I suppose I’d had an emotionally fraught day. Usually I’d have laughed off her last words but I found myself saying, in my most autocratic voice, “Nevertheless, I am a lady and that is my title. You’ll have to get used to it sometime if you want to stay in my service.”

“I’ll try harder, I promise.” She looked quite shaken and I felt bad immediately.

“We’ll hope for a miracle, shall we?” I relented and smiled at her. “And you can start by laying out my clothes for this evening. I want my nicest evening dress—the nicest one that you haven’t ruined with ironing it wrongly, that is. And the right stockings and shoes and underwear and jewelry. Can I leave those to you? I’m going out on a very important date.”

“Are you, miss? What, with a foreign gentleman?”

“With a foreign gentleman—actually, a foreign marquis. And a very handsome and rich one. So I want to look as good as I can.”

“Bob’s yer uncle, miss. Don’t you worry. I’ll help you tart yerself up.”

“Queenie,” I said, shaking my head, “I don’t think you’ll ever make a proper lady’s maid.”

I went downstairs and lay on a sofa in the pretty little writing room that looked out over the sea. The rain squall had passed and already there were patches of blue sky between clouds. I tried to rest but I was too keyed up. One way or another tonight was going to be a life-changing experience for me. I had no idea whether Jean-Paul would drive me home after dinner and dancing or take me back to his villa, where Pierre, like Sir Toby’s men, had been trained to turn a blind eye to all kinds of goings-on. Was that what I wanted? Wasn’t I merely flattered that someone as desirable as Jean-Paul was paying attention to me? Wasn’t part of my motivation that I wanted to punish Darcy? And did I really want to give up my virginity to someone like Jean-Paul, who would probably lose interest in me tomorrow? But then, I was twenty-two and a half and it was about time . . . besides, Jean-Paul had made it perfectly clear that he would never force a woman if she didn’t want to. Unlike that brute Sir Toby—