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“You just said that marrying you would ruin his career, even if your father is released from the Tower! We’ll go to the duchess’s masquerade, Livie, so you can find another gentleman whose nose is equally delectable. You might as well kiss the new one too, since you’ve gotten the hang of it.”

Livie scoffed. “Don’t be absurd. We’d be recognized.”

Daisy shook her head. “When you and I first entered the ballroom and were separated by the press of people, I saw Lord Devin and smiled at him. Livie, he had no idea who I was! He was very nice until I told him my name. After that, he was decidedly unpleasant.”

“He thought you were a ladybird!” Livie exclaimed.

“A what?”

“A lady of the evening, just like in City of Eros. A strumpet. Except Joshua referred to them as birds: ladybirds, birds of paradise, wagtails. I think parrots as well.”

Since being evicted from polite society, Livie and Daisy had spent hours browsing bookstalls. A few weeks ago they had purchased—and Daisy had read aloud—City of Eros, a book of advice for young ladies supposedly written by a Madam running a brothel. It had been eye-opening, if occasionally mystifying.

“Did Major FitzRoy mistake you for a ladybird?” Daisy asked.

Livie shook her head. “I don’t believe so.”

“Well, Lord Devin smiled at me,” Daisy said with satisfaction. “Before he went all holier-than-thou, he thought that I was for sale! I shan’t let him forget that.”

“In that case, he isn’t very observant,” Livie pointed out. “Most of the ladies were far less clothed than we. And their breasts are so large.”

“As are mine,” Daisy said, patting her chest. “It’s my finest feature.”

“You are nowhere near as endowed as those ladies,” Livie said flatly. “Besides which, you have so many fine features that one can hardly count them, Daisy.”

“We really must go to the Duchess of Trent’s masquerade. If I’d had more time before I ran into Lord Devin, I could have found a major as well. I love a man in a uniform.”

“Wait a minute—How did you discover that Lord Devin was helping with my father’s case?” Livie asked, ignoring Daisy’s implausible idea that masquerades were littered with unmarried military men.

“He was scolding me for attending Rothingale’s debauched party, and when I said that I had to find you before I could make my escape, he grew even more angry,” Daisy admitted. “He’s part of the group in the House of Lords that is investigating the supposed treason. He called us idiots, and said that the last thing your father needs is for you to create another scandal.”

Livie groaned. “He’s right.”

“We shan’t go to the Duchess of Trent’s masquerade,” Daisy promised, reversing herself. “Even if you turn into Romeo and start withering away from unrequited love, and I never find a major of my own. We’ll have to wait until next Season to find husbands, Livie.”

“I don’t think that Lady Regina will ever forget the fact of my father’s arrest,” Livie said, the certainty growing in her mind. “She didn’t like me before that scene in the milliner’s shop, Daisy, and now she loathes me. Even had she been inclined to generosity—and I doubt the woman ever feels the impulse—she would make a point of excluding me from society as revenge.”

Daisy sat up and wound an arm around Livie’s shoulders. “I shan’t allow it.”

Livie let out a weak chuckle. “You looked so much like your mother just then. I’m fairly sure that Lady Regina is spiteful enough to ban you as well.”

Daisy tossed her head. “She can try!”

“She will try. Remember that your mother told us that Regina has an eagle eye for the smallest fault.”

“How can I forget?” Daisy said wryly. “I’m ‘short and fat,’ remember?”

“She’s a dreadful woman,” Livie said. “I’m sorry she was so unkind to you.”

“She’s met her match in me,” Daisy said, her expression not the least perturbed. “I felt shaken after our first meeting, but that was mostly because I was ashamed to be overheard comparing her fiancé to an onion.”

“Lady Regina has power,” Livie insisted. “By next Season, she’ll presumably be a marchioness.”

“She consistently demonstrates lack of breeding,” Daisy retorted. “I look forward to making that clear to everyone. And as for her marriage … I’ll believe that when I see the scallion waiting at the altar. Her first fiancé escaped, and likely the earl will make an attempt as well.”

“If she does become a marchioness, you’ll have to marry very highly in order to combat her.”

“Lord Argyle will not do,” Daisy agreed. “Next Season I must scoop up a duke.”