Page 24 of The Gift of a Christmas Scandal

“I know you didn’t. But it’s the perfect solution, don’t you see? If we are caught like that, and it’s public knowledge, Lady Phyllida will be expected to cry off immediately, Lord Hockingmoor will be expected to turn his back on me, and both the Duke and I will be saved from the doom of life in miserable marriages.”

“But Selina, if the Duke compromises you, he will be expected to marry you…”

“I know, wonderful, isn’t it?”

Mariel shook her head, still uncertain.

“But Selina, is it what he wants? I gather that you want to marry him?”

“Yes, we talked about it – we decided that we did want to marry each other, even though we weren’t sure to start with.”

“Surely there is another way… You will be the gossip of the ton for years to come if you do this, Selina.”

“I don’t care. Far better that than not be subject to gossip whilst married to the dullest man I have ever met.”

“Well yes, I do sympathise with that part of it. So – what is your plan?”

“Thank you, I knew that you’d help, Mariel!”

“How could I not?”

“Now, the plan. I am going to send a message to the Duke, quite late – a little before the dancing breaks for supper, this evening. It will ask him to meet me immediately, in the library. Once he does, we will… indulge ourselves…” Selina blushed a little as she said it, and Mariel looked amused, “…and then at the right time, you will come in. You will have claimed an aching head, and gone to choose a book to take to your bed with you. You will ‘discover us’ en dishabille, and scream, setting up such a fuss that people come running.”

“But… How will I know when…”

“I will speak to you just before I leave the ballroom. To one side of the library, there is a little office which no one uses, with an internal door to the library. After half an hour, take your leave of people, and go into that room – secretly, of course.”

“And then?”

Selina blushed rather thoroughly.

“Then you may have to listen at the door into the library, and pick your time.”

“Oh my! I know that I find these sorts of things rather titillating, and