“Poppy!”Bea nearly shouted, horrified.
“Well?”Poppy demanded.“Did you?”
Bea wilted.“No.But nearly.”
The room exploded into shrill, scandalized joy.
Georgie’s jaw nearly hit the floor.“Why, Beatrix Winslow, I am so proud of you.”
Bea groaned.“Please stop talking.”
Georgie leaned forward.“Be honest—how fardidit go?”
Bea stared at the carpet.“Far enough.”
Georgie’s eyes widened.“Did he touch?—”
“Georgie!”Bea practically yelped.
Georgie waved a hand.“Fine, fine, never mind.We’ll assume ‘far enough’ means far enough to make a grown man contemplate repentance.”
Bea groaned again.“This is a disaster.Didn’t you hear me?I’ve been all wrong about him, and he has no idea it’s been me skewering him all this time.”
Georgie eyed her shrewdly.“A minor detail.”
“It’s not minor at all,” Bea said reflexively, crossing her ankles.“He’s certain to hate me when he finds out.And what if he tells Papa?”
“He’s clearly on your side,” Georgie pointed out.“He defended you at dinner.”
Poppy nodded.“And quite heroically, I might add.”
Georgie arched a brow.“Sounds like the type of man one ought to marry if one wasn’t committed to being a spinster.”
Bea scowled.“Wallflower.And I don’t know what I’m committed to any longer.I feel as if everything I believe in is wrong.It’s as if I don’t know anything anymore.”
Georgie folded her arms.“Well, you had better start knowing things, because that man is planning to marry you, is he not?”
Bea stood and paced in front of the fireplace.“Yes.I mean, no.I mean…he was, but I have to tell him the truth before it goes any further.I must tell him I’m B.Adroit.Before he finds out on his own.”
“So tell him,” Poppy said simply.
“But what if he wants to rescind his offer?”Bea groaned.“What if he hates me?”
Georgie leaned forward.“I doubt he’ll want to rescind his offer.”
Bea paled.“What if he tells my father?”
“Won’t your father forgive you?”Poppy asked.
“For making him a laughingstock among his peers for years?Have you met my father?”
“Honestly, no,” Poppy replied with a shrug.
“Suffice it to say, I’ll be lucky if all he does is cut me off and toss me onto the street.”
Georgie nodded gravely.“Bea has a point.Satire against the government is one thing.Satire against your own father?Satire that has already stirred political unrest?Bea, B.Adroit has become notorious.”
“Exactly,” Bea whispered.
