Could one?
She forced herself to speak. “It was indeed most kind of the earl, and now, thanks to him, my splinter is removed.” She smiled at her sister before casting a frantic glance toward the earl. “You may go now, my lord. It would not do for anyone else to find you here. Thankfully, my sister can be trusted to keep your assistance to me in such a sensitive matter between the three of us. Can you not, Grace dearest?”
She had never before asked her sister to keep a secret from their brother for her, but Eugie would ask it now. She had no wish for Dev to force her to marry the earl, or for him to challenge Hertford to a duel.
Grace hesitated, her eyes narrowing farther, before she responded. “Yes, of course. I will keep yourassistancewith my sister’s splinter to myself, particularly since the splinter has been removed and such a scene will not be repeated. Will it?”
The wickedness within Eugie certainly hoped it would.
“Misses Winter,” the earl said stiffly, before he bowed to the both of them. “If you ladies will excuse me, I should leave before I cause any undue harm to either of your reputations.”
“Yes, do go,” Grace said rather rudely.
“Of course,” Eugie murmured, glaring at her sister before turning her gaze back to Hertford. “Thank you, my lord.”
For kissing me senseless, she wanted to add. Wisely, she refrained. The look he gave her was as scorching as it was brief. And then, he was gone.
Leaving Eugie alone to face her sister.
“What was the Earl of Hertford truly doing beneath your skirts?” Grace demanded when the door had scarcely closed on his lordship’s back.
“Lower your voice if you please,” Eugie ordered her sister. “I have no wish for such a question to carry.”
“Then you should not have been alone with the earl in this room with his hands up your skirts,” her sister countered, her tone laden with censure.
Grace was not wrong.
Eugie had no excuse for her actions, save the way being in Lord Hertford’s presence made her feel. Perhaps it was his mouth. Or his kisses? Those hazel eyes. The strong, well-defined slash of his jaw. That light-brown hair of his, almost the shade of honey…
“I acted imprudently,” she forced herself to say, lest her mind get carried away. The ramifications of her actions descended upon her, filling her cheeks with heat and her heart with regret. “I could have caused great harm to all your reputations, and for that I am sorry. You will not tell Dev, will you?”
Her sister’s lips compressed and she gave her a searching look before answering. “Before I make any promises, please tell me the splinter in question was not Lord Hertford’s manly appendage.”
“Manly appendage?” Eugie’s cheeks went hotter still. “Grace!”
“Oh, do not act scandalized with me.” Grace took a step closer, her thorough gaze traveling over the mangled remnants of Eugie’s coiffure. “You were just allowing a man liberties. Your hair is almost completely unbound, you know. If anyone else were to have come upon you… Never mind. I am getting distracted. You did not answer my question about the dubious splinter.”
Of course, she knew to what her sister was referring. Christabella had recently been able to acquire some rather lurid books with the aid of an enterprising lady’s maid. Their sister-in-law, Lady Emilia, had also given them a stern talk. But still. His manly appendage?
She could not bear say it aloud.
“There was no splinter,” she admitted instead, “as you well know. I was following Lord Ashley, and Lord Hertford approached me out of nowhere. I could not very well admit I was following Lord Ashley so that I could kiss him and remove him from the list.”
“You are truly going through with your madcapkiss all the gentlemenplan?” Grace demanded. “You do realize how many gentlemen are in attendance and how short the weeks are until Christmas, do you not?”
“I am not intending to kissallthe gentlemen,” she defended herself. “Just the ones who appear to be courting our sisters and who have suspect motives. Lord Ashley, for instance, is a notorious reprobate. He does not deserve Pru.”
“I rather thought he was attempting to arrange a match between Pru and his brother,” Grace said then, frowning.
“The duke and Pru?” It was Eugie’s turn to frown as she contemplated that. “I do think you must be wrong. Coventry has scarcely spoken a word to Pru.”
“He has scarcely spoken a word to anyone,” Grace countered. “Indeed, there is something odd about him. He almost never goes about in society, but he is somehow a familiar of Lady Emilia’s, which is the only reason he would deign to attend.”
“Perhaps I shall not have to kiss Lord Ashley after all,” she mused.
“At last we return to you and your scandalous behavior,” Grace said. “You were on your way to kiss Lord Ashley, when Lord Hertford waylaid you and you wound up kissing him and allowing him to toss up your skirts instead.”
She winced. “When you say it thus, it sounds hideous.”
