Would that nothing had ever happened in her life that warranted a song.

Would that Lyon was here, because she could think of no one else who would have laughed with her over that song until tears poured down their cheeks and they gasped for air.

She closed her eyes against an onslaught of fury and yearning so painful it made her nauseous and she nearly swayed.

She held herself very, very still, and the pain washed out again.

She'd learned over the years this was how to manage it. With stillness.

"You must be very, how you say, very in love weez your fiance?"

Weez? Olivia frowned. What the devil was . . .

Oh-with.

The b.l.o.o.d.y French. They were always on about love love love love love. Suddenly the question made her head ache as if she'd been presented with an algebra problem.

Love. The word had once felt infinite, magical. A word like "Heaven" or "universe."

And now it felt barbed and foolish. She knew an impulse to shrug away from it as if something multilegged had landed on her skin.

"I wish there was a way to disperse the choir out there permanently," she muttered irritably.

Mademoiselle Lilette stopped moving and was quiet for a merciful moment.

"Surely we can, how you say, exploit them instead, Miss Eversea," she said mildly.

"Exploit!" Despite herself, Olivia was intrigued. "Go on."

"Perhaps to give all of them, how do you say, une pamphlet about the rights and needs of the poor? They will become educated or they will be driven away, perhaps both."

Olivia laughed, genuinely surprised and delighted. "Ah, I do like how you think, Mademoiselle Lilette. You seem a resourceful woman."

Mademoiselle Lilette gave a little modest grunt. "One does not rise from the slums to work for the magnifique Madame Marceau if one is not resourceful. You must remain still, however, while I pin, for I do not wish to draw blood."

Imperiousness was the province of dressmakers everywhere, it seemed, and for the sake of vanity, well-bred women everywhere obeyed.

"Sorry. The slums, was it?"

"Mais oui." Impressively, Mademoiselle Lilette said this around a mouthful of pins. "The darkest of slums."

"An admirable achievement."

"Merci." She paused to shrug. "But one need only be, how do you say, tetu comme an anu, to survive and thrive."

"Stubborn as a mule?"

"Oui. And I am."

"I think perhaps we have that in common, Mademoiselle Lilette."

"And they do like to call us the gentle s.e.x. The poor things."

"If only they knew."

They giggled together.

Though Olivia often wished she truly was as strong as everyone seemed to think she was. As strong as she wanted everyone to think she was.

"Oui, c'est vrai. I, too, admire you, Miss Eversea. I have heard of your work, you see, with the poor and against the Triangle Trade."

Olivia froze, astonished. She craned her head down toward the seamstress. "How on earth did you hear about that?"

Mademoiselle Lilette squeaked. "Do not move, Miss Eversea! I am sympathetic, shall we say, to such efforts, and your name is so often mentioned with great respect as someone who supports the cause of slavery abolition. You give to people the pamphlets, oui? And attend lectures and ask clever questions? Our paths perhaps may have crossed there. And so much is better now, thanks to the likes of Mrs. Hannah More and Mr. Wilberforce."

"Oh, I scarcely feel worthy of mention in a.s.sociation with Mrs. More and Mr. Wilberforce! And if my small efforts have made any sort of difference, I am gratified. But I suspect those of us who deplore slavery have Le Chat to thank for decimating the illegal Triangle Trade more than my pamphlets," she said dryly. "Everyone has become afraid to sail."

Le Chat was the rather melodramatic name given a pirate who had for a time been the scourge of the sea and the talk of ballrooms and salons. No one knew his true ident.i.ty-his name might be Edgar, for all anyone knew-but he'd been rather quiet lately, as befit his slinky, enigmatic namesake. Some time ago, the Earl of Ardmay, also known as Captain Asher Flint, and his first mate, Lord Lavay, had been charged by the king to bring him to justice. They had failed to do it, and had thereby forfeited an enormous reward.

Instead, the earl had married Violet Redmond, and Lord Lavay had just married his housekeeper, Mrs. Elise Fountain.

Olivia wasn't certain whether she would categorize these events as rewards or as punishments.

"Oh, but Le Chat is a lawless pirate!" Mademoiselle Lilette exclaimed. "Oui? Surely not a hero?"

"Nevertheless, I would like to shake his hand. For he seems to have found the only thing that vanquishes immorality and greed: fear."

"But 'e might ravish you if you shake his hand. It is what pirates do, non?"

"Well, I couldn't say for certain, as I do not move in the same circles with pirates."

Ravish. Another very French word.

Another word that belonged to her past.

Though the ravishing had been rather mutual, then.

She only realized she'd stirred restlessly when Mademoiselle Lilette implored, "Please be still, Miss Eversea."

"Sorry, sorry. I haven't heard of any new Le Chat attacks. Though I haven't kept up on the news during wedding preparations, which have lasted nearly my entire life, by my calculations. Worth it, of course," she added hurriedly, lest she wound any delicate dressmaker feelings. Ever conscious of how very fortunate she was.

Mademoiselle Lilette clucked soothingly. "You will be so happy when the talk is of how beautiful you look in your dress. Perhaps Le Chat, the pirate, 'e is dead."

