His Parisian Mistress (Scandalous Family--The Victorians Book 1) Read online

  Special Offer

  Learn the origins of the Great Family!

  The Great Family was not always a great family.

  In October 1843, Anna & Rhys, Natasha & Seth, Elisa & Vaughn all face problems, their hearts heavy with the challenges of life.

  This is the origins story of the Scandalous Scions series—the first great family gathering, where traditions that will last a generation are born and Anna & Rhys, Natasha & Seth, Elisa & Vaughn meld into a single, united family.

  Find out how the couples of Scandalous Sirens learn that together, they are stronger.

  This novelette has not been commercially released for sale. It is only available as a gift to readers of the series, who subscribe to Tracy’s Newsletter.

  Click here to get your copy.

  http://tracycooperposey.com/free-copy-of-lost-at-sea/

  Table of Contents

  Special Offer

  About His Parisian Mistress

  Praise for the previous Scandalous series

  His Parisian Mistress Title Page

  The Great Families

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  About the Author

  Other books by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  Copyright Information

  About His Parisian Mistress

  The family faces financial disaster, social ruin and much more…

  When Richard Devlin’s older brother, Vaughn, is imprisoned for fraud, the consequences tear apart the Great Family, bringing ruin and more. Richard’s future is also destroyed. Penniless and angry, he wanders Europe, until he finds himself in a Paris café watching a pretty singer…

  Ève Martel Davies, posing as a café singer called Evelyn, barely recognizes her second cousin. Ève’s family take Richard in, but Ève knows Richard needs more than a warm bed and new clothes. She devises a way for Richard to assist her with her work for the Sûreté, which she suspects will help Richard find himself again. The scheme involves Ève posing as Richard’s mistress, but the truth is very different…

  This book is part of the Scandalous Family—The Victorians. This is the second spin-off series to feature a new generation of the Great Family, who are now scattering across Europe and beyond in search of adventure…and love.

  This story is part of the Scandalous Family—The Victorians series:

  1.0 His Parisian Mistress

  2.0 Her Rebellious Prince

  …and more to come!

  A Sexy Victorian Era Historical Romance

  Praise for the previous

  Scandalous series

  If you haven't started this series, start right now and you will fall in love with this very unconventional family during a time when rules, etiquette and unwritten rules had to be followed or the lack of them would bring scandal and ruin to an entire family.

  I love these books. Tracy creates these characters so well and with such care. I really recommend reading this series.

  I am overwhelmed by how much I have enjoyed this series so far. It was not superficial fluff as I thought it might be when I began. Cooper-Posey books have touched on so many universal themes.

  Her characters are admirable people who love their family and are capable of deep romantic love as well.

  I just love this series and the books just keep getting better and better. This series takes us on a romp through historical times, which I love.

  If you haven't read this magnificent series you must do so now; you will love each story, be moved by each of them, fall in love with the heroines and heroes, you will cheer for them and just as loudly boo the villains.

  Love this series and have bought them all.

  This entire series is filled with so much love for each other and family, that there is no way you cannot be emotionally drawn into each story.

  The Great Families

  Elisa and Vaughn Wardell

  Marquess of Farleigh, Viscount Rothmere

  1825 Raymond, Viscount Marblethorpe (stepson) + Natasha Williams

  1839 William Vaughn Wardell

  1839 John (Jack) Gladwin Lochlann Mayes (fostered in 1846)

  1842 Sarah Louise Wardell (D)

  1843 Peter Lovell Wardell (January)

  1844 Gwendolyn (Jenny) Violet Moore Wardell (adopted in 1848)

  1844 Patricia Sharla Victoria Mayes (fostered in 1846)

  1849 Blanche Brigitte Colombe Bonnay (adopted in 1851)

  1853 Emma Jane Wardell (adopted at birth)

  Natasha and Seth Williams

  Earl of Innesford, Baron Harrow (Ire.)

  1839 Lillian Mary Harrow

  1840 Richard Cian Seth Williams

  1841 Neil Vaughn Williams

  1843 Daniel Rhys Williams (February)

  1846 Bridget Bronte Williams & Mairin May Williams

  1849 Annalies Grace Williams

  Annalies and Rhys Davies

  Princess Annalies Benedickta of Saxe-Weiden, of the royal house Saxe-Coburg-Weiden, Formerly of the Principality of Saxe-Weiden.

