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Tour herself.” Daisy was pleased by the hard blink of surprise Isabella cast her. “Nanette has shown me your old wardrobe from your days as ‘La Belle Wren,’ and the gowns are still stunning.”
    “My, my, hasn’t Nanette been a busy little bee?”
    “Don’t scold her. It’s my fault. She hasn’t done anything I haven’t asked.” Daisy’s heart raced a bit at the thought of appearing in public as a woman of pleasure. “You might have been a bit smaller than I, but surely there’s a gown in that collection I could squeeze into.”
    “Being a courtesan is far more complicated than squeezing into a revealing gown.” Isabella drummed her fingertips on the arm of her chair.
    “I know.” Daisy warmed to the idea with every breath. “I’d have to charm all the men in the room while making each one feel that he alone held my interest. I’d have to be gay and witty. Be available, yet unattainable.” She winked slyly. “I’d have to be you all over again, Isabella.”
    Her great-aunt smirked, but Daisy could tell she was flattered by the reminder of her glory days.
    “Please,” Daisy said.
    Isabella raised her hands in mock surrender. “Very well. If we are going to do this thing, we’re going to do it right.” She tinkled the little bell on the serving tray, and Nanette appeared in the doorway. “Miss Daisy is attending the ball tonight, Nanette. She will wear the red tulle gown and my best wig.”
    “Oui, madáme.”
    “She is coming as Mademoiselle Blanche La Tour, woman of pleasure, so give her the full regimen of toilette a courtesan must endure,” Isabella said.
    Nanette’s eyes went round, but she merely bobbed her understanding in a shallow curtsy. “I shall prepare the bath tout de suite. This way, s’il vous plaît, mam’selle.”
    Daisy stood to follow the lady’s maid out, but Isabella stopped her with a hand to her forearm.
    “This may be just a game to you, Daisy, but it’s a dangerous one. You wanted men to see you. In this costume, I promise you, they shall,” Isabella warned. “You will feel very powerful tonight. When a woman knows men desire her and she has it within her to please or thwart them with a glance, it can be heady. But there is another power at work.”
    Daisy raised a questioning brow.
    “Desire can overtake a woman as easily as a man. A mask may hide a person’s identity for only a short time,” Isabella said. “In the morning, you’ll wash your face the same as always, and I would have you bright eyed before your looking glass. Therefore, I must have your solemn promise that whatever may happen this night, the dawn will find you in the same state of purity you now enjoy.”
    “I am in perfect control of my own person,” Daisy said, tight-lipped.
    “I’m delighted to hear it. Just make certain you control the men who will seek your attentions.”
    “ ‘Do this. Don’t do this.’ ” She gently pulled away from Isabella. “Honestly, you sound like Aunt Jacquelyn.”
    “Then my daughter is a wise woman,” Isabella said. “I’ll be the first to admit there are pleasures aplenty in a lover’s bed, but there are snares as well. I’d spare you, child. When you do finally go to a man’s bed, I want it to be with your heart’s and mind’s consent, as well as your body’s.”
    Daisy leaned down and pressed a kiss to the older woman’s cheek. “It will be. Thank you, Great-auntie.”
    “How many times have I told you to call me Isabella?” she said with feigned severity. “How shall I maintain the illusion of eternal youth if society is constantly reminded that I’m old enough to have a grown great-niece? Off you go, now.”
    Isabella watched with fondness as her great-niece rounded the corner and disappeared after Nanette. Then she checked her mantel clock. Yes, if Isabella hurried, there was just enough time for her to issue one more invitation for tonight’s masquerade. Her footman would have to hand-deliver it.
    There was always the