Page 45 of Duke of Wickedness

If Ariadne’s wariness had faded, it came back now in full force. Was she about to beblackmailed? That wasn’t… That wasn’t something that happened in real life, was it?

That was fodder for thrilling novels, and the blackmailer was always some mustachioed villain who would make attacks against the heroine’s virtue.

Well, Ariadne had already welcomed several none-too-virtuous activities, and Miss Turner didn’tlooklike a villain. She looked…a little cherubic. She was slender, her form athletic in a way that was very fashionable at the moment, but she had soft, rounded cheeks that made her look lovely and innocent.

Also, it was daylight. Surely it had to be illegal to blackmail someone in the daylight?

Well, maybe it was illegal to blackmail someone at any time. But it wasunnaturalto blackmail someone in the sunshine.

Thatwouldmake for a great twist in a novel, though—the greed-eyed maiden being the mastermind behind the chaos—so Ariadne kept her guard raised.

“What unique position?” she asked warily.

This was the very first time in the whole conversation that Miss Turner looked the least bit surprised.

“Why, to be friends, of course,” she said.

“To be—” Ariadne began echoing this, patently incredulous, then cut herself off. “Or what?”

Now, Miss Turner lookedopenlysurprised.

“Or—or nothing,” she said, her surprise yielding to a faint sense of woundedness. “I just—I just thought it would be nice.”

She seemed so genuine in this that Ariadne felt, with a sudden certainty, that shewasbeing straightforward, that shewassimply telling the truth—to Ariadne, at least, if not to Catherine—and that maybe, just maybe, Ariadne had read this all wrong.

Miss Turner looked at Ari, expression inscrutable, for a moment longer. Then she gave a stiffer smile than any that she’d shown before.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have?—”

“No,I’msorry,” Ariadne interrupted. “I—that sounds really nice, actually.”

Tentative hope crossed Miss Turner’s expression. “You think so?”

Now that she paused to consider it, Ariadnedidthink so. Hadn’t she been feverishly hoping for someone she could talk to about all this? Someone with whom she could be genuine and open?

“Yes,” Ariadne said more confidently. “I do think so.”

Miss Turner beamed. It did seem that this good cheer was her natural state…that and the mischievousness that shone in her eye.

Ariadne really had a knack for attracting troublesome types, didn’t she? She decided she would worry about that later.

“In that case,” Miss Turner said, “I have to ask: what brought you to that—” She paused dramatically. “—ballroom where we met?”

Thatwas a question that Ariadne couldn’t possibly answer—maybe at all and certainly not in the middle of Regent’s Park.

“Is ‘curiosity’ an acceptable answer?” she asked.

“‘Curiosity’ is theperfectanswer,” Miss Turner said eagerly. “It’s actually my exact answer, too. I just got so sick of not knowing, you know? Men get to know everything, and we get to know nothing? Just because of our sex? It seems petty and unfair and stupid.”

Ariadne laughed. There was just something about Miss Turner’s ebullience that was impossible to ignore.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Ariadne said. “But…you just went on your own?”

Miss Turner shrugged. “I didn’t have anyone else to go with me, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me.”

“That’s amazing,” Ariadne said, the words spilling out before she could think better of them. Maybe it was naïve or foolish, but shelikedMiss Turner.

“Well, thank you,” Miss Turner said, shrugging her shoulders happily. “You see, this is why I thought we would be good friends. Most people would say things like, ‘No, Phoebe. Don’t, Phoebe. That’s how people getmurdered, Phoebe.’”