  1835 Benjamin Hedley Davies (adopted in 1845)

  1842 Iefan William Davies

  1843 Morgan Harrow Davies (October)

  1843 Sadie Hedley Davies (adopted in 1845)

  1846 Bronwen Natasha Davies

  1848 Alice Thomasina Davies (adopted at birth)

  1849 Catrin Elise Davies

  ~ And their children ~

  Natasha and Raymond Devlin

  Viscount Marblethorpe

  1857 Vaughn Elis Devlin (Raymond’s heir)

  1861 Richard Seth Devlin

  Lilly and Jasper Thomsett

  1862 Seth Eckhard Thomsett (heir)

  1863 Elise Marie and Anne Louise Thomsett

  1864 George Jasper Thomsett (stillborn)

  1876 Jessica Louise Thomsett

  Sharla and Dane Balfour + Benjamin Hedley (Davies) + Stephen Spearing

  Duke of Wakefield

  1867 Jennifer Jane Balfour

  1867 Benjamin Dane Balfour (heir)

  1868 Alice Thomasina Balfour

  1871 John William Balfour

  1873 Patricia Sharla Balfour

  1875 Stephen Spearing Balfour

  Bronwen Natasha Davies and Archeduke Edvard Christoffer of Silkeborg

  1870 Christina Clara Elisa Bronwen

  1874 Edvard Erhard Jasper Nicholas

  John (Jack) Gladwin Lochlann Mayes and Gwendolyn (Jenny) Violet Moore Wardell-Ryder

  Baron Guestwick, heir to the Marquess of Laceby

  1864 Jackson Vaughn Ryder

  1866 Stuart Theodore Ryder

  1869 Phillip Dane Mayes

  William Vaughn Wardell & Bridget Bronte Williams

  Viscount Rothmere, heir to the Marquess of Fairleigh

  1869 Elizabeth Anne Wardell

  1871 Vaughn Raymond Wardell

  1873 Mairin Elisa Wardell

  Iefan William Davies & Mairin May Williams

  1863 Adam Martel Davies (Adopted in 1874)

  1864 Daniel Martel Davies (Adopted in 1874)

  1866 �
�ve Martel Davies (Adopted in 1874)

  1868 Alicia Martel Davies (Adopted in 1874)

  Richard Cian Seth Williams & Eleanore Elizabeth Neville

  1875 Cian Richard Williams

  1885 Mary Eleanore Williams

  Daniel Rhys Williams & Catrin Elise Davies

  1871 Alice Edwina Williams

  1873 Rhys Raymond Williams

  1876 Lisa Grace Williams

  Neil Vaughn Williams & Blanche Brigitte Colombe Bonnay

  1875 James Rene Williams & David Neil Williams

  1877 Brigitte May Williams

  Peter Lovell Wardell & Annalies Grace Williams

  1875 Delaney David Wardell

  1876 Graeme Peter Wardell

  Morgan Harrow Davies & Emma Jane Wardell (Williams)

  1875 James Rene & David Neil Williams

  1877 Brigitte May Williams

  1879 Sarah Louise Williams

  1881 Edward Neil Williams

  Rowen (River) Heart & Sadie Hedley Davies

  Duke of Caldwell

  1869 Rowan Seth Watson Heart

  1870 Alexandria Victoria Heart (Victoria’s)

  1872 Jennifer Elizabeth Heart (Victoria’s).

  1879 River Rhys Heart

  CHAPTER ONE

  The Great Family Gathering. Innesford Estate, Cornwall, Britain. October 1884.

  In the remaining minutes of pure happiness he had left, Richard bounded down the wide staircase and into the front hall of Innesford House. He peered through the big archways into the public rooms, looking for his older brother, Vaughn.

  The house was filled with laughter and chatter, for nearly one hundred people gathered in the house and out in the garden beyond the tall French doors. Richard adored the annual family gathers. He liked the hum of conversations and he enjoyed trying to speak to everyone at least once during the five days.

  The judgment of the ton was missing among these people, even though they were all members of London’s society and many of them peers of the highest standing. It made Vaughn’s decision to announce his engagement here at Innesford, among family, even more appropriate, in Richard’s mind.

  He peered into the dining room, which was being laid for dinner. Two large and long dining tables accommodated everyone, including the smallest child, who was only two years old. Children were not relegated upstairs at the gathers.

  One short end of one table butted against the long side of the other, making a T shape. In that way, more people could talk to each other, instead of half the room having its back to the other half.

  Tonight, at the top of the table, Richard’s mother and stepfather, Natasha and Raymond, would stand beside Vaughn and Laura. Raymond would formally announce the engagement of Vaughn Elis Devlin, heir to the Viscount Marblethorpe, to Lady Laura Jeffries, Baroness Gedling, the oldest child of the Duke of Warminster.

  Richard glanced into the smoking salon, where four of his cousins, all men, poured themselves drinks. Not a ribbon or piece of lace in sight. No Vaughn, either.

  He moved into the drawing room, with its two enormous fireplaces at either end, and the south wall made up of French doors which reached almost to the ceiling. The doors cast bright light into the room for most of the year.

  There were many more people lingering in the drawing room, around groups of chairs or standing at the sideboards. As it was the first day of the gather, family members were doing what Richard liked to do; speak to as many other people as possible, to learn what had transpired in their year just gone.

  He smiled at many of them when glances shifted toward him. Vaughn was not here, either. Vaughn and Laura drew the eye for they were a handsome couple. Both were tall and liked elegant clothes and details.

  Vaughn would be with Laura somewhere on the grounds. Richard moved across the width of the drawing room to one of the open French doors. The door let in the mild autumn air and a hint of salt from the waves which pounded the cliffs, only two hundred yards away.

  Toddlers and small children played on the old croquet court under the watchful gazes of nurses. They rolled the colorful balls with their hands and giggled when the balls knocked against each other and careened in different directions.

