Page 67 of How to Start a Scandal

Her admission was met with silence. She blinked her eyes open.

Lottie stared at her, brow furrowed. ‘I see,’ she answered slowly.

‘I am being forced to choose between marriage or retiring to the country to look after my sister’s children. They seemed like little beasts until I met the eldest.’ Violet couldn’t help her affectionate smile as Felicity came to her mind. ‘She’s actually rather pleasant, but I imagine the others are still quite...well, feral. Is it terrible to say that about one’s family?’

Lottie tilted her head.

Violet clamped her teeth down to prevent herself from speaking further lest her nerves make her ramble on and on for all of eternity.

‘I don’t believe it’s terrible if it’s true.’ Lottie said with a patient smile.

‘It very well may be,’ Violet admitted. ‘I thought to avoid it all by earning money from...well...’

‘Exposing the truth behind Lottie’s Ladies,’ Lottie offered.

Lottie’s Ladies. Well now, that did have a nice ring to it.

Not that Violet would be using it.

The truth of what Lottie said squeezed at Violet’s chest and she nodded sheepishly.

‘It’s not a bad idea.’ Lottie touched a finger to her chin. ‘I’m surprised no one has attempted as much before considering the amount of speculation as to what my lessons entail.’

‘But it was a bad idea,’ Violet countered. ‘I deceived you. I pretended I required your assistance.’

‘Did you not require it?’ Lottie lifted a single dark, perfectly sculpted brow.

Violet fell quiet at once as she recalled how Lottie had brought in the cheval-glass mirror. How Violet had been forced to confront what she actually liked about herself and what it had meant to her to finally concede she was not as hideous as she had presumed all those years.

‘I don’t teach seduction,’ Lottie said softly. ‘I will not help a lady learn to kiss better, or take off her clothing in a sensual manner, or whatever lurid details the ton likes to say of me. My purpose is to enable women to realise their true potential, to push beyond the box society shoves them into. To know it’s empowering for a woman to be confident, to like herself.’

Lottie gave a little pout. ‘Sadly, I do not think that makes for a very interesting article.’ Her pout blossomed into a coy smile that expressed an absence of any remorse as she made her way to a fine cherrywood table with a crystal decanter of rich red wine atop it beside the bosom of a sculptured naked woman. Lottie poured two glasses and handed the first to Violet, keeping the second for herself.

Violet cradled the heavy crystal glass in her palm. ‘But you do help women find husbands.’

Lottie chuckled and shook her head. Her thick, glossy locks caught the candlelight and shone purple-blue like a raven’s wing. ‘I help women find themselves.’ She drank from her wine glass, the action lovely and dainty. Even the flex of her slender throat as she swallowed the wine held allure.

‘Women generally lack confidence in themselves.’ She curled her fingers around the glass as she casually held it. ‘Something men have in abundance for a reason unknown to me. It’s quite an imbalance.’ She sighed. ‘I merely seek to right the scales of that injustice and set a woman’s assuredness in herself to the same level a man possesses. Or as close as can be obtained.’

‘So, you weren’t trying to help me find a husband?’ Violet concluded.

‘I was trying to make you appreciate yourself for the woman you are.’ Lottie ran her hand over the top of the maroon sofa, the movement graceful. ‘Though it appears you have found a man who would make a fine husband.’

The pain returned to Violet’s chest, vice-like and terrible. ‘I’m going to make a mess of it all.’

Lottie’s hand fell away. ‘Whatever do you mean?’

‘I’m ruined.’ Violet set her wine glass to the marble-surfaced table and her knees gave out. She plopped on to the firm sofa.

‘Did he take advantage of you?’ Lottie asked, her voice hard.

‘He didn’t.’ Violet folded her arms over her chest and bent over. As if she could cradle her own hurt within.

Lottie lifted her head in understanding. ‘That’s why you faded into the background in the first place.’

Her assessment was so accurate, it brought tears to Violet’s eyes anew. ‘I couldn’t let anyone know.’

Lottie sank on to the sofa beside Violet and brought with her a sweet, delicate scent of gardenia. ‘Please don’t let your past transgressions interfere with your chance for happiness now.’