Secret Fire Read Online Free Page B

better.”
    Four petticoats dropped to her feet, and the black skirt slid over her hips easily. A trifle long now, since Lucy was a few inches taller than she, but that couldn’t be helped.
    “You don’t wear that long apron when you go out, do you, Lucy?”
    “No.”
    “I didn’t think so, but I wasn’t sure. Oh, why haven’t I ever taken notice of these things? What about a parasol?”
    “No, my lady, just that reticule in the pocket—”
    “This?” Katherine pulled out a little camel’s-hair bag with long tie strings. “Perfect. You don’t mind if I use it, do you? Good, I do want to look my part. I suppose these rings should go too,” she added, stripping off a large ruby solitaire and a cluster of pearls. “Now for a bonnet, quickly. A poke bonnet, I think. That will help to hide my face.”
    The maid rushed in her petticoats to the wardrobe and returned with Katherine’s oldest bonnet. “This really is too nice, my lady.”
    Katherine grabbed the thing and swiftly ripped off every embellishment. “Well?”
    “As you say, my lady, perfect. You no longer look like a—”
    Katherine grinned when Lucy blushed, unable to finish. “A lady?” she supplied, then chuckled as the girl’s blush deepened. “Never mind, my girl. That was the point.”
    “Oh, my lady, this—this worries me. Men can be awfully cheeky on the street. You will take several of the footmen—”
    “Heavens, no!” Katherine exclaimed. “Beth would recognize every one of them.”
    “But—”
    “No, dear, I’ll be fine.”
    “But—”
    “I must go!”
    Lucy stood wringing her hands after the door closed on her mistress. What was she a party to? Lady Katherine had never in her life done anything like this. She didn’t really know what she was doing either. Why, just last week Lucy had been accosted by a big brute of a fellow only two blocks away, and she had been wearing that very dress. If a gentleman passing in a fine carriagehadn’t come to her rescue, she didn’t know what might have happened. But that fellow wasn’t the first to make indecent propositions to her. A working girl had no protection. And Lady Katherine was leaving the house looking like a working girl.
    Katherine didn’t exactly look like a working girl. In her appearance, yes, but in her bearing, no. She was still an earl’s daughter no matter what she wore. She wouldn’t know how to act like a servant even if she tried. She didn’t try. That wasn’t necessary. All that was necessary was that Elisabeth not recognize her if she should happen to look back. And she did look back every few minutes, confirming Katherine’s suspicion that she was worried about being followed. Katherine had to lower her head quickly each time. But so far, so good.
    She followed her sister down to Oxford Street, where Beth turned left. Katherine kept well back, the green silk gown ahead of her easy to keep track of even when the sidewalks became more crowded.
    Beth was indeed heading for Regent Street, in the next block, but that didn’t allay any of Katherine’s suspicions. It was as good a place as any to meet William, not nearly as crowded as in the afternoon, but congested nonetheless with clerks rushing to work, servants shopping for their employers, wagons making deliveries; and being a main thoroughfare, the street was quite crowded with carriages and coaches and advertisement wagons, those dreadful vehicles that caused so many traffic tie-ups in the afternoon.
    Katherine lost sight of Beth when she turned onto Regent Street and had to hurry to the corner. But there she stopped. Beth had halted three shops down and was examining the display in one of the windows. Katherine didn’t dare get any closer, so she stayed where she was, impatiently tapping her foot, ignoring the people who passed her. It was a busy corner.
    “Hello, luv.”
    Katherine didn’t hear him, never dreaming the fellow would speak to her.
    “Don’t be snooty, now.” He grabbed her arm