“At some point, while we were dancing, I sort of, um, decided I would go ahead and follow through with the idea of seducing him, you know? Where I cuckold Flavion and…”
“Oh, dear,” Sophia said. “Have you arranged a tryst already?”
Shaking her head, Cecily continued, “Well, when Mr. Nottingham suggested that I ought to use my feminine wiles to try to gain Flavion’s love and save our marriage, I—”
“Oh, good Lord! That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Emily interrupted. “You aren’t the one who ruined it. In fact, according to Flavion, it wasn’t even meant to be a real marriage to begin with.”
“I…” Cecily looked at Emily in exasperation. “…I told Mr. Nottingham that I don’thaveany feminine wiles. I told him I needed somebody to teach me what to do in…”
“In…?” Rhoda prompted her.
“In the marriage bed,” Cecily said and then covered her face with both of her hands. “Oh, my God, I cannot believe I said such a thing to a man I’ve only just met.”
The three girls reacted similarly. Up until Cecily married, none of them, except for Emily, who had read about it, had had any idea as to what took place between a woman and a man in their marriage bed. When Cecily described her wedding night to the girls, they’d all been both scandalized and intrigued. And now Cecily had discussed it with a man! A man she was considering seducing in order to beget a child!
Rhoda recovered first. “What did he say?”
Cecily forced a tremulous smile. “He’d think about it?” She wasn’t quite sure what that meant.
The girls became quiet again. In the breeze, a hint of cigar smoke floated over from the terrace. This night felt unreal to Cecily. Her life would never be the same again. She suddenly didn’t feel so well. Her head was spinning, and the scent of the cigar smoke caused her stomach to lurch quite ominously.
“Maybe he’d consider a group lesson for all of us.” Rhoda’s eyes danced. “That way we would all know what to do on our wedding nights.”
“Oh, dear,” Sophia finally said.
“Well, that’s a step anyway,” Emily stated baldly. “I still think we ought to go ahead and have Flave murdered. Much simpler, not nearly as messy.”
And on that note, Cecily turned into the hedges and proceeded to empty the contents of her stomach into a carefully tended row of rosebushes.
Rhoda held her hair away from her face, and Emily attempted to block the spectacle from any would-be onlookers. Sophia patted her on the back soothingly and said, “Not to worry, Cecily. Everything will be fine.”
CHAPTER THREE
Much later thatnight, Stephen reclined into the worn leather chair in the study he’d always associated with his uncle. On this night, however, it was Flavion who sat behind the large oak desk, his handsome face twisted into a scowl. Stephen could not help but be irritated by the general disorganization, evident by the strewn scraps of paper littering the desk and bookshelves behind it.
“I might have a problem, Stephen,” Flavion said, somewhat surprisingly. Stephen raised his brows. He’d thought he was going to have to convince his cousin of this seemingly apparent fact himself.
“Indeed?” he asked mockingly, although not enough to distract the younger man.
Flavion rose and took a few steps toward the window. As he did so, a few smaller pieces of paper floated unheeded to the floor. Stephen itched to pick them up. “Daphne told me something disturbing. She said that when she was outside, she overheard one of Cecily’s friends tell her that she ought to have me murdered! That cannot be possible, can it, Stephen? Cecily isn’t that type of chit. But her friends…” He jammed his hands down into his pockets in frustration. “I wouldn’t put it past the tall one — the one named after a flower.”
Stephen drew in a deep breath. Utter tripe! The idea that the countess would attempt to take Flave’s life was utter nonsense. It was her father who Flave ought to be wary of. Stephen had hoped his cousin had had an epiphany of sorts and realized the dire nature of his circumstances, Instead, he was giving into the paranoid delusions of his lover.
Stephen had only met the one friend, Miss Babineaux, and she’d seemed harmless, quite innocuous, in fact. She was a pretty little thing but without the substance and vitality Lady Kensington possessed. Cecily Nottingham was like a shiny new instrument, begging to be tuned and played. But a murderess? Hardly.
“I wouldn’t worry about that, Flave. What you ought to be worrying about is whatThomas Findlayis going to do to you once he returns from America and discovers you’ve broken his daughter’s heart.”
Flave waved Stephen’s words away with a flick of his hand. “What would he be upset about, Stephen? I’ve taken his daughter off his hands, right enough. Isn’t that what any father would wish for? Bloody hell, I’ve made a mere merchant’s daughter into a countess.”
“Obviously, Flave, you don’t know Mr. Findlay as well as I do.”
“How do you know him?” Flave looked up in surprise. Stephen was gratified to finally have his cousin’s full attention.
“I’ve been up against him in a number of business deals, Flave. Believe me when I tell you he is unscrupulously protective of his property. You can wager his daughter merits even further consideration. It’s rumored that he’s killed men who’ve betrayed him. I think your actions can be construed thusly.”
Flave sat down on the edge of the desk and looked thoughtful. “You think?”
Squeezing the bridge of his nose yet again, Stephen nodded. “Yes, Flave, I think. And that leaves it up to you to do everything you can to regain Lady Kensington’s affections.”
