Page 56 of Dare to be Wicked

“Good heavens,” she said, staring at Lottie. “Truly?”

“Truly,” Lottie said, grinning at her.

“Good heavens.”

Both of them were pink-cheeked and, when Eliza caught her sister’s eye, they burst out laughing. They laughed and laughed until they were clutching at their corsets and begging for mercy because everything hurt.

“Oh, my,” Lottie said, wiping her eyes. “Stop it. I shall do myself an injury if you set me off again.”

“Serves you right for lacing your corset too tightly,” Eliza observed, to which comment Lottie stuck out her tongue. Eliza replied in kind.

“Oh, Eliza, I have missed you.”

“And I you, Lottie,” Eliza said, reaching out and taking her hand. “Let’s never be so angry with each other again.”

They sat in happy silence for a moment until Lottie remembered their agreement.

“Now then,” she said, fixing Eliza with her most piercing gaze. “Tell me everything.”

“Oh,” Eliza said, suddenly looking awkward as she traced a finger over the pattern on the bedspread. “Well, there’s really not a great deal to tell, only… only….”

“Yes?” Lottie said, bouncing with impatience.

Eliza sighed and flung herself back onto the mattress. “Oh, Lottie, I’m such an idiot, but… but I think I’m infatuated with a man who despises me.”

Lottie gaped at her.

“Not really,” she said. “You can’t mean…?”

Eliza nodded sadly. “Yes, I can. I’m the worst ninny, but I cannot get him out of my mind, and then Papa went and forbade me to speak to either of them and—”

“Mr Demarteau,” Lottie said, wondering how on earth Eliza could fall in love with a man she not only barely knew, but who had been nothing but awful to her.

Eliza nodded. “And don’t ask me to explain, for I swear I cannot. I am not a foolish, fanciful creature. I have never dreamed of knights in shining armour, or a Prince Charming… which is just as well, for he’s none of those things.”

“No, he’s not. Indeed, I think he’s dreadfully intimidating.”

“I know!” Eliza wailed. “He’s wicked and dreadful, and every time I think of him I get the oddest sensation, low in my belly, and I go all hot and it’s hard to breathe.”

“Oh, dear,” Lottie said faintly, wondering how her sensible sister had got herself into such a pickle.

“Quite,” Eliza said.

They sat in silence as Lottie digested this.

“I’m not sure you ought to do anything about an infatuation of this kind,” she said, feeling dreadfully anxious on her sister’s behalf.

“Well, and what could I do anyway?” Eliza demanded with a huff. “It’s awkward and hopeless, especially now Papa is so furious with them both, and Louis César is supposed to be the respectable one! After that scene with Madame Lafitte, I shall be lucky to get within a mile of him, let alone his brother. Though perhaps that is for the best.”

“I think it really is, Eliza. You want to accomplish something with your life, remember? Think of all the plans you’d made, all those charitable organisations you wish to set up, not to mention the Chartist Movement. You had plans to marry a duke or a marquess so you had influence enough to get things done, and Mr Demarteau is barely tolerated in society. He’s illegitimate, and barely respectable. If he and his brother weren’t so handsome and intriguing, and Louis César wasn’t so charming, they’d never be received.”

“I know!” Eliza exclaimed, so irritated that Lottie knew she had considered this herself.

“Well,” she said soothingly. “You are unlikely to see him again for some time. Perhaps it was just an eccentric episode. Like the summer Fred wouldn’t eat anything red. The feeling might have worn off by the next time you see him.”

Eliza cast her a doubtful glance. “Perhaps.”

They both looked up at the sound of a knock on the door. Their mother strode in.