Those clothes were all that the ladies were waiting for to “launch” Anastasia on London society. Lady Rachel was keeping a written record, added to daily, of all the fashionable places Anastasia needed to be “seen at.” Lady Elizabeth had formed a list of her own, of well-known gossips whom she had already begun visiting.

“Nothing like setting the stage in advance,” she had said after returning from her first gossipy visit. “Lady Bascomb is just dying to meet you now, gel, and by tomorrow, so will be most of her friends. I swear, she can manage to call upon at least forty different members of the ton in a single day. Do not ask me how, but she can.”

They had decided a little confusion would be just the thing to spark curiosity, and so each gossip Elizabeth paid a visit to was told something entirely different about Anastasia’s history. With her mother supposedly being William’s younger sister, who really had run off in her youth and had never returned to England, any and every background they created for Anastasia would be completely plausible.

The three ladies had in fact stayed up very late one night having a great good time designing some pretty outlandish scenarios, from her being the daughter of an illegitimate heir to a throne in Eastern Europe, to the daughter of a rich Turkey slave trader, to the truth, that her father was a Russian Prince. All of which got confided, in absolute secrecy, of course, to the many known gossips on Elizabeth’s list.

It became William’s task to find out when the marquis arrived in London, and to discover his habits, or at least his normal haunts. After all, this whole scheme was for his benefit, and wouldn’t do much good if he didn’t hear the gossip, or have a chance to see Anastasia in her new finery.

Once they’d set the scene, the invitations began pouring in. Anastasia, who had yet to make her first “public” appearance, was already in great demand by every hostess in town, thanks to Elizabeth’s gossip-spreading talents. Her first appearance, though, would be at the costume party that Lady Victoria planned for the coming weekend.

Christopher would not be receiving an invite to this. It remained to be seen if he’d show up anyway, to denounce her, just to see what she was up to, or to claim her as his wife. Anything was possible—which was why the ladies were so excited. They could merely set things in motion. They couldn’t predict the outcome.

The activity, the in-depth planning, it all helped Anastasia to get beyond the worst of her grief. And she didn’t just have the loss of her grandmother and “husband for a night” to deal with, but also of the Gypsies, the people she’d grown up with, people she cared about and who cared about her. She’d said good-bye to them all, though she didn’t expect it to be forever. Gypsies never parted for good except in death. They always expected to see old friends and acquaintances again in their travels.