“Is my father in?”
“He left last night with friends.”
Friends could mean anything, especially since he had not returned home.
“Will you send refreshments to the side room?” Leonie said.
“I have already arranged for it.”
“Thank you, Yarrow.”
“My pleasure, my lady.”
She paused before going into the receiving room. She decided to tell her dearest friends that she had taken ill, the sorriest excuse of all, but what else would account for her missing a party in her honor?
Placing a smile on her face, she opened the door.
Cassandra and Willa sat on the settee with their heads together. At her entrance, they jumped up and came rushing to her, giddy words tumbling over each other.
“Was it complete bliss?” Cassandra asked breathlessly.
“Were you frightened?” Willa wondered.
Leonie took a step back. “What are you talking about?”
“The marriage bed,” Cassandra said. “Did he find your passion flower of ecstasy?”
“My what?”Leonie said.
“Oh, you know. You were at my salon the night Mr. Roger Edmonds read from his work on the topic. I thought I would swoon before he was finished.”
Leonie frowned and then she remembered. “I do remember a poet reading about the ‘passion flower of ecstasy.’ However, I thought he was discussing gardening.” She was joking, of course. Mr. Roger Edmonds was guilty of very bad poetry.
However, Cassandra didn’t know if she was jesting or not. She glanced at Willa. “She’s teasing,” Willa assured her. To Leonie, she said, “Your husband was dashing the way he carried you into the house.”
“Sweptin with her,” Cassandra proclaimed. “We waited for you to return, and when you didn’t, most of the women in the room were jealous.”
“Yes,” Willa agreed. “They were all certain your passion flower was in ecstasy.”
“Willa! Edmonds’s work is serious,” Cassandra chastised, and Willa laughed her response.
Leonie looked over her shoulder, praying Yarrow and the other servants didn’t hear this romantic nonsense, even as she herded her friends into the coziness of the side room. “Let us go in here. It is more private.”
“Yes, privacy,” Cassandra repeated brightly. “So you may tell usallthe details.”
Leonie closed the doors behind them. “What details?”
“About the marriage bed,” Willa said. “Does it hurt? Annabelle Markham said she was in pain for weeks after Niles had her.”
“Yes, and I can’t imagine Niles hasanythingmanly,” Cassandra threw in, wagging her eyebrows as if she meant something other than she said.
Willa laughed. “However, Rochdale is afarcry from Niles.”
“Oh, yes,” Cassandra said. “Heis. So, Leonie, the truth!”
“About?” Leonie didn’t want this conversation. Oh, not at all.
“The passion flower of ecstasy,” Cassandra replied with some exasperation. “Did you experience it?”
