Wish List

Shrugging his thoughts away, he turned his attention to the matter at hand. "Take Sally and Belle to be tended; then see them home. Here." Unlocking the drawer of his desk, he retrieved a sack and tossed it to his doorman. "Split this between them and tell them not to come back until they are recovered."

Nodding, the large man turned and left him alone to his thoughts, which promptly returned to the woman he had been kissing only moments before. Damn, she had looked fine in breeches. Even sagging, baggy breeches. But, he thought with a small smile, she had looked even better with them pooled around her ankles.

Chapter Three

"Oh, dear."

"'Oh, dear' is right!" Prudence quit her pacing and dropped glumly onto the settee beside Eleanore. The Kindersleys' town house was where Prudence had taken her father's clothes to change into them before attempting her infiltration of Ballard's. After fleeing the scene of her humiliation, she had been forced to return to change back into her gown. She would have preferred to have Jamison take her straight home, where she could weep over her humiliating failure in private, but, dressed as she had been, going home had been impossible. Meg Prescott was not aware of what her daughter was up to. It was her Christmas wish, after all. Besides, she probably wouldn't have approved.

Now that she was here and had revealed the humiliating results of her venture, Prudence found that she did actually feel a touch better. Eleanore's sympathy was a soothing balm.

"What was it like?"

Pru turned a confused gaze to her friend. "What? Realizing that I was standing there with Father's breeches down around my ankles like some-"

"Nay."

The other woman started to smile, but bit it back quickly, Prudence noticed.

"Nay," she repeated. "I meant the kiss. What was his kiss like?" '

Prudence glanced away, her mouth twitching and twisting before she could control it. She wasn't at all surprised to find her friend curious about that. They had often talked about the members of the ton, discussing the men they found attractive and such. Stephen had been one of them.

He was terribly handsome and debonair. And she and Eleanore were not the only ones who thought so. The older set among the ton might have resented having to admit him to society, but the younger ladies were more than happy to have him around, and they often vied for his attention. Eleanore and Prudence had never been among those who vied, but they had certainly noticed the man and would not have said nay had he asked for a dance, or the opportunity to fetch them a refreshment.

It wasn't just that he was attractive, but he had shown his kindness on several occasions. It was well known that he had a tendency to befriend those the ton saw as just barely acceptable, and there was never a wallflower so long as he was in attendance. He made a point of being introduced, and of making everyone feel included. Pru and Ellie had both appreciated that. Especially Prudence, who just lately had found herself in need of being rescued from being a wallflower. She rarely attended social functions, but had on one or two occasions under pressure from Eleanore. Unable to afford a new gown, she had been forced to wear last season's fashions. The fact had been recognized at once by all, and the fact that it meant that the family's wealth was now failing had been understood. There was nothing the ton fled from faster than those whose wealth was dwindling. Prudence had found herself in the uncomfortable position of being avoided by most people as if she had the plague. And absolutely no one had asked her to dance-except for Stephen, once, at each of the events. No, he might not have recalled her upon their meeting, but she had had no problems remembering him.

If she were honest with herself, Prudence would admit that after each affair she had wasted several minutes lying abed at night fantasizing that they had shared more than a dance. She imagined that she had seen a certain something in his eyes as they had moved about the dance floor, and that he would someday sweep into her life and save her from the embarrassing situation her father was dragging them all into. But that had been before she learned that he actually owned the establishment her father favored for his destructive behavior. Oh, she had known that he owned some sort of hall, but she hadn't realized it was one where gambling took place-or that it was the exact one her father spent most of his time at. Prudence had stopped fantasizing about the man the moment she had learned that. Well, all right. So she hadn't stopped fantasizing about him, but she had taken to berating herself most firmly afterward for doing so.

"Well?"

Pru turned her attention back to Eleanore at her friend's impatient prompting and shrugged. "It was a kiss, Eleanore. Just a kiss."

"Uh-huh. Just a kiss that distracted you enough that you did not even notice you were losing your trousers."

Prudence felt her face flush with remembered embarrass-ment, then shifted impatiently and got up to pace again. "Can we not concentrate on my problem? What am I to do now? Plunkett will not let women in and would not be fooled by my being disguised as a man again. I must find another way to get inside."

"Can you not just confront your father at home, Pru? Surely that would be easier than-"

"Nay. He leaves the moment he arises."

"Catch him on his way out then."

"I have attempted to do so, but he continually evades me. Yesterday I waited outside his door for two hours. I left to visit the privy-for just a minute, mind-and he slipped out while I was gone. I think he must have been watching out his keyhole and waited for me to leave."

"Hmm." They both fell silent as Eleanore pondered this news; then she murmured, "Perhaps you should try a different approach."

"What do you mean?" Prudence stopped her pacing and turned to eye her friend with interest.

"Well, you have said that he drinks first, then gambles?" When she nodded at that, Ellie suggested, "Well, if you could prevent his drinking, he might stop gambling."

Prudence considered that briefly. "Think you that would really work?"

"Well, the one does seem to follow the other. Does it not?"

"Aye."

The other girl shrugged. "So if you stop him from drinking, mayhap the gambling will seem less appealing."

A smile slowly blossomed on Pru's face at her friend's logic. It seemed sound to her. "Eleanore, you are brilliant!" she pronounced at last, making the other girl flush with pleasure. "But how?"

"How?"

"How am I to prevent his drinking? He does most of his imbibing out of the house."

"Oh." Eleanore fretted over the problem briefly, then suddenly got to her feet and hurried from the salon. Prudence watched her go with confusion and even stood, uncertain whether to follow her friend or not. But before she could reach the door, Ellie was rushing back into the room, a book in hand.

"What is that?" Prudence asked.

"One of my mother's books of general advice. It includes a medical dictionary. I thought to see what it advises regarding imbibing intoxicants." Leading Prudence back to the settee, Eleanore settled there, waited until Prudence had arranged herself beside her, then held the book between them and began riffling through the pages, muttering under her breath. "Intoxicants, intoxicants, intoxi- No intoxicants, but they do have intoxication," she said with quiet excitement, and lifted the book closer to her face to read. "'Although literally meaning "poisoning of the blood by alco-'"

"Skip over that part, Ellie, and find what they suggest to rectify the problem," Prudence urged impatiently.

"Suggestions." Eleanore sca