Free The Official Essex Sisters Companion Guide by Jody Gayle with Eloisa James Page B

gossip. She doesn’t even want to leave her room, though Oliver is more than up to the task of luring her out. The story turned into a rollicking tale of stolen kisses and indoor croquet—along with a visit by Josie, Mayne, and their young daughter, who was born at the end of Pleasure for Pleasure .
    A Gentleman Never Tells is being published separately from this companion, in e-book form. An excerpt can be found in the Appendix. I hope you enjoy the way the extra story and the new novella portray all three young women—Josie, Cecilia, and Catrina’s sister Lizzie—happily married. I suppose you could say that the stories together make up my version of the encouraging phrase that one finds all over the Internet: “It gets better.”
    Following A Midsummer Night’s Disgrace , you’ll find another bonus: a chapter I wrote to cap the entire Essex Sisters series. It takes place ten years after the end of Pleasure for Pleasure , allowing us to catch up with each of the sisters, hearing about babies and husbands, with a small anecdote from each. It begins with a beautiful Essex Sisters family tree, designed by the brilliant minds at Wax Creative. Trace all the marriages and babies yourself, then launch into one last glimpse of my favorite sisters.

A Midsummer Night’s Disgrace
A Brand-New Story in the Essex Sisters World
    Chapter One
    June 21, 1819
    A House Party
    Kent
    Seat of the Duke of Ormond
    “I don’t understand what I did wrong,” Lady Bellingworth moaned, wringing her hands. “You had the best governesses money could buy, and I took you to church often, and certainly every Easter!”
    “You did your best, Mama,” Cecilia replied. She spun in place, causing her new gown to swirl around her feet. “Isn’t it beautiful ?”
    The gown was better described by what it wasn’t: it wasn’t white, demure, or ruffled. It didn’t have the new gathered sleeves; in fact, it didn’t have any sleeves. There wasn’t much of a bodice either.
    A fold of strawberry-colored silk wound around Cecilia’s bosom and draped over her arms. Rather than following the line of her narrow skirts—made from a darker shade—the transparent overskirt clung to her hips before belling out around her toes. Arow of embroidered strawberries around the hem weighted the overskirt so it swirled around her as she moved, emphasizing her curves.
    And she had them.
    Cecilia considered her curves to be her best feature, with golden hair the color of old guineas a close second.
    Coaxed into tight ringlets by a curling iron, her hair took on an oddly metallic gleam. But tonight her maid had styled it in a frothy pile of natural curls, stuck about with ruby-tipped hairpins.
    “What are you wearing on your feet?” her mother cried, sounding rather like a kettle coming to boil.
    Cecilia lifted her skirts and looked happily at her toes. “New shoes.”
    Lady Bellingworth turned purple. “Those are your great-aunt Margaret’s diamond buckles!”
    Her shoes were made of strawberry silk embroidered in a silver crosshatch pattern that went splendidly with diamond buckles. But the pièce de résistance was her heels. They were covered in strawberry-colored silk and guaranteed to catch the eye.
    Generally speaking, ladies drifted around the ballroom in soft slippers, just as Cecilia had throughout the season. But she had carefully planned—in collusion with a brilliant modiste—to change her appearance from head to toe.
    In the past two seasons, she had dutifully worn white (which didn’t suit her), sat demurely at the sides of ballrooms (which didn’t suit her), and smiled rather than spoke (which really didn’t suit her).
    But she had arrived at the Duchess of Ormond’s house party this afternoon without a single white gown in her baggage. When a Bellingworth decides to change her appearance, she doesn’t hold back.
    She was not going to drift around the ballroom: she would sway , and her hips would sway right along with her.
    “You won’t