Philippa’s cheeks flushed with heat. She sent her mortified gaze anywhere but in Tommy’s direction. My, what a lovely ceiling. Yes, Philippa was fascinated by white ceilings. Flat. Boring. Nonsexual.
“Is there a question?” Tommy asked.
“I wondered if you bound your breasts,” Philippa blurted out. “I see you do not.”
Heaven help her. Had she really just admitted—
“I’ve bound them in the past,” Tommy said, as though inquiring about her breasts was perfectly acceptable. “I’m fortunate such a step is rarely necessary. Someone with slightly larger breasts would definitely have to bind theirs. And someone as blessed as you would have no hope of hiding her beautiful curves.”
Oh God. Now they were talking aboutPhilippa’sbreasts?
“Tell me about your disguise,” she said in a rush. “Today’s costume. What is the plan?”
Tommy’s heated brown eyes trapped hers for a moment before she turned for a basket of supplies. She set it atop her dressing table and settled into her chair.
“We begin with skin tone.” She pulled out little jars and sponges. “One must achieve the correct base color before adding any flourishes.”
Philippa nodded as though she had any idea what to do with cosmetics.
She watched in fascination as Tommy covered her face and neck in a color almost the same as her own, but slightly more sallow, less vibrant.
“I am in awe of you.” The words were out of Philippa’s mouth before she could stop them. “I have spent the past twenty yearsreadingabout intrepid heroes, but you and your family actually go out andbethem.”
Tommy’s sponge paused at her throat. “You learned to read when you were three?”
“And that’s all I’ve done,” said Philippa. “Until now. Today I’m going to be part of the story. It’s exhilarating.”
“When I was three, I did not learn to read,” Tommy said. “I learned when to be small and silent, and when to be loud or run fast. But we are perhaps not as different as you think. My family and I execute complex plans to help others. You’ve dedicated your adulthood to charity work. You do Wynchestery things with your purse and your pen.”
“I’m glad of any part I can play,” Philippa said. “But sewing blankets and writing letters is not exactly swashbuckling adventure. My home is still and quiet until I want to scream. I am almost always alone, except for Thursday afternoons with my reading circle. Your house, on the other hand, is—”
“Chaotic?”
“Delightful,” she said firmly. “Exciting. A constant joy. I am at once jealous and deeply appreciative that you’re including me today. I treasure all moments spent in the company of a Wynchester.”
She really meant,I cherish all time spent withyou, Tommy, but dared not say so. Such confessions could not alter one’s destiny.
“Your family is so capable and fearless,” she said instead.
“Do you think so?” Tommy added a faint shadow along her jaw. Not the brown of Baron Vanderbean’s, but a mottled gray. “Iam not.”
“You?” Philippa said in disbelief. “You are changing into an entirely new person before my eyes in preparation to steal an illuminated manuscript from a so-called gentlemen’s club.”
“Costumes are easy to hide behind,” Tommy answered. “They can mask anything. Age, sex, class, fear. No one sees anxiety when it is concealed behind layers of cosmetics and a distractingly flamboyant frock coat.”
Philippa stared at her. “You’re always so confident.”
“Always?” Tommy cleaned her sponge. “What about the year I spent admiring you from afar because I could not work up the courage to speak to you directly and face rejection?”
“You admired me…for a year?”
Philippa thought back. Great-Aunt Wynchester had first appeared at the reading circle the prior autumn. Ithadbeen a year. Tommy would have had plenty of time to learn more about Philippa. Time in which she failed to introduce herself…or have any meaningful conversation at all. Out of bashfulness?
“Or what about that night at Faircliffe’s end-of-season gala?” Tommy continued wryly. “I managed to plant myself directly in front of you, close enough to touch, and then my face combusted with embarrassment and I ran off in mortification.”
“That wasyou?” Philippa let out a startled laugh. “That was the most interesting thing that happened to me all evening. Possibly all season.”
Tommy slanted her a look. “More interesting than being courted by and subsequently rejecting the suit of an eligible duke?”
