preferred to spend their evenings after dinner. Breathe. Just breathe.
She stepped inside the room. “Well, how do I look?” she asked.
The two older women turned simultaneously. One shook her head, the other smiled broadly.
“I look like a boy, don’t I?” Caroline asked.
Millie clapped. “Caroline, it’s perfect.” She came to her feet so she could reach up and touch the hair exposed on her forehead. “Cutting your hair was a most excellent addition to the look.”
“I think so, too.” Caroline shifted her weight to the other leg, then walked around the room a bit. It would take a while to get used to wearing the trousers. She was so very used to corsets and heavy woolen gowns.
“I still believe this is far too dangerous,” Aggie said.
Millie looked at her older sister and sighed. “We’ve discussed this. Multiple times. The girl wants to play. This is her only option. Rodale’s is the safest gaming hell in all of London.”
“She has another option, she could not play. Or I could invite people over to play her,” Aggie said.
Millie waved her hand dismissively. “No, she wants to play an honest game with a true opponent.”
And she wanted to win, to win enough money to convert her family’s townhome into a boarding house for other orphans, girls who were too old to live in asylums and didn’t have the benefit of guardians in the form of handsome dukes. But Caroline said none of that. She wasn’t ready to share her plans with anyone.
“I would feel better if you told that step-son of yours what was going on,” Aggie said with a tight frown. “Let him know Caroline will be playing in his establishment so he can protect her.”
“Aggie, dear, we’ve already agreed your man will accompany Caroline into Rodale’s. He will keep her safe,” Millie said. “You said yourself that you would trust him with your own life. Will he not also protect our dear Caroline?”
“Of course. Boomer is most capable,” Aggie said. “Still, anything could happen. Someone could identify her as a woman and then what shall we do?”
“How could anyone believe me a woman when I look like this?” Caroline turned a circle so they could get a full view of her.
Aggie frowned. “At least slouch your shoulders. I don’t believe young men have such nice posture.”
Caroline smiled and nodded at Aggie. “I shall be very careful. I am merely going to play cards. Nothing more.” She held up her hand as if she were making a pledge, then thought better of it and simply offered Aggie a smile. Before coming to stay here, she’d only met Millie’s sister a handful of times, but she had always liked the woman despite her eccentricities. Still, she would have expected a little more forward thinking for a woman who had taken her manservant as her lover.
“Yes, but remember, you will not be allowed in the main room,” Aggie said. “Servants and commoners must play in the back room. You’ll be with them, as you certainly can’t pose as a young gentleman.”
“Precisely. And being in the back room allows me to play with your man,” Caroline said.
Aggie couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, Boomer is a good man, He will keep you safe.”
Millie grabbed Caroline’s hands. “You must keep your disguise at all costs. It is very important. If your true identity were discovered, it would ruin your reputation forever.”
Caroline didn’t point out that her reputation was of little value as it was. She was an orphan and the barely acknowledged ward of a man who usually ignored her existence. She was of such little consequence socially she had virtually no name to ruin. Nevertheless, she agreed. She would never do anything to tarnish Millicent Grisham’s good name. The duchess had an impeccable reputation. The woman had cared for her and basically raised her since Caroline had been orphaned at fifteen and sent to live with her new guardian, the Duke of Chanceworth. He hadn’t been willing to uphold his duty, but had somehow convinced his mother to take Caroline in.
“I believe I’m ready,” Caroline said. “I should like to get this first night over with. Get past the disguise and get on to playing the game. ‘Tis the point, after all.”
“Best of luck, my dear. I know you shall win. You are quite brilliant,” Millie said. “I would kiss your cheek, but you’re a little sooty.”
“Well, if this all goes amiss, we certainly know whom to blame,” Aggie said.
“Indeed. My dear son should never have taught