Carla Kelly
Historical Romance
Published in 2013 (originally 1993)
H/h - Henry Tewksbury-Hampton, Marquess of Grayson/Katherine Billings
Setting: Regency.
Read in July, 2017
My rating:
[spoiler alert]
Miss Billings Treads the Boards,
a clean regency romance, is another one of Carla Kelly’s single novels
where I went in blindly. I liked it for the most part because there were
some really witty dialogues throughout. However, it won’t be my
favorite. Somewhere along the way, the story fell short of being
amazing, which I thought it could’ve been.
In the beginning,
we’re introduced to a Marquess, who is also a war veteran. Henry
Tweksbury-Hampton, the Marquess of Grayson is filthy rich and lives the
life of a laze about peer. Over the 7yrs since he’d been off the army
and took his “role” of a peer seriously, Henry’s gone mellow. Even with a
tall physique, these days his paunch shows. A thinning head of hair
does his looks no good either. So, all in all, even though he’s one of
the most sought after bachelors because of his title and wealth, Henry
knows his shortcomings. He had a vague feeling that no one wanted him
for himself but for what he can offer to them. The feeling though, has
grown tenfold since he’s been taking care of his sister’s family too,
and made his only nephew Algernon his heir. Algernon, who goes by as
Algie, is really something of the sort. He’s a super-dandy, spendthrift
and completely empty in the brain-box. To say that Henry worried over
the future of his title is a gross understatement. But when, to allay
that niggling suspicion, Henry ends up asking Algernon if he likes his
uncle, things began going downhill. How exactly? Let’s see if I can
elaborate in the following...
That Algie would reply like an
idiot wasn’t a surprise. After all, he was an idiot. Even then, his
reply saddened and irritated Henry to such an extent that he thought
it’s time to take matters in hand. Obviously, Algie was brutally honest;
the sole reason for his liking is because Henry pays his quarterly
allowances in time. -_- So Henry simply cuts Algie off without a
question. Then, after a few hours with his solicitor and making new
arrangements, he decides he’s going to go away from London for a few
days. Henry will spend a few weeks of peace at Pinky D’Urst’s estate.
Even while thinking that, Henry knew he won’t have any peace there
either. Pinky had a sister, who was, uh, too plain to entice Henry.
She’s a spinster to boots, of an advanced year! So Henry hated the fact
that they all, including Florence herself, expected him to marry her, an
incident would never take place even if it meant Henry will be without
an heir. But Henry needed a break from his bothersome and ungrateful
relatives, so he simply runs away.
Along the way though, Henry’s
straightforward plan is road-killed, quite literally. His dumb valet,
who’d just lost his job and Algie, who doesn’t need any form of
introduction, muck up a stupid plan of their own when they accost and
shoot Henry. Well, don’t ask me to elaborate anymore cause the plan
itself was so harebrained, I wasn’t sure what to think so I rolled my
eyes and read on to know what happened next...
While Henry was
being plagued by his dumb relatives and servants, the beautiful daughter
of an eccentric village vicar, who loved studying Italian paintings,
Katherine Billings was on her way to her own destiny, blank and
unreadable as it was. Katherine’s father, who had a tidy fortune, lost
it all by pursuing one painting or the other, only to turn out fake
later. He passed away a couple of months ago, leaving last remaining
gift to her, also a painting. Katherine is pretty sure it’s junk too.
Only because it was literally the last thing he gave to her is why she
couldn’t throw it away. When everything else was sold to pay off the
debt, Katherine was bound to become a governess to a home far away from
London. She didn’t like it at all but Katherine knew it’s her lot now
and she should better get used to with it.
On the way though, her
straightforward plan gets bungled when the coach dumps her in the wrong
place, where she finds herself acquainted with one Gerald Broussard, a
Frenchman who apparently came to fetch her. From there, fate took over
and turned Katherine’s life upside down. She had heard rumors that the
squire, whose children’s governess she was going to be, is a total
lecher. Katherine was dreading her journey there. She didn’t know Gerald
but thought he worked for the squire. His introduction of himself and
where they were going...well, let’s just say was not well worded since
his English wasn’t all that polished, and Katherine thought the worst!
She slapped the daylights out of Gerald and asks to be returned to the
inn where she was supposed to be waiting.
Thankfully, the
misunderstanding is resolved soon when Gerald explains further. He works
for a traveling theater. Though the squire and the owner of the troupe
share the same name, they definitely aren’t the same person. And that
she’s at the wrong place, her destination being quite far away from
here. Though Gerald offers to drive her to her destination, Katherine
decides she doesn’t want to. The theater is performing one of the Bard’s
plays, and they’re now missing an actress, whom Gerald went to pick up
and mixed up with Katherine. But she loved Shakespeare and so it happens
that the big and loud theater manager gives Katherine the role for the
day. Yes, she thought it’d be for the day. She can journey towards her
destination come morning and pray that she still has a job. But for
today, she’s gonna have some fun.
