Page 2 of Engaging Sir Isaac

“A test?” Millie’s eyes widened. Her mother had said nothing of a test.

“Of course.” Dry amusement colored Lady Olivia’s tone. “Are you under the impression that we befriend fallen women as part of our charity work?” All three women laughed, their voices airy, their noses turned up in haughtiness. They trilled their unkind humor as beautifully as birds.

For a brief moment, panic seized Millie. Though familiar with Society’s coldness, she hadn’t been openly mocked before. Rather than wilting, as her maid seemed to do, Millie tilted her chin upward. She did not deserve to be laughed at, whatever the case.

“My mother led me to believe you were in search of a companion for the summer, Lady Olivia. If coming into your good graces requires a test, I stand ready to attempt it. Everyone knows your friendship elevates ladies into Society faster than marriage to the right man.”

Mrs. Vanderby’s gaze swept Millie from the top of her feathered bonnet down to the tip of her walking boots. “Oh, there is a touch of boldness to your mouse, Olivia.”

“We are often bold when we are out of other options,” Lady Olivia stated. “Very well. Miss Wedgewood. We have a task to set for you. Three tasks, actually. You will earn your place as my companion for the summer, if you can complete the first task.”

Though Millie’s heart trembled and warned her to walk away, Lady Olivia was right. Millie was out of options. “Name it, my lady.”

All three women stopped laughing. In fact, their serious masks were only broken by the gleam in their eyes.

Mrs. Vanderby and Lady Sophie looked to Lady Olivia.

Lady Olivia rose; her place as the leader of the little group was obvious in the way the other two watched her. If Millie won over Lady Olivia and no one else, it would be enough. The woman had a reputation not just for her cold beauty, but for a shrewd mind, not to mention a cutting wit.

“It will not come as a surprise to you, given your history, that there are men in Society who take great pleasure in holding all the power. Even someone such as me, and as my friends here, have been wronged. Your task, Miss Wedgewood, is to gain our revenge on the men who humiliated us.” Lady Olivia came closer, her beautiful eyes narrowing dangerously. “What do you think of that, little mouse?”

Millie curled her hands into fists, her mind turning, as it had, to the man who had destroyed her family and tried to crush her in the process. Her sister’s former intended. A thousand times, she had thought out how to do to him what he had done to her. A thousand times, she had planned out in her mind how to go about it. But she never would. Never could. He was untouchable, especially since his marriage into an equally powerful family.

But could she even dream of doing for these women what she hadn’t the courage or ability to do for herself? And what were they asking, precisely?

“What do you mean, revenge?” The lovely May sunlight dimmed as clouds crept across the sky.

“Humiliate them,” Lady Olivia said softly. “Hurt them where it matters most. Each man will prove a different sort of challenge, of course.”

Millie cleared her throat. Was she a mouse? Perhaps her mother was right. Millie could not even picture herself doing something so underhanded, so unkind. Then she blinked. Mother had told her to stop playing by the rules. Had she known Lady Olivia would put this challenge to Millie?

“How would I manage that?” She hated the submissiveness in her tone.

Lady Olivia’s teeth flashed in her smile. “No one gives someone like you much notice. You are practically invisible. You can go where others would be seen and spoken of, but none will even mark your presence. You will find the weakness in these men. The chink in their armor. You will report to us.” Lady Olivia waved a hand to indicate the other two ladies, now silent. “And we will expose their flaws to all of Society. Hurting them. Humiliating them.”

“I doubt she can do it.” Lady Sophie shrugged, lowering her lashes.

“But a mouse is perfect for this sort of thing. Creeping about.” Lady Olivia’s smile warmed, though Millie did not trust it any more than she had a moment ago. If Millie was a mouse, this woman was a cat, toying with her before deigning to pounce.

“I think we ought to give her the first task.” Mrs. Vanderby sat upon the bench again.

“I agree. Very well, Miss Wedgewood.” Lady Olivia’s false-friendliness chilled the air between them. “We will tell you of these men. If you can solve Lady Sophie’s difficulty, I will trust you with mine.”

“And I with mine,” Mrs. Vanderby added.

Millie’s heart beat rapidly within her breast. What choice did she have? Her mother had sent her here, had to have known there would be a price to pay for Lady Olivia’s favor.

“What are the parameters of this test?” The women would be conniving. Vicious. Clever. No one rose to such importance in the world of fashion and social politics as they did without those traits. No one. And that included Millie now, too.

“Lady Sophie’s enemy resides here, in London. The other two will be present in the country, near my family’s home.” Lady Olivia smiled, languidly, showing her teeth again. “Bring Lady Sophie something she can use to her advantage. Knowledge. Evidence. Whatever you can find that would truly humiliate her Mr. Burton.”

Millie nodded rapidly. “I will.” Though she did not know how, precisely. It would take some study.

“If you succeed, I will invite you to my family’s house party,” Lady Olivia continued. “And give you a reintroduction to Society, on a small, manageable level. Should you prove capable, and fulfill your end of the bargain, I will make a pet of you next Season and do all in my power to restore you to popularity. Does this suit you?”

Agreeing to such underhanded schemes did not sit right with Millie. But these women claimed the men they would set her upon had hurt them. Humiliated them. As one on the receiving end of such actions, Millie could easily believe their accusations. She would do as they asked. Do what she could not do for herself.

She raised her chin. “Yes, my lady. It suits me. Point me to your first target, and I will not fail.” Mrs. Wedgewood would be so proud of her daughter, of the lack of quaver in her voice.