Page 39 of A Lady’s Guide to Subterfuge and Science

“Is that Kalila?” Dameer stuck his head out of the parlor, saw Amelia in her state of undress, and swiftly turned his back. “Amelia!”

“What?” Amelia glanced down at herself. “What’s the matter?”

“You’re missing your gown,” Kalila told her, entertained enough to no longer be inundated with thoughts of Oliver Booth.

“I’m not naked.”

Dameer buried his head in his hands. “Amelia, please. Go upstairs.”

“Goodness,” Amelia said, doing as she’d been asked, “you can be so stuffy, Dameer.”

Kalila tapped Dameer on the shoulder as soon as Amelia had disappeared up the steps. “She’s gone.”

Her cousin didn’t bother to hide his embarrassment. “Thank you.”

“It’s all right,” Kalila assured him. “You’ve seen me in my nightgown before.”

“It’s different.”

“Maybe,” Kalila said, “but she didn’t seem to mind.”

“No,” Dameer agreed, casting his brown eyes to the floor. “I don’t know how to—you know.”

“We’re going to a ball,” she told him, hoping she was providing him some comfort. “You’ll get your chance.”

He hummed in acknowledgment. “I shouldn’t keep you. We’ll meet down here at seven.”

Kalila hesitated before going upstairs to find Caroline. Dameer could sometimes be a touch too straitlaced, but it was usually when he was nervous. She had no doubt that Amelia would change her tune if she only saw how relaxed Dameer could be in Painswick. But it was hopeless—he was always nervous around Amelia.

“There you are!” Caroline crowed, pulling Kalila into her bedchamber and positioning her in front of a vanity. “I found the perfect hairpiece for you. Nobody will know that you’ve cut all your hair off.”

“Where’s Amelia?” Kalila asked, suddenly overwhelmed. She wasn’t quite sure she even wanted to go to Willow House. In fact, a very big part of her knew that she’d rather be readying herself for a different ball altogether.

With a different person.

“She’s gone to get dressed,” Caroline said, fiddling with Kalila’s curls. “How was the lecture today?”

Kalila winced as Caroline poked pins against her head. “Fine.”

Caroline looked at Kalila in the mirror and raised an arched eyebrow. “And Mr. Booth?”

“What about him?”

Caroline studied her for a moment before shrugging. “I understand, you know. Even if I did give you an earful last night.”

“There’s nothing to understand,” Kalila protested as Caroline began to pin a pile of curls to what was left of Kalila’s hair.

“I think there’s plenty to understand,” Caroline said, threading pearls throughout the hairpiece. “But we needn’t discuss it if you aren’t ready. Gown next. You can borrow one of mine.”

Ready?

She’d sworn that she’d never allow herself to be ready again.

Kalila was directed to Caroline’s wardrobe, where she saw an exquisite navy-blue gown. It was free of the lace trimmings of the lavender frock that hung beside it, instead boasting sleeves with tiny pearls sewn around the cuffs.

It was perfect.

After much pulling, poking, and prodding, Kalila and Caroline emerged from the room right on time. Amelia, in a pale-pink gown, trailed after them, breathy with excitement now that she was able to move around without her crutch. Dameer awaited them in the entryway, as well-dressed as Kalila had ever seen him.