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“Daisy always keeps her promises,” Livie told the footman. “But Peter, who would have imagined that such a gathering could take place only a few blocks from here?”

“Lady Wharton would be furious if she learned of this night,” Peter said glumly. “I’d be turned off without a reference.”

“Aside from Lord Devin, no one discovered us,” Livie assured him. “Daisy and I have sworn him to secrecy, so you needn’t fret.”

With that, she pulled her cousin up the back steps, down the corridor, and into her bedchamber.

Daisy closed the door and leaned back against it. “Tell me everything!”

Livie scarcely knew where to begin. She went to her bed and sat down. “It was so …” Her voice trailed away. How could she explain her outrageous behavior?

Daisy threw herself onto her side on the bed, repeating, “Everything. Tell me everything!”

Livie cleared her throat. “First, a man named Clod Trywhitt made a most improper suggestion and squeezed my buttock, just as if he were purchasing a day-old loaf of bread.”

Daisy gasped. “How revolting!”

“I pretended not to be insulted, begged him to jump, and then swept his feet out from under him,” Livie said, feeling more cheerful. “He hit the ground with a whopping thump. It was so satisfying, Daisy.”

“Good! Next time we’re in the country, we must remember to thank Fred for teaching us that technique. Who would have thought a stableboy’s trick would work on a lecher? I have to say, Trywhitt was an idiot for agreeing to jump.”

“I believe he may have been inebriated. I was scolding the clodpole when Major FitzRoy arrived.” Livie stopped, finding it difficult to put into words what happened next.

“How did your scolding translate to a public kiss? I’ve been told my entire life that I’m the more impulsive of the two of us, but you have a claim to the title now.”

Livie took a deep breath. Even thinking about Joshua made molten honey sink into her veins. “The major had arrived at the party with Clod Trywhitt.”

Daisy’s eyes flickered.

Livie was used to reading her cousin’s thoughts. “I informed the major that he needed better friends, and he agreed. Thereafter, a couple began kissing against the wall. He pulled me away, to protect my sensibilities, I believe.”

“You were too innocent for such a sight, so he kissed you himself?” Daisy’s tone was skeptical. “I can’t believe you sat on the major’s lap, Livie. In public, no less!” She shook her head wonderingly. “I’ve always thought of myself as the rebel, and you as the good girl.”

Livie felt a little dizzy at the memory. “I lost my head,” she admitted. “I can’t explain it. First we were sitting together, and he kissed me—which was scandalous enough in itself—and somehow I ended up on his lap, and we kept kissing.”

“Thank goodness you kept your mask on. Just imagine what your father would say. Or Lady Regina!”

Livie felt the blood draining from her cheeks. “She would say horrible things about me. I would deserve every cruel thing she said.”

Not to mention her father’s reaction. One of his favorite directives was that she should be acquainted only with those whose names are never branded, and whose modesty is never taxed. Not only had she been in a room with unladylike women, she had become one of them!

“Betrothed couples are always having their wedding date moved forward, for evident reasons. After that, the scandal is forgotten,” Daisy pointed out.

“Daisy! That will never happen to me. Oh, my father would be so angry if he knew!”

“You always try to be proper,” her cousin observed. She leaned forward and dropped a kiss on Livie’s cheek. “I’m glad that your father’s lectures haven’t taken hold. If you obeyed everything he said, you wouldn’t be you.”

“But I don’t want to marry Joshua because of a kiss. He was forced to propose once you and Lord Devin appeared.”

“Lord Devin was truly horrid!” Daisy said, scowling. “Particularly to me, while we were dancing. I loathe the man.”

“Really? He was so kind when he introduced us to all those gentlemen at the Sheffields’ ball.”

“Our erstwhile suitors?” Daisy swept her free hand through the air. “Where are they now? You’d think they would at least leave a card if they’re too afraid to be seen entering the house.” Her face was a blend of perplexed and enraged. “I could have sworn that Lord Argyle was on the point of proposing to me.”

Livie nodded. “Would you have accepted?”

“Certainly not.” Daisy gave her a wry smile. “His proposal would have sprung solely from the fact that my dowry includes the French clock downstairs that supposedly belonged to Marie Antoinette. That timepiece is as desirable to Lord Argyle as you are to Major FitzRoy.”