Page 65 of An Extraordinary Lord

“Ivy,” Veronica said quietly, not wanting to disturb the rest of the small village inside the warehouse. “It’s the middle of the night. You should be asleep.”

“I thought I heard something…an odd noise…” With a troubled frown, Ivy glanced down the hall. Not finding whatever she was searching for, she brought her gaze back to Veronica. Her big eyes grew impossibly larger. “Why are you dressed likethat?”

Veronica grimaced. Ivy routinely saw her coming and going in her leather and metal-studded patrolling clothes, complete with sword and knives. Yet it was a satin gown that made the girl gape at her as if she were a bedlamite.

“What’s wrong with this?” Veronica stepped past her and hurried toward her room before someone else came out from behind the sailcloth walls and saw her. “I think it’s beautiful.”

“It is.” Ivy fell into uninvited step behind her. “It truly is breathtaking. It’s just…” Veronica could picture in her mind the way the girl was surely biting her bottom lip as she trailed along behind her. “Whyare you in it?”

Veronica rolled her eyes. “Sheep herding.”

When she tossed back the piece of cloth that served as her door, she glanced over her shoulder and saw Ivy’s chastising expression. But even Ivy’s angry hands on hips in her best irritated governess pose couldn’t keep Veronica from glimpsing the fleeting flash of wounding on the girl’s face.

Guilt stung her, and she apologetically let out a long sigh. “If you really must know.” She held open the cloth to gesture for Ivy to follow her inside. “I went to a ball. With a prince.”

“You’re lying. Ladies from the Court of Miracles don’t go to parties with princes.”

Wasn’t that the awful truth? “Fine, then.” She let the cloth drop into place and retreated into the space that served as her room, calling out over her shoulder, “I won’t tell you about the palace and all the fine dresses and shimmering jewels I saw.”

The panel flung open. “A palace?” Ivy’s mouth fell open. “You were at apalace?”

Veronica smiled at how the girl had so easily taken the bait. “I was at Carlton House at a grand ball thrown by the prince regent himself.”

Ivy stepped inside and let the cloth fall closed behind her. “The regent was there? Did you see him? Did you get to meet him? What’s he like? Oh, tell me!”

The young woman practically bounced with excitement. Curiosity and awe lit up her pretty face, framed by her loose, golden hair. If Ivy had been the daughter of a lord—or even a merchant of the middling sort—she would have been declared an Incomparable, with gentlemen waiting in line for the opportunity to court her. As it was, she would be lucky not to be forced into prostitution just to survive.

But not if Veronica could help it.

That was the first thing she wanted to change as soon as she received her pardon and could make an honest living. She wanted to find good positions in households and shops for the young women who lived here and apprenticeships or naval positions for the boys.

“Unbutton me, and I’ll tell you.” Veronica removed her fur-trimmed wrap, turned her back to the girl, and gestured at her bodice. When Ivy came forward to undo the tiny pearl buttons, she continued, “Actually, I didn’t get to meet him. There were simply too many people at the party.”

“Oh.” Disappointment dripped from the girl’s voice.

Veronica allowed herself to feel one last rush of pleasure about the evening. She smiled at Ivy over her shoulder and admitted, “But I did waltz with a baron.”

“Did you?” Ivy’s fingers flew to undo the tiny buttons. “Was he dashing?”

“Utterly.”

“What did he look like?”

Veronica’s lips curled in ironic amusement. “A bit like Mr. Herbert, I’d say.”

“Oh, he’s very handsome then!”

She murmured, mostly to herself, “Ithink so.”

“Tell me everything,” the girl pleaded. “And don’t leave out a single detail.”

She laughed. “If I do that, we might be here longer than I was at the ball!”

“And what’s wrong with that?”

The buttons gave way, and her bodice loosened. “Nothing, I suppose.” After all, there would be no patrolling tonight. No reason not to stay right here until morning, pleasing the girl with stories. Ivy had so few other amusements in her life that Veronica couldn’t bring herself to deny her this one. “Well, to begin, I rode to Carlton House in a fine black carriage drawn by two beautiful bay horses.”

The girl heaved out a sigh of romantic longing and sank down onto Veronica’s pallet bed, settling in like a child for a bedtime story.