The play in question went well,
Katherine tackling it somehow because 1. She had ample knowledge of the
Bard’s plays and 2. Her role was a small one. But when she discovers a
man, all bloodied, inside the troupe’s wagon, things again take an oddly
hilarious turn. The man, thankfully alive, couldn’t tell who he was for
a while since he was groggy from his injuries. Soon we learn that
Henry, who was injured but not too badly, somehow made his way here and
passed out. And his first eyeful was Katherine’s bountiful bosom—despite
her extreme embarrassment, she dressed like a lascivious woman because
her part called for it—which Henry appreciated more than anything else
in the world. Then he saw Katherine and the deed was done. Henry was in
love for the first time in his life, though no idea if it was
Katherine’s beauty or her bosom. :/
Henry, who was quite liking
being with the traveling troupe, decides that he’s going as Hal Hampton
from now on until he feels like becoming Henry Tewksbury-Hampton, 5th
Earl of Grayson. The people there knew he was a peer or the realm but he
gave them the notion that his greedy nephew is trying to kill him for
money and the whole troupe came to his rescue, eagerly hiding his
identity from the outside world, even a runner who comes in search of
him later. Henry was also enjoying Katherine’s undivided attention for
she felt very responsible because, after finding him there she was so
scared silly she had, uh, bonked him on the head with something that
rendered him unconscious for the second time. With everything going
good, Henry decides to stay with them for a time and see what fun they
offer to his miserably lonely life.
However, though his journey
with the traveling theater started out as a joke of sort, Henry soon
finds that life with these so-called lowly actors AKA common people is a
life he enjoys very much. We don’t get much background of his life in
the army apart from the fact that he was quite a randy young man (then
again, that’s not really news *eyeroll*). I wished I knew more so I
could compare him with this older Henry. This older Henry is mellowed
down and he wanted to find true love. Or at least someone who genuinely
liked him for who he was. At this point, it seemed like Katherine
Billings was that person. For a moment, he was about
to tell Katherine he knew her cause they share the same solicitor and
he’s got good news about that painting she thinks is junk, but he
doesn’t find the time to tell her until later.
Katherine takes
the news with much excitement, for the money she’s getting she’ll be
able to buy that little house she’d been dreaming of. At least now she
has no fear of a blank future. But things change for her when the owner
of the traveling troupe, Malcolm Bladesworth loses a lot of money on a
property he’s been eying for a while. Their whole future was tied to
that old theater they were planning on refurbishing, then opening as
their own. All the money they made in the past years, he, his wife Ivy,
their daughters Phoebe and Maria, and only son David, even Gerald who
has been with them for a long time since his childhood, lost... gone,
all thanks to the a$$hole Malcolm thought was his friend. Who was
supposed to have been taking care of their finance while they tour. Such
sad, and utterly gut-wrenching news, casts heavy shadow on the
otherwise boisterous group. The hired actors leave the moment they hear
the news that the Bladesworths are literally broke. Lonely Katherine has
come to think of the Bladesworths as her family because they’d been so
kind to her, giving her a home and a job. How could she enjoy the dreams
of an exciting future, when the Bladesworths will be thrown into
streets soon, maybe in the poorhouse if no one does anything about it?
She’s got the money! No, the kind Katherine can never enjoy the bounty,
it was just too much.
Henry though, couldn’t help because he was
in hiding and any query about money would make the point moot. But
Katherine beats him to it anyway by buying the old, dirty theater on her
own, then making Malcolm the manager of it. Now they have a new
venture, a new challenge to go through. Now Katherine’s own future is
also tied to this place for she hadn’t had much left after paying for
that place. Her worry begins anew, because, once again, she’s starting
out. Everything now depends on the success of this theater.
The
rest of the story goes to show you how a band of most unlikely people
can come together, work hard and make a stupendous success out of
something from practically nothing. Katherine and the Bladesworths, even
Henry, work hard to make the theater a success with a play written by
Gerald. Katherine thought he had the potentials and he doesn’t
disappoint. But can’t say the same for Henry and Katherine’s
relationship, which wasn’t going that well. They were already acting as
husband and wife to hide from Bow Street Runner, Will, who later becomes
an important part of the theater and Katherine’s unwavering champion.
Despite their intimacy, showy for Will’s convenience or real, Katherine
was ever in doubt of Henry’s feelings towards her, her new station in
life as a theater owner, not to mention, her family (the Bladesworths).
And I couldn’t blame her. To be brutally honest, I was never that fond
of Henry because of his snotty behavior. His thoughts about Florence
were extremely demeaning and I kinda lost my respect for him there. I
was sure it was Katherine’s beauty he was attracted to for a long time.
Though his feelings for her grew later, and he did help out around the
theater, Henry was not my ideal hero material in any way. I liked
Katherine quite a bit for she does work really, really hard to make the
theater a success.
Other than that, the story was entertaining
and I enjoyed reading about the secondary characters, the Bladesworths,
for they were a really loud and a little crazy, bunch of people. People
you’d like to know better. :D 3.5 stars but I rounded up on 4.
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