Lady Be Reckless (Duke's Daughters #2)(10)

She felt a stab of something on her leg and looked down to see one of the kittens, the one she’d started calling Snapper, trying to gnaw on her shin. Hence his name.

It was a remarkable coincidence that she was suffering from both actual and emotional pain.

She removed him carefully, placing him on the coverlet between her and Pearl, petting his head with her index finger. Wishing she could solve her emotional pain as easily.

One of the other kittens was in Pearl’s lap, while the two others were not visible, which probably meant they were under Olivia’s bed gnawing on her slippers.

“Did you really think he felt the same?” Pearl asked. “I mean, you might have wished he did, but did you see any indication?”

Her twin’s tone was soft and gentle, which only made Olivia more irritated.

“I thought that he did,” she said, looking down at hearing Snapper’s squeak of protest. Apparently she’d become too vigorous in her petting. “He always asks after me when he visits Eleanor. He danced with me twice last year, and there was that one time he brought me flowers from his garden.”

“He brought flowers to Eleanor too.” Pearl’s unsaid words—and he’s not pining after her either—hung in the air. Olivia felt her face heat. Did he not care for her, not at all?

And then it hit her, and she practically bounced on the bed. Snapper escaped her enthusiasm, darting off the bed and onto the floor with remarkably fluffy speed. “He might not love me now, but if I can just prove to him . . .” She let her words dangle as she thought it out.

“And the only way to do that is to prove that I would be an excellent wife, one who can assist him with whatever he needs help with. Perhaps help him with one of his projects or—” and then she sat straight up as the idea hit her “—I can help ease his friend’s way into Society.” She turned her head and looked at Pearl, who was regarding her with an expression that mixed fascination with suspicion, the same expression she had on her face every time Olivia took up a new project.

The only time she had not had it was when Olivia rescued the kittens.

“What friend?” Pearl asked slowly.

“Mr. Wolcott, he—” And then she wanted to squirm again, reminded of what had dropped out of her mouth when he’d popped up from the sofa. “His father is Mr. Beechcroft, the man who handles Father’s financial dealings. And I believe owns several factories and such up north. I saw how he was treated at the party. Lord Smithton practically ignored him.” She felt herself heat at the memory. Of how she’d promised to help him.

Pearl’s face looked confused, then cleared as she realized what Olivia had said. “He is not Mr. Beechcroft’s—?” she began, then shook her head and bit her lip, still staring at Olivia.

“He is Mr. Beechcroft’s natural son. And I believe his heir as well. His father is likely one of the richest men in London, if not England, and that is why his presence is tolerated. But just barely.” Her words came out more rapidly as she considered it. “It is not his fault he was born as he was, and it is our duty—or more accurately my duty—to make certain that everyone accepts him as they should.”

Pearl shook her head. “He’s not just another one of your causes, solved by the donation of some garments or funds. He’s a person. He might not want you to make him into a project.”

“Oh, but don’t you see?” Olivia edged forward on the bed to get closer to her twin. Although she knew from long experience that proximity wouldn’t necessarily convince Pearl about anything; there had been one time Olivia had climbed on top of her sister and Pearl had still refused to agree to whatever it was that Olivia was saying.

But perhaps one day Olivia would be surprised.

“This project, as you call it so accurately, will not only help poor Mr. Wolcott, but will also prove to Bennett—Lord Carson, that is—that I am a forceful, forthright woman who can accomplish many things.”

“I don’t think he has ever doubted that,” Pearl said in an odd tone. As though she were stifling a laugh. Even though Olivia hadn’t told a joke for twelve years. There were more important things to do than tell jokes, after all.

“Perhaps not,” she replied. “But after I prove this to him, he’s going to have to realize he loves me after all.” It had to be that Lord Carson just didn’t know his own mind.

It was such a wonderful idea she wasn’t going to wait for Pearl’s approval. Even though she did want it.

“So . . . what do you think?” she asked, smiling brightly at her twin.

Pearl stared back at Olivia. “You don’t want me to say what I think.” She shook her head. “You never want me to say what I think. You only want me to say that I think what you think. And that’s not what I think at all.” Her words spilled out in a rush, their tone imbued with a frustration Olivia had never heard from her twin before.

“It’s a good idea, though,” she pressed.

Pearl rolled her eyes. Not the response Olivia wanted. “I won’t say it is. I will say you should be careful. These are men you are dealing with, not unfed orphans or gentlewomen who just need a bit of embroidery to brighten their day.” And then she definitely rolled her eyes even harder. “Or—or kittens,” she finished, hoisting one of the four, probably Scamp, up from the floor.