“It will take forever to hear from you, not to mention the fact that you’ll only lecture me and say improving sorts of things that are of no practical use whatsoever.” Charlotte plucked at the ugly trim on her equally ugly gown and tried not to covet her cousin’s smart green-and-white-striped gown with matching green pelisse.

“It wouldn’t hurt you in the least to listen to a bit of improving advice, Charlotte. Do think about what I said—I wouldn’t wish for you to be in another unhappy marriage, but it’s the only solution I can see.”

Charlotte nodded sadly and accompanied her cousin to the hall, kissed Gillian’s and Dante’s cheek, tried not to flinch under the earl’s stern, disapproving look, and rallied a smile and a wave as the last of her familial connections drove off in a sleek black-and-scarlet coach.

“She’s left me here alone with no one but the servants. Damnation!” Charlotte swore as the carriage disappeared from view.

“Ye can say that again,” a voice muttered behind her, but when she spun around to pin the ears back on the speaker, she was faced with a line of servants wearing faces so innocent they could have doubled for cherubim.

“Hrmph,” she snorted, eyeing the collected servants. “Much as I would like to dissolve into tears over my desperate and completely tragic situation, I shall give in to a well-earned megrim at a later time. Right now I have a more important dish to fry. Crouch, fetch me writing paper, and have the footmen standing at the ready.”

“Eh…fish to fry, d’ye mean, m’lady?”

Charlotte raised her brows in the manner that had never failed to intimidate Graveltoes, her father’s butler, but it appeared that the giant pirate the Westons employed was made of sterner stuff. No doubt it was the hook that made him feel superior. “I simply do not understand this unreasonable fixation you and Gillian and others have with something so unimportant as language, Crouch. It’s unwholesome. I urge you to get over it. And don’t think you can put on airs as you do with Gillian, I shan’t tolerate it as she does. I’ll have enough of that as I contrive to make my stunning reappearance in the drawing rooms and ballrooms of the ton.”

She shooed Crouch on his way and marched upstairs to take possession of Gillian’s personal sitting room. It wasn’t going to be easy reestablishing herself after the scandal, but that was four years ago, and certainly people must have forgotten the details by now. With a little finesse and sweet-talking to the right matrons, the doors would surely open to her again. It wouldn’t be pleasant to be forced to listen to lectures by the very same women who had called her foolish and headstrong all those years ago, but she could endure a few “I warned you!” comments if necessary. Besides, there were the gentlemen to think of—she had charm and vivacity, and despite her cousin’s doubts of the effectiveness of a pretty face and a neat ankle, Charlotte had always found she could have her way if she fluttered her eyelashes and dimpled just so.