Lady Be Reckless (Duke's Daughters #2)(24)

“Good. I will let my mother know.” And then she walked back out of the room, making it feel as though a light had been extinguished when she left.

“And I should go as well.” Edward’s father walked to the door, still smiling. “The duke and I have met, have done business together, but I have not yet been invited to his home. I have you to thank for that. And Lady Olivia, of course.” His smile turned into a grin.

If it made him this happy—well, he’d pretend to court Lady Olivia as much as was necessary. And that way she could work on her own plan. And he would just be happy to watch as she tried to do the impossible.



“He actually agreed to your plan?”

Olivia scowled at the skepticism in her sister’s voice.

“He did.” Even though he also expressed probably even more skepticism than what Pearl was showing when he questioned her.

It had to work. She had never failed at anything she had decided to do. Except get Bennett to admit he loves you and wants to marry you.

But that too would change as soon as he realized the truth of his feelings and that she had been able to help his friend in a way nobody else could. Then he would agree.

“And this is why we are going out with him for a carriage ride?” Pearl asked. “Not that I mind going out for a carriage ride, it is outside, after all. I just want to know what I am supposed to be doing.”

“Well, nothing really. We will nod and smile to everyone we know, and introduce Mr. Wolcott to our friends, and then they will see he is an ordinary person whom they should be pleased to call an acquaintance.”

“Isn’t that what Lord Carson has been doing all this time?”

Pearl was not helping. “You are not helping, Pearl.” She might as well be forthright about it.

Olivia took a deep breath, preparing to explain.

“Don’t bother trying to convince me.” Pearl spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. “It is not as though you are going to, and I’ve already agreed to go on this carriage ride, so you don’t have to anyway. I just want to say that I think some of your causes are misguided.”

Olivia’s eyes went wide. “Misguided? Helping poor children and orphans is misguided?”

Pearl sighed, shaking her head. Making it appear as though she was decades wiser than her sister, even though they were twins. “It’s a good effort, Olivia. But if you don’t understand why something is happening, you can’t solve it. You can’t just go in and give them all shifts,” she said, holding up one of the garments she’d been working on, “and have them lead healthy, productive lives. There needs to be more to it.”

“What does that have to do with Mr. Wolcott?” Olivia asked, genuinely confused.

“Nothing.” Now Pearl just sounded tired. “It’s just that I worry about you, about your passion for things that might never change. About how you think you can change whatever you want, just because of who you are. One day you’ll find that not to be true, and it will be a revelation to you. But go ahead and parade Mr. Wolcott in the park. That is certain to get people talking about him.”

Pearl’s words stung, and Olivia sat back as she considered them. Her twin was remarkably and refreshingly honest, and she was often able to ferret out the truth of something before Olivia had. She was the one who’d initially told Olivia about the plight of the poor orphans, after all. That Olivia had seized on the society was due to Pearl as much to her own conscience.

“Misguided?” she repeated in a quieter tone.

Pearl put her sewing down in her lap to lean over and squeeze her sister’s hand. “Your heart is absolutely in the right place, Olivia. I just worry about you.”

Olivia felt her eyes start to tear, and she bit her lip in an effort not to cry. Sometimes she forgot that Pearl was just as sensitive as Olivia; she was quieter, and expressed her feelings very rarely, so her thoughts and emotions were easy to overlook.

“Thank you, Pearl. I will be fine. And all it means is that we get to ride in a carriage with a very attractive gentleman.” She gave a vigorous nod. “And if it means that some more people find his presence acceptable? Well, that will be a marvelous bonus.” She leaned forward and picked up one of the finished shifts. “Now, let us see how many more of these we can finish before the deadline.”

“You mean how many more I can finish,” Pearl said drily.





Chapter 8




Do not just go out with no plan; always have a plan, even if your plan is to dazzle onlookers. The plan is the plan.

Lady Olivia’s Particular Guide to Decorum



“Good afternoon,” Lady Olivia called to Edward. He spun around to see three of the duke’s daughters stepping out of a grand carriage.

Lady Ida nodded at him, then sped up the stairs to enter the house, leaving her sisters outside.

Where Lady Ida was wearing some sort of drab utilitarian clothing, both Lady Olivia and Lady Pearl were faultlessly attired in gowns that made them look like a baker had been spinning sugar, not stopping until he’d created these two.

Their gowns had the requisite amount of lace and frills, but where many ladies looked like overdressed confections, these two were just gloriously and perfectly feminine.

Even though he had a strong preference for one of the two. He had to say that both ladies were lovely.