"Seems likely. I imagine most pirates go into pirating with the full awareness they likely won't expire in their beds from old age."

"Still, if Le Chat is dead, your work is needed. For every woman should have pa.s.sions. I am certain your fiance the viscount admires this quality a great deal and feels himself fortunate indeed."

It was another particularly, irritatingly French thing to say. Pa.s.sion.

Another word that Olivia had managed to dodge for some years now.

Pa.s.sion was now synonymous with pain and she wanted none of it.

"I don't think my fiance would consider it a . . . pa.s.sion," she said carefully.

"No? But surely such a thing is important to you? Your work weez ze poor, and such?"

Mademoiselle Lilette sounded genuinely confused.

"Well, certainly. But I suspect he categorizes it along with embroidery and pianoforte playing. He minds it as much as those things-that is to say, pays little notice. To him, it's just . . . something I do."

"Ah. Rather than something you are?"

The dressmaker made this startling, incisive observation as casually as she'd pinned the next inch of hem.

"Oui," Olivia said finally.

Chapter 3.

"OLIVIA . . . I THINK THOSE are your brothers."

Colin and Ian Eversea were, indeed, standing in front of Ackermann's Repository of Arts, looking conspicuous, both because they were so tall and handsome and so alike, and because they were having what appeared like an earnest discussion, perhaps even an argument, complete with emphatic hand gestures.

Pedestrians eddied around them, heads turning to admire them as they pa.s.sed. Her brothers would be turning heads well into their nineties, Olivia suspected. Her heart squeezed a little. She was so very proud of both of them. Both had been a bit wild when they returned from the war, and now both were happily married, Colin to the lovely Madeline of whom he was tenderly protective, Ian to the startling and very pretty American heiress who had caused an uproar in Pennyroyal Green and had, in fact, given even Olivia pause, which was very difficult to do, as Olivia's social supremacy had remained unchallenged for a very long time.

"Yes. Well, it's two of them, anyway." Olivia thought their appearance was a little too coincidental. "You didn't happen to mention to them that we might be going to Ackermann's, did you? When you stopped in at St. James Square."

She knew they were worried about her. They had watched the house fill with flowers every day from suitors who hadn't a prayer of getting her attention. They had seen the betting books at White's fill with wager after wager, making a game of her presumed heartbreak. Presumed, because no one had ever said a word to her overtly about it, and she'd certainly never confessed to such a thing.

Only Olivia and Lyon knew the truth.

Her brothers wanted, above all, for her to be happy.

They liked Landsdowne very much, and she wished they wouldn't tread so gingerly about him, as if they were afraid he would vanish if they made any sudden moves. For G.o.d's sake, she honestly did intend to marry the man.

They had married the women they loved.

"They weren't in when I stopped at your town house," Landsdowne mused. "It must be a fortunate coincidence."

She wondered just how "fortunate" it might be.

"Well! Good afternoon, Olivia, Landsdowne!" Ian enthused, when they moved forward to meet them. "What a lovely coincidence."

"Is it?" Olivia said suspiciously.

Hats came off and bows were exchanged.

"Fine weather we're having." This came from Ian.

Colin was standing unusually still and he was uncharacteristically silent. Rather, in fact, like a sentry.

"I suppose," she said, still suspiciously.

"Have you a complaint about it, sister dear?"

"Ian, may I point something out to you?"

"Since when have you ever asked permission to point something out to me, Olivia? Would it be to impress your husband-to-be?"

"Her husband-to-be is already thoroughly impressed," Landsdowne said with charming loyalty.

"I don't think we've ever exchanged ba.n.a.lities about the weather in our entire lives," Olivia said calmly. "Nor have you ever called me 'sister dear.'"

She locked eyes with Ian for a challenging moment.

"Then I have been remiss, for you are a dear sister, and I should tell you so more often," he said smoothly. "We were just inside, and it's an uninspiring lot of prints in there today, wouldn't you say, Colin?"

"Uninspiring," Colin parroted. "Why don't the four of us stop in at Twining's for something hot?"

Her brothers were offering to drink tea with her?

"We'd like to take our tea in Ackermann's tearoom," she said firmly, and she looped her arm in Landsdowne's and feinted to the right.

In tandem, her brothers gracefully, ever so subtly shifted to the right and blocked her.

"How were the fittings at Madame Marceau's?" Ian tried. "I'm sure your dress is beautiful."

This made her snort in derision. The day Ian was interested in her dress fittings was the day he'd wear a dress.

She tried a quick slide to the left, startling Landsdowne, who came along with her just in time.

Her brothers, neatly and in tandem, subtly shifted at the same time.

"Care to share what might be the trouble, gentlemen?" Lansdowne asked, with deceptive mildness.

Which she was beginning to realize was his way of disguising temper.

Her brothers exchanged a glance. Some silent brotherly conversation took place during that glance.

"Olivia." And then Colin said very, very slowly, as though willing her to understand something, "I genuinely think you don't want to go in today."