Beyond Rubies (Daughters of Sin Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

a fine pair you are, indeed, just as Mrs. Mobbs said,” she cried, circling the two of them as she cast her appraising eye over their feet, ankles and upwards. Kitty thought it was most odd, but was pleased that they seemed to give such satisfaction.
    “What a refreshingly healthy and buxom country lass you are,” she added, looking at Dorcas. “Not one of these pinch-faced London girls, sallow and stick-thin. Oh yes, you will do very well.” The feather in her bonnet waved back and forth as she swung her head around to appraise Kitty. “And what a beauty you are. Oh, my dear, do come and work for me. I can offer you twice as much as Mr. Lazarus. Truly, I can.”
    Startled, Kitty looked from Mrs. Montgomery to Mrs. Mobbs, who grinned her uneven smile and said, “Now there’s an offer yer can’t refuse. My, but Mr. Lazarus will be put out, but a girl’s got ter think o’ ’erself. And money talks, indeed it does.”
    “But...I want to be an actress,” said Kitty, confused by the turn of conversation. “Not a servant.”
    “My dear girl, I offer ever so many opportunities for girls of bearing and beauty like you. If you come along with Dorcas and me, we can discuss all the possibilities. I can have a contract drawn up, and before you know it, you’ll be living the high life. Mrs. Mobbs can come after me with her frying pan if I’m lying.”
    They all laughed at her little joke, which cut the tension, though before anyone had a chance to respond, a loud booming voice cut the air and the curtain to the parlor was thrust aside and the doorway filled with the colorful figure of Mr. Lazarus.
    He stood in the center of the room with his hands in his waistcoat pockets, assessing the scene. “Trying to steal my star actress, are you, Mollie Montgomery?” he demanded. “Looks like I got here just in time. You’re never up before midafternoon, with the hours you keep, but you heard whispers about what was in the offing, didn’t you then? Now, Miss Hazlett, allow me to welcome you to London.” Beaming, he executed a flourishing bow before fastidiously patting his garishly-colored cravat. “Ain’t you just blooming? Why, I have thought of nothing else than casting you for the role of Juliet in my next play since you introduced yourself to me. Wondrous day it was indeed when you stepped into my humble abode to offer your services. Of course, I will require that you audition properly, so as not to offend any of my fine potential leading ladies who toil with such assiduity to their craft. Can’t set the cat among the pigeons for showing favoritism so early in the piece, though to be sure I’ve not laid eyes on such a rare prize specimen as yourself, and to that Mrs. Montgomery will surely attest, else she’d not have dragged her wondrous form from her bed so early in the morning. Now, do you have your things? That is your bag, yes? Allow me to play your knight errant, and we shall quit these lodgings to find you a place worthy of so astonishingly lovely a creature as yourself. Pray take my arm, so I might convey you to a future more dazzling than any of which you ever could have dreamed.”

Chapter Three
    I t was all really too marvelous. The theater was a bustling hive of activity, heavy with the smell of paint and turpentine and filled, it seemed, with scurrying women in various stages of undress. Kitty was at first shocked to see chemises and petticoats on full display, and sometimes even a bare ankle with one woman being so bold as to reveal her knees in clear sight of Mr. Lazarus as she rested her foot on a stage lamp to adjust her garter. The sly look she sent the stage director didn’t escape Kitty, and when he chuckled and told her in quite a conspicuous tone that some of his girls would resort to anything to get the lead role, the fiery young redhead flounced off stage and behind the curtain.
    It was clear that Kitty was a figure of great interest. A number of women had been lined up since early morning