Page 61 of Love and the Shameless Lady

Julian ignored her again. “Shall we discuss this somewhere more private, my love?”

“No.” Daisy slumped. “For all I know, my secret will soon be revealed to everyone in society. Maybe if I explain to Gloriana, she will realize that I don’t hate her.”

Gloriana scowled. “Explain what?”

Julian continued to ignore her. “Miss Warren deserves no consideration from you, Daisy. You need explain nothing.” He took out his handkerchief and dusted the flour from her cheek. She sucked in a soft breath. As always, his touch made her uneasy. He wished he knew why.

“Make her take off that disgusting apron, too,” Gloriana said.

“I like the apron,” Julian said, “and I dusted off her cheek so I can kiss it.” He suited action to words. Her color fluctuated, but this time she didn’t flinch.

“Very affecting,” Gloriana said, and again, “Explain what?”

“It’s your decision, Daisy, but don’t let her push you into revealing anything you’d rather not,” Julian said.

“I don’t want her to think I mean her harm,” Daisy said.

“And I cannot tolerate the way she treats you.”

“She’s just being her typically idiotic self. That doesn’t bother me.”

Surprisingly, Gloriana didn’t take offense. “Yes, I’m horrid, and I’m stupid, too, but please explain.”

Daisy sank onto the sofa, and Julian lowered himself next to her. “You may as well sit, Gloriana,” she said. “It’s a long story.”

Impatiently, her cousin took a seat opposite them, and Daisy explained the events of the past few days.

“Someone wants to kill you for writing a book?” Gloriana said at last.

“So it seems.”

“That is absurd.”

“Nevertheless, it’s true,” Daisy said. “If you don’t believe me, then pray take Sir Julian’s word for it. He saw the threatening letter and the hole in my bonnet, and he rescued me from the roof.”

Gloriana sniffed. “Your tomboyishness finally came in useful.”

“You used to be as much of a tomboy as I,” Daisy retorted. “We both climbed the wall into Mr. Prescott’s garden and stole green apples. We both sneaked out to bathe naked in the lake.”

Gloriana stifled a giggle. For a moment, she seemed almost human, and then she said, “Daisy, how can you say such things? If you are not embarrassed at such a confession, I certainly am.”

“What happened to you, Gloriana? You used to be fun!”

A spasm of some gentler emotion—Julian couldn’t quite tell what—crossed Gloriana’s face. Sadness? Regret? Whatever it was, she mastered it immediately and turned on Julian. “Can you not see why she must go elsewhere? She will ruin everything.”

“If you knew Daisy as well as you claim, you would know that she will respond more favorably to kindness,” Julian said.

Again, that spasm of emotion. “I can’t afford to be kind.”

If she’d been a man, Julian would have been tempted to demonstrate some very physical unkindness. “For God’s sake, Miss Warren—”

“Leave her be.” Daisy raised her hands in a placating gesture. “I promise not to mention bedding smugglers or bathing naked when your precious earl is here. I’ll be so meek and retiring that no one will even notice me. I’ll even ask Melinda to lend me some stitchery to work on.”

Gloriana muffled another giggle. “Poor Daisy.”

“Do you dislike it so very much?” Julian asked.

“I’m an abominable needlewoman,” she said. “What a pity cookery isn’t considered a gentlewoman’s accomplishment.”