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Dammit!
Why did it have to be him!
A loud rap sounded at her door. “Yes?”
“Miss Drake, your sisters are here,” a footman replied from the hall.
“I will be down in a moment,” she replied before crossing the room to her mirror and then adjusting her hair. She pinched her cheeks to give herself a hint of color on her pallid skin.
Heading down the stairs, she realized that her mother must have finally allowed her sisters to pay a call. Emma supposed her mother felt the need to punish her behavior by not permitting anyone to visit her, even her sisters. It was time to get out from under her mother’s thumb.
She entered the room to find Tessa and Louisa sitting next to each other on the sofa. Louisa tapped her foot impatiently.
“Don’t dawdle,” Louisa said. “Sit down and tell us exactly what happened before Mamma returns.”
Emma sat down in the brocade chair across from her interrogators. “I wanted to race a carriage, so I stole what I thought was Ainsley’s curricle.”
“Why would you do such a thing, Emma?” Tessa asked with a slight frown. “You have always set the example of how a young woman should act.”
Emma leaned forward. “Exactly! And what did I achieve by acting so perfectly? A broken engagement and two sisters who own actions caused my reputation to suffer. So why shouldn’t I have a bit of fun? I made a list of all the things I wanted to do.”
Both Tessa and Louisa’s mouths gaped. Louisa recovered first.
“I’m dreadfully sorry that my actions caused you pain,” Louisa said before tilting her head with a smile. “A list?”
“Yes,” Emma said and then paused while a footman brought in tea. Once he’d left, Tessa poured the tea and handed each sister a cup.
“What was on your list?” Tessa sipped her tea with a look of fascination.
Emma stared down at her amber tea as if riveted by the contents in her cup. “The first was to introduce myself to a gentleman.”
“Of course!” Louisa exclaimed. “Simpson.”
Emma nodded. “And to go to a gaming hell.”
“But why would you choose Hell?” Tessa asked. “I would think you wouldn’t want to be discovered.”
“I didn’t, so I dressed as a boy. Unfortunately, Kingsley saw right through my costume.”
Tessa gave Louisa a strange look to which Louisa shrugged.
“He also chastised you for dancing with Simpson that night, didn’t he?” Louisa glanced over at Emma.
“Yes, he did.”
“What else, Emma?” Tessa pressed.
“To get foxed,” Louisa added with a brow raised. “The night you went to Hell. You were dressed as a boy and very drunk.”
“Yes,” Emma admitted. “That was another one on the list.”
“What else?” Tess asked again.
“Kiss a man.” Before they could say anything, she told them why. “I was twenty-two and had never even been kissed by a man. Not even Bolton.”
“Well, I suppose I can understand that one,” Louisa said with a smile. “After all, I was only eighteen when I had my first kiss.”
“You were?” Tessa said with a frown. “Who was it?”
