Page 48 of Love and the Shameless Lady

Which was lovely to hear, again, but disconcerting. She wasn’t begging for compliments.

“Come choose a gown,” Melinda said.

A maid had already unpacked the gowns Daisy was most likely to wear for a family dinner, which meant they were not expecting guests, a huge relief. She selected a comfortable morning gown. “Are you acquainted with Lady Bilchester and her daughter, Diana?”

“Hold your arms up.” Melinda flung the gown over Daisy’s head. “Yes, are they friends of yours?”

“Not at all. I’ve never met them. My school friend, Andrea Beaumont, wrote to me about them.” Her head emerged from the bodice in time to see the grimace on Melinda’s face. She couldn’t help but laugh. “I see you know Andrea, too.” She wriggled to help settle the gown in place.

“I’m sorry if she’s your friend,” Melinda said, “but she’s a frightful snob, and a relentless gossip as well.”

“Yes, that’s why I—” Oh, hell. She’d almost blurted out her secret. “She keeps me up to date with all the on dits, and her comments are much more revealing than the newssheets. I think she continues our correspondence in spite of my disgrace because she delights in telling me all about what I’m missing.”

“Oh! How horrid of her, but typical, I’m sorry to say.”

Daisy shrugged. “I get the impression I’m not missing much, just a bunch of fools vying with one another.”

“To some extent, that’s exactly right. But I do enjoy some of London’s amusements, such as the theater and the opera, and there are wonderful shops, and sometimes the balls are fun. When you come to London with Sir Julian, I’ll do my best to see that people accept you.”

To someone who was used to saying exactly what she thought and to hell with the consequences, reticence was proving painful, and yet she must keep up the pretense. “That’s most kind of you,” she managed.

“Nonsense, it will be fun. Why were you asking about Lady Bilchester and Diana?”

“Because according to the latest gossip, The Lady’s Ruin and The Lady’s Revenge are about them.”

Melinda did up the hooks at the back of Daisy’s gown. “In what possible way?”

“Apparently, Lady Bilchester was abducted by a smuggler before she married.”

“Really? How fascinating. I had no idea.”

“Very few people knew. It was twenty years ago and was all hushed up, and there’s no reason to assume the smuggler despoiled her, for she married Lord Bilchester, and all was well. But since the heroine of The Lady’s Ruin is not only bedded by a smuggler, but very expressive of her wanton thoughts—”

Melinda giggled. “Yes, I love those bits.” She came around, straightened the gown a little here and there, and stepped back. “That blue becomes you very well. Sir Julian will feast his eyes on you and fall even deeper in love.”

Oh, God. This talk of love was going to drive her mad! Back to business again. “And since Lady Bilchester is known to take lovers . . .”

“True, she doesn’t make a secret of it. And she’s a widow, so it’s not particularly scandalous, and I believe she’s faithful to whomever is her current beau. Not that I understand at all. I can’t imagine wanting to make love to anyone but my darling Miles.” Melinda sighed.

Daisy couldn’t imagine making love to anyone at all. Oh, she could imagine wanting to, but she wouldn’t actually go through with it. Never again.

What a pity Sir Julian was such an attractive man.

Once again, she wrenched her thoughts back to the matter at hand. “People are suggesting that if The Lady’s Ruin is about Lady Bilchester, then The Lady’s Revenge must be about her daughter.”

Melinda went into a peal of laughter. “About Diana?” she gasped. “Oh, my dear, you have no idea how absurd! Diana Bilchester is a shy, rather ordinary girl without the least bit of spirit, not at all like the heroine of The Lady’s Revenge.”

“Nevertheless,” Daisy said, “the suggestion has been made, and people now wonder if Miss Bilchester is as pure and proper as she appears to be.”

“For heaven’s sake, what nonsense. Poor Diana.” She frowned. “Actually, the heroine of The Lady’s Revenge is quite proper compared to her mother. Her thoughts may be impure, but she doesn’t give in to them.”

“Yes, but no one knew that before the book was published, only that the daughter would revenge her mother’s ruin. Like mother, like daughter, they said, and now the gossip is endangering her chance of getting a good offer of marriage.”

Melinda huffed. “No man of sense would believe that hogwash.”

“Perhaps, but her mother doesn’t think so. There is—” She paused, realizing she would have to invent some of Andrea’s gossip, but how else was she to corroborate Sir Julian’s opinion? “Rumor has it that Lady Bilchester has sworn vengeance on the authoress, and has even hired an assassin to kill her.”

Melinda gaped. “No! I don’t believe it!”