Perhaps he should learn to pray.
Surely, such dire action was not necessary as yet. Arthur still had his charm, though the lady in question might be immune to it. Either way, he could not regret having a logical reason to seek out Miss Patience Carruthers again.
Indeed, he was already looking forward to the encounter.
How to best prepare? He knew little of her affections and dislikes. He did know Rhys Bettencourt, who had married her older sister some years before. Perhaps Bettencourt could be persuaded to take Arthur’s cause.
It could not hurt to ask.
Arthur only hoped that the baron was in town. Theydidbelong to the same club. He would stop at White’s and see what he could learn. He excused himself, left Lady Beckham and her brother arguing, and made his escape.
* * *
Patience had not beenin close proximity to a lady in the family way before, and could not keep her gaze from straying to her sister’s ripening belly. She found her sister’s dimensions surprising, even hidden beneath the graceful folds of a new dress. The babe was not due until December, thus it was clear that Catherine would become considerably larger before the happy day. The sisters sat together in the library of Trevelaine House, a comfortable room with a considerable store of books. Patience approved of it mightily.
Even better, there was a fire on the hearth and three broad windows admitting the afternoon sunlight.
“If I possessed such a room, I might never leave it,” Patience said, not hiding her admiration in the least.
Catherine smiled. “I seldom do. Thank you for this unexpected visit, Patience. It is a delight to have company. If it was Prudence, I would believe there was a reason for your appearance, but not so with you.”
“But there is a reason, Catherine. I came to return your book.”
“My book?”
Patience offered the copy ofChilde Haroldand watched Catherine’s eyes widen in recognition of the volume.
“My book!” she said and reached to take it from Patience.
Patience pulled it back a little. “Is it your book? For if it is, Catherine, I should like to know why such a volume is in your possession at all.”
“You looked within it,” Catherine guessed, then grimaced.
“Mr. Beckham told me there was something wrong with the book. I opened it to prove him wrong.”
“Oh,” Catherine said.
“Oh,” Patience echoed. Their gazes met and Catherine was the first to smile. Her sister looked positively wicked.
“It isn’t actually my book,” Catherine admitted.
“Perhaps it belongs to your husband?”
“No.” Catherine looked across the room, just the way she always did when she was deciding how much of a tale to share. Patience waited, knowing that nothing would veer her sister from her course, whatever she decided it would be. Her curiosity would not be readily dismissed though. If Catherine refused to tell, she would have to find another way to learn the truth.
She was considering how that might be achieved when Catherine met her gaze again. “The book belongs to an acquaintance of mine. You need not know her name, but she has composed a volume of her own, calledThe Ladies’ Essential Guide to the Art of Seduction.”
Patience repeated the title, incredulous that she had heard it correctly.
Catherine nodded. “It is filled with amorous advice and details of a most intimate nature. The author’s intention is to see ladies better informed for the realities of the wedding night, for example, and for subsequent intimate encounters with their husbands. Her conviction is that men turn to other sources of satisfaction because wives tend to know so little of…expectations, and her book would address that deficit.”
“A book?” Patience asked.
“A book,” Catherine agreed. “Fully composed and edited. I was uncertain that Father would consider it for publication, given the content, but the author insisted that much more salacious volumes already exist for men. She brought this volume from her own collection to show me.”
They looked at the book as one.
“Then it is hers.”
