.”
    Catherine sighed, and then as though
confessing a sin said, “I think I wasn’t made for all this gadding
about.”
    Taffeta laughed, “Isn’t it absurd,
Cath? I swore I would hate London … and here I am enjoying every
minute, and you always swore London was just the place for you …
and have discovered that it is not.”
    At that moment their attention was
captured by a jester atop the circular wall that framed an ornate
fountain. He lost his balance and tumbled into the water, throwing
the Taffy and her friend into uninhibited mirth. When they had
eased up on their laughter, Taffeta touched her friend’s arm and
said, “There … that is better, you are smiling. Now, tell me before
anyone comes to interrupt us, What is wrong, Cathy? For something
is, and why are you frightened of Bruton?”
    “ Taffy … I … we … this is
not the place … oh look, there is Lord Tarrant!”
    Taffy turned and saw him, and for a
brief moment, she was filled with a sensation she could not name,
and then she saw an astoundingly pretty woman leaning into him and
nibbling with wantonness at his ear.
    Taffy felt a flood of emotion and
immediately recognized it as jealousy. Jealousy? she silently asked
herself. Impossible.
    “ Who is that beautiful woman
with him?”
    “ Oh, that is the famous Mrs.
Connors.”
    “ Mrs. you say?” asked Taffy
surprised. “But … she is hanging onto Tarrant as though he is the
only man in the world—and Cath, she has her hand on his
backside!”
    “ She does that and so much
more, I am told, with every handsome nobleman she can find.” Cathy
leaned in and added, disapproval coloring her tone, “She is the
biggest flirt—well, I suppose she does more than flirt, in all of
London. You see, hers was a marriage of convenience, and they don’t
bother with each other. She wanted his fortune; he wanted to be
plush with the aristocracy. He is a mill owner, a very wealthy
one.”
    Taffy sighed. “When I marry, I will
marry for love…”
    “ I have found that a more
difficult thing to achieve than we assumed when we were in school,
Taffy … so much more difficult.”
    Taffy frowned but could not pursue it
as Seth called out as he approached, “Taffy, only look who I have
found here!” He had the husky and amiable James Fenmore in tow.
“I’ve invited him to join us in our box … which we had better get
to right now