“Any time,” Harry said. “One day, I hope you can return the favor.”
He patted his brother’s back. “One day, you will find the woman who drives you to distraction. The one woman you cannot live without. Never settle for another.”
Harry nodded. “All you need to do now is find Bo.”
Yes, that was exactly what he needed to do. As expediently as possible.
call to order to the first official meetingof the Lady’s Suffrage Society,” Bo announced, though she really did not need to be so formal since the only members present for the inaugural gathering were herself, Clara, and Ravenscroft’s sisters Lady Alexandra and Lady Josephine.
They were seated in a spacious salon in Clara and Ravenscroft’s townhome, tea and cakes aplenty on hand, papers and pens at the ready. The three other women’s expressions suggested an eagerness that Bo wished she could replicate. In truth, she had been feeling apathetic toward everything of late, and she knew the reason why.
But being heartsick was not an excuse. Nor was it a state in which she preferred to dwell. There was work to do this evening. It was their intent to draft up some ideas for the sorts of campaigns they might employ to attract additional members, funds, and support, all of which the Lady’s Suffrage Society currently suffered a dearth of.
Bo and Clara had thrown themselves into their little society over the last week, and the earl’s sisters—spirited ladies prone to landing themselves in trouble and girls after Bo’s own heart—had been happy to join in the effort. Bo was heartily grateful for the much-needed distraction.
Living beneath the same roof as a husband and wife who were as besotted with each other as Ravenscroft and Clara were posed something of a dilemma for someone nursing a broken heart. She was beyond happy for her friend—the way the earl looked upon Clara when he thought no one else watched made Bo long for Spencer to gaze at her the same way.
Or at all.
Hush, foolish heart. We have been down that road, and it only led back to London and loneliness.
“What shall we discuss first?” Clara’s tone was laden with relish and she was lovely as ever in that bright, inimitable fashion only she possessed.
The Countess of Ravenscroft was glowing again today, and just yesterday, she had shared the reason with Bo: she wasenceinte. There was nary a hint of a burgeoning bump beneath her snug bodice, but Clara’s sparkling eyes and the way her hand occasionally strayed to her abdomen had given her away before her revelation.
Once again, Bo was thrilled for Clara in the most heartfelt and bittersweet manner. She would never have a child of her own, and the realization, even as she sat amongst her friends attempting to lead a meeting for the most important cause in her life, struck her with enough force to make her jolt.
“Bo?” Clara asked, frowning. “You’re quite pale. Are you well?”
No, she was not well. Nor did she ever hope to be again. Some part of her had hoped that Spencer might at least write her. She was well aware that he had not been to London in years, and that she had no hope of him daring to venture there. But a word, a sentence—drat it all, a blob of ink on a scrap of paper—would have been enough to give her hope. Their week at Ridgeley Castle had changed her forever. If she had nothing else, she had those stolen, fleeting moments of bliss.
“Indeed, you do look as if you had bad kippers at breakfast,” Lady Alexandra helpfully elaborated.
“Bo?” Clara prodded.
She stretched her lips into a smile. “Of course. Forgive me. I was lost for a moment in my thoughts. I can assure you that I did not consume kippers bad or otherwise, Lady Alexandra. I do not partake of fish.” She gave a shiver at the last, thinking once more of the dreadful procession of odiferous dishes her mother-in-law had foisted upon her.
“A wise lady indeed.” Lady Alexandra nodded with approval. “Did you know that salmon are born in freshwater, live most of their lives in saltwater, and then only return to freshwater to spawn? Disgusting creatures. I shan’t eat anything that cannot make up its mind.”
Bo stared at Ravenscroft’s sister. With her fiery hair and tall, willowy form, she already stood out as something of an oddity. Her forthright tongue and odd tendency to spew scientific minutiae did not help matters. For all that, she was strikingly attractive, if not in a traditional sense. Her peculiarity rather endeared her to Bo.
“I had no idea that salmon switched between waters, shillyshallying, Lady Alexandra,” she admitted.
“This is the sort of thing I caution you against saying in mixed company, Lex,” Clara said to her sister-in-law, taking on a motherly tone. “While it is good to be possessed of a vibrant and well-versed intellect, you simply cannot speak about spawning in regards to any creature. It is not done.”
Alexandra raised her brows. “Fortunately, we are not in mixed company, sister dear.”
Clara sighed. “Alexandra’s comeout is to be this spring, and up until recently, she has been spending far too much time under the questionable auspices of her elderly Aunt Lydia.”
“Alexandra is still in the room,” the subject of the conversation drawled. “You cannot speak about her as if she is not present.”
“Oh do stubble it, Lex,” Lady Josephine grumbled. “You know you ought to get out of the habit of saying such outrageous things. Clara is only trying to help you land a proper match.”
“I do not want a proper match,” Alexandra grumbled. “I do not want a match at all.”
“A wise lady indeed,” Bo said before she could think better of it.
Three sets of eyes swung to her.