  Beyond the court was the mown and rolled grass area which Richard could remember being used as a cricket pitch when he was a child. Now, though, the grassed area was more frequently used as a football field. There were three or four of the round footballs lying on the grass. A single, forlorn cricket ball had rolled up against the stumps at the end of the cricket pitch.

  No one played either football or cricket right now. It was too soon after lunch.

  As Richard stood upon the broad steps beyond the French doors, looking for Vaughn, to his left came the clatter and scrape of plates and cutlery. The enormous pavilion where lunch was always served had been replaced twice in his lifetime. The brand-new canvas of this latest tent was striped in cheerful black-and-white, while the edges of the roof were crenelated, the small squares flapping in the mild sea breeze.

  The staff were clearing lunch. Dozens of people were hired for this single week. Even Travers had come out of retirement to help Thatcher, the new butler, manage the gather. Travers had nearly thirty years experience and Thatcher was not too proud to accept the advice and wisdom the old butler could provide.

  A flicker of dark green velvet caught Vaughn’s eye. Laura liked green. He peered past the end of the tent and spotted the train of a green velvet gown.

  Laura and Vaughn must be sitting on the white iron garden bench placed beside the entrance to the maze. It was out of the way, which would give the pair a moment of privacy, which would be hard to come by this week.

  Richard hesitated to interrupt. Just because he had not seen his brother for months was not a reason to intrude upon Vaughn’s private moment.

  Then Richard heard a soft laugh, low and musical. That was not Laura’s laugh, for Laura liked to throw her head back and give in to her amusement. The distinctive laugh was his mother’s.

  If Natasha was with the pair, that made a difference. Richard tugged his cuffs into place and touched his tie to make sure it was still suitably knotted, for his mother would adjust it for him if it was not. She still treated him like a twelve-year-old sometimes, even though he was twenty-three. Although, in most other respects, his mother was a guardian angel; neither cloying nor over-managing his life. When he asked for advice or help, both his parents would assist instantly and fully, without the harsh questions and demands of other parents of fellows he knew.

  Richard strode across the gravel and through the five-foot corridor created between the tent and the walls of Innesford, to the far corner of the house and the maze beyond.

  Both Natasha and Raymond were there with the new couple. The two ladies sat upon the bench, their parasols on their shoulders, while Raymond and Vaughn stood before them.

  Everyone turned and smiled at his arrival.

  Richard gripped Vaughn’s shoulder. “There you are! I’ve not had a chance to speak to you since you arrived.”

  “I’ve barely had a chance to not speak since I arrived.” Vaughn patted his back. “You look well, little brother. The country life agrees with you.”

  Richard rolled his eyes. “Hello, Mother.” He bent and kissed Natasha’s cheek, which was soft and showed fine lines, although it was without liver spots or deep wrinkles. Her hair in the last few years had grown almost completely silver, yet it was looped and pinned as gracefully as always, and her eyes sparkled.

  Natasha smiled up at him. “You missed lunch, Richard. Are you hungry? I’m sure Cian could ask Thatcher to get you something.”

  “I’m fine, Mother. I ate a sandwich on the train.”

  His father gave a soft sound. “I don’t know how you can eat the food they sell on the trains, these days. You don’t know who made them or what is in them.”

  “They write what is in them upon the paper they’re wrapped in, Father. Don’t be stuffy.” He shook Raymond’s hand. His
father and Vaughn might have been taken as twins, except that Raymond’s hair was more gray than black. In all other respects, though, Raymond enjoyed the same youthfulness as Richard’s mother did.

  Richard turned to the last of the four people. “Lady Laura. You look wonderful as usual.” He held out his hand.

  Laura laughed as she put her hand in his, for him to bow over. “You are a dreadful liar, Richard. I have a red nose. Even Cornwall is too cold for me after summer in Monaco.” She wore a fur hat and collar over her green velvet gown. “It is lovely to see you again,” she added.

  Richard grinned and glanced at Vaughn. “I still cannot believe you refused to spend the summer sur la plage.”

  “Too many directors did escape to the beach,” Vaughn replied, a small frown between his brows. “Someone had to watch the bank while they played in the sea. Four days here, before the family descended, constitutes my entire summer.”

  Raymond clapped his son on the shoulder. “Besides, you have a honeymoon to look forward to.”

  “Have you decided where you will go, yet?” Natasha asked Laura.

  “Vaughn has spoken of India,” Laura said. “I favor America, myself.”

  “India?” Richard said, surprised.

  “In the north, among the mountains,” Vaughn said. “It is picturesque, I’m told.”

  “And there is family history in northern India,” Raymond added.

  Richard frowned, running through his mother’s history and Raymond’s, too. “Oh,” he said. “You mean on the Darnell side.” He glanced at his mother, to ensure she was not upset at the mention of Raymond’s first wife’s family.

  Natasha merely looked interested. “It is Rose’s brother with the connection to India, isn’t it, Raymond?” she asked her husband.

  “Uriah, yes,” Vaughn said. “He spent his youth out there.”