“Why would I not be, Natalie?” Hannah’s eyes were wide, and she lowered her voice when she spoke again. “I never knew you wanted to gamble at a gentlemen's club.”
“I have this list of things I want to do, experience before I am too old—”
“Fustian nonsense! One is never too old for anything.”
Natalie laughed at that, feeling better about her plan to confide in her cousin. She never feared judgment from Hannah, but she must also be careful about what she revealed because she could not betray that Jasper was the Masked Rogue.
“Quite so. The Duke of Amsthorne has agreed to help me fulfill my wishes.” As she revealed that, Hannah began to rock on the balls of her heels with excitement.
“The Duke?” she asked, but before Natalie could respond, she answered her own question. “The Duke! Oh, my goodness!”
“Be calm, Hannah!” Natalie giggled.
“Will he court you?”
“Oh, our arrangement is simpler than that.” She took her cousin’s hand and led her to sit by the window. “I no longer have the desire to marry.” But a part of her still yearned for love. Her tenth wish might never be granted.
“What if you found a husband? Will you refuse him?”
“There are more pertinent matters to attend to, Hannah,” Natalie replied, effectively changing the course of the conversation. “In three nights, I will join him to gamble at a gentlemen's club.”
Hannah’s excitement appeared to multiply by the moment. “How can I help you? I can purchase a mask for you to wear, and then you would be like the Masked Rogue. Oh, imagine The Londoner publishing a story about a female rogue about town! Society would go mad!”
“Hannah!” Natalie squeezed her hand to calm her, laughing.
“Oh,” her cousin blushed. “I got lost, did I not?”
“Yes, you did,” she said softly, patting Hannah’s cheek. “I already have a mask and a white wig I intend to wear. I am also sewing a dress.” She stood and walked over to a chair where the ivory satin she had obtained from Mary sat. She knew what she wanted to do with it now and the reason it had called to her at the shop. She picked the dress up and held it against her body to show Hannah.
“That is not yet a dress,” Hannah observed with a tiny frown.
“I just cut it, but I can finish it in two days.” She lowered the dress and picked up a sketchbook. “Here, I have a sketch.”
When Hannah saw it, her mouth fell open. “Natalie, this is…” She stared at her in bewilderment. “Areyougoing to wear this?”
“Why not? It is one of my wishes.”
Her cousin’s grin was brighter than all the candles in the room. “Might I offer a suggestion?”
“Certainly.”
“Lower the neckline. If the dress is to have this long a slit, then the neckline should be in agreement with the rest of it.”
Natalie had not thought of that. When she cut the fabric, she decided to make a revealing dress to wear the same night she would gamble, and that would complete two wishes from her list. Now she could make the dress even more scandalous, and the Masked Rogue would be there with her to live up to every forbidden moment.
She found a pencil, and together, they resketched, making something incredibly glamorous.
“I will be barely clothed in this, Hannah,” Natalie said conspiratorially.
“Yes, a gentlewoman should never wear this, but that is what makes this perfect. For one night, you could leave everything behind and be anything you desire.”
Indeed,she quietly agreed,for one night, I could truly be me.
Chapter 15
London has seen yet another uneventful night. It is as though the Masked Rogue is hiding after the destruction his nocturnal adventure had wrought. Or is he planning something that would shock the wigs off our heads? Our eyes are open, London, and we are seated on the edges of our chairs, breathless with anticipation.
Hannah pinned Natalie’s red hair before placing the large white wig that weighed more than a wig ever should. “Is this how the French court carried this thing?” Natalie complained.
