Candice Hern (26 page)

Authors: Once a Dreamer

BOOK: Candice Hern

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Eleanor dashed to the drawing room door, flung it open, and ran smack against a familiar and very dear chest, covered with bunches and bunches of lilac. “Simon!”

“Hold on, my dear, or you’ll crush my fine floral tribute.”

But she didn’t care. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her head against his shoulder. His arms came up to enfold her, and lilac cuttings spilled all about their feet.

“Simon.” It was all she could manage to say before his mouth covered hers and took her in a powerful, passionate, hungry kiss.

Sometime later, after the lilac had been gathered up off the floor and arranged in a vase, and one tiny spray tucked in her bodice; after tears had been spent over regrets and joys; after apologies had been offered and accepted; after kisses had been bestowed one upon another and another; after pledges had been made and declarations of love repeated; after questions of the future had been asked and answered; after a miniature portrait profile had been requested and presented; Eleanor sat on the settee nestled in Simon’s arms.

“Do you still think I’m a romantic fool?” he said.

“Who else would go to such lengths to find an armload of lilacs at the very end of its season?”

“A fool?”

“A romantic.”

“Do you think it’s possible that a realist could ever learn to live with a romantic?”

“It’s possible. If he were to write a sonnet to her emerald eyes.”

His face fell and she wondered what she had said to cause such distress. “What is it, Simon?”

“I’m afraid I do not have a sonnet to your eyes.”

“Oh, my love, it doesn’t matter.”

“But I do have an ode to your upper lip.”

She gave a gurgle of laughter. “My upper lip?”

“Shall I read it to you?” He reached in his pocket and pulled out several pages of parchment.

Eleanor eyed the endless stanzas with skepticism, and a twinge of horror. “Later, if you please. I’d rather explore
your
lips at the moment.” And she reached up and kissed him.

He took her face in his hands and said, “I love you, my Lilac Queen.”

“And I love you, my knight in shining armor.”

He laughed and drew her into another kiss, succulent and soft, and full of promise for the future.

Author’s Note

T
he magazine for which Simon writes,
The Ladies’ Fashionable Cabinet
, is a fictional publication. However, its rival and political adversary, the
Lady’s Monthly Museum
, was very real.

The
Museum
was a fashionable magazine that began publication in 1798 and continued until 1832. Between its covers each month were essays, serialized fiction, poetry, book reviews, and fashion plates. The full title was
Lady’s Monthly Museum; or Polite Repository of Amusement and Instruction Being an Assemblage of Whatever Can Tend to Please the Fancy, Interest the Mind, or Exalt the Character of the British Fair, by a Society of Ladies.

That Society of Ladies, however, was indeed a group of men, and only very occasionally a woman. Just as in this story, they were political reactionaries attempting to combat liberal Republican
ideas through subtle manipulation of their readers. The politics of early feminists like Mary Wollstonecraft were anathema to the
LMM
. The specific anti-feminist articles mentioned in the story did actually appear in its pages, though truthfully some did not appear until slightly after the time of this book.

From the earliest issues of the
LMM
in 1798, there was a columnist called the Old Woman who offered social commentary and advice. In 1808, she was replaced by a new columnist called the Busy Body. It was a combination of these columnists that inspired the Busybody of this tale.

I shamelessly borrowed the pen name simply because I liked it. The flowery language of the Busybody’s letters and excerpts was also inspired by the writings in the
LMM
. And Simon’s poetry is just bad enough to have been appropriate for the “Apollonian Wreath,” the poetry section of the
LMM
.

Look for more adventures involving
The Ladies’ Fashionable Cabinet
in
Once a Gambler,
coming in Summer 2003.

About the Author

CANDICE HERN has always enjoyed escaping into the history and literature of Regency England. After years of re-reading the novels of Jane Austen and other women of the period, she by chance discovered the great Georgette Heyer—and all her contemporary stepchildren—and was instantly hooked.

Candice lives in San Francisco in a house cluttered with African violets, orchids, Regency-period antiques, and mountains of reference books. She loves to hear from readers, and may be contacted via email at
[email protected],
or the old-fashioned way at PO Box 31499, San Francisco, CA 94131. Visit her website at
www.candicehern.com.

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Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ONCE A DREAMER
. Copyright © 2003 by Candice Hern. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

ePub edition June 2007 ISBN 9780061751097

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