Beyond Rubies (Daughters of Sin Book 4) Read Free Page B

actresses who sought to land the lead role in this production of Romeo and Juliet . Unlike her mother or Lissa, Kitty wasn’t good with a needle and thread, otherwise she’d have worked magic and turned her gown into the height of fashion.
    She’d been delighted when Lissa had proudly spurned it. If the beautiful, discerning Araminta considered it too ‘last season’ and had discarded it, then Lissa would not wear it either. Besides, she’d declared, why would she need fine gowns when she was merely a governess to the Lamont family in London? Serviceable serge and cotton would do well enough while she was proving to the world that she was a more worthwhile creature than the cosseted Araminta and Hetty. At least, that’s how Kitty interpreted her sister’s indignant response.
    Kitty, by contrast, was more than happy to wear Araminta’s castoffs. They would serve her well in the theater where she was confident she’d meet her heart’s desire—the gentleman whom she’d know with the exchange of a single smoldering, impassioned look. This scion of the nobility would pluck her from her lowly status, recognize her worth, brand her his, and ultimately make her his wife. It had all been prophesied, and Kitty was looking forward to lording her newfound status over Miss Araminta Partington, whom she was determined would not only notice her, but desire above all to swap places.
    For now, Araminta did not even know Kitty existed.
    But she soon would.
    And when Miss Kitty La Bijou was a name on everyone’s lips, she’d find Lissa, who was so unhappy in her London job, and loathed lazy Mrs. Lamont who believed herself so much grander than she was, and spoiled Miss Maria, who was embarking upon her first season with all the airs of a duchess ‘though she’d be lucky to snare a clerk,’ according to Lissa. Kitty would also like to teach a lesson to Mr. and Mrs. Lamont’s son, Master Cosmo, who, Lissa had written, wanted Lissa to paint portraits for him of society personages which he then passed off as his own.
    Lissa’s last letter, however, had been very mysterious. She’d left the Lamont household to live with a dressmaker where she continued her sketches, from what Kitty could gather, though how she could keep body and soul together in such employment was a mystery.
    The strangest thing was that Lissa had left no forwarding address.
    Not that Kitty was relying on staying with Lissa which, of course, would not have been possible anyway. She’d already forged a plan having made her presence known to Mr. Lazarus, the director of The Taming of the Shrew , which was doing a number of performances in their little village before it went to the next county. Mr. Lazarus had looked her up and down in a very appraising way, Kitty thought. He’d then invited her to sit down and offered her biscuits and Madeira, something she’d never tried before and which made her feel quite lightheaded, and at the end of a very heartening conversation, he’d given her a very stylish London address where she could find lodging. She knew it must be stylish because Mr. Lazarus was a very smart gentleman, if a touch flamboyant with his green felt hat and loudly-patterned waistcoat. But he was the man in charge, and he decided who would act in his plays and which actresses would take a lead role, their ticket to fame and glory. So when he smiled his very white smile, and smoothed his sideburns in evident satisfaction at the well-put-together package Kitty had tried to present to him, she knew she’d surmounted the first obstacle.
    Of course, her plan to become an actress in London was a huge secret she’d had to keep from her mother. She’d worked very hard at home, helping with the baby and household chores during the past two weeks, hoping to make up in some small measure for the subsequent loss of her services, which her mother could not know about beforehand.
    Kitty and her mother were not close, and the baby was docile. Besides, why