How to Seduce a Scoundrel by Vicky Dreiling Read Free Book Online

skirt. A red stain spread, seeping into the cloth. “Oops.”
    “You had better dab that damp cloth on the stain,” Amy said.
    “But then my skirts will be wet.” She giggled. “Oh, they are already wet.”
    They all burst out laughing.
    Georgette walked to the decanter and refilled the glasses.
    “We should take care not to become inebriated,” Amy said.
    “Oh, why not?” Georgette gulped her wine. “All the gentlemen are sure to be three sheets to the wind by now.”
    “But we are ladies,” Amy said.
    Georgette snorted. “We are foxed ladies.”
    “Not foxed enough.” Julianne sipped her wine. “How shall I hurt him?”
    Georgette returned with both glasses and handed one to Amy. “We could put a curse on him.”
    Amy set her glass aside. “Silly. We don’t know any curses.”
    “I do.” Julianne smirked. “Damn.”
    “Bloody hell,” Georgette said, lowering her voice in a bad imitation of a man.
    “The devil.” Amy snickered.
    The three of them planned various, ridiculous tortures for Hawk that included the rack and chains. A few minutes later, Georgette poured the dregs of the decanter into her glass. “Julie, I am still convinced he is in love
wish
you,” she said.
    “No, he isn’t.” A hiccough escaped her.
    Amy regarded her with a frown. “Julianne, everyone in the ballroom remarked upon the way he looked at you on the dance floor. He continued to hold you even after the music stopped. I think his actions speak louder than his words.”
    Julianne stilled. He’d teased her, and then he’d gazed at her longingly. “Amy, you’re right.” She hiccoughed again. “He made me believe he cared. But when he realized everyone was talking about our waltz, he got cold feet. How dare he—
hic—
toy with me?”
    Georgette smirked. “We will find a way to make him pay.”
    “We are not the only ladies who suffer because of those rogues who evade marriage,” Amy said. “There must be some way for all the ladies to take the power into their hands.”
    “How?” Georgette said.
    Julianne grabbed Amy’s arm. “You are brilliant.”
    Amy blinked. “But I have no solution.”
    Julianne grinned. “I do. Thanks to Hester. She told me how to entice a rake, and—
hic—
I foolishly ignored her.”
    “But do we want to entice rakes?” Amy asked. “Should we not concentrate on the nice gentlemen?”
    “What
nish
gentlemen?” Georgette grumbled. Then she polished off her wine.
    Amy frowned. “The younger ones are agreeable.”
    Julianne covered another hiccough.
    Georgette scoffed. “The cubs can barely utter a word without
twipping
over their tongues.”
    “You are both missing the—
hic—
point,” Julianne said, revenge on her mind. “We can entice the gentlemen by making them think we desire them. And then we will drop them like hot coals.”
    “We won’t remember this tomorrow,” Amy said. “Julianne, you have a terrible case of the hiccoughs. You had better stop drinking.”
    She hiccoughed again and nearly spilled her wine while setting the glass on the floor. “I remember every word Hester said and will write it down for the two of you.”
    “If we are to succeed, we need all the single ladies to join us,” Georgette said. “Then the gentlemen will
notish
.”
    Julianne frowned. Georgette was slurring her words.
    “We will have to sw-swear all our sisters to silence,” Georgette said. “I wager all the other girls are as
disguised
with the gentlemen as we are.”
    “You mean
disgusted
,” Julianne said, noting the glassy look in Georgette’s eyes.
    “But will we not drive the gentlemen into the arms of those hussies who troll the theaters? Or worse, those married women with no scruples?” Amy asked.
    Julianne gave her friends a smug look. “We will be—
hic—
like Anne Boleyn.”
    “What?” her friends cried out in unison.
    “She kept Henry the Eighth on a frustrated leash for years. If she could do it, so can we.”
    Her friends burst out laughing.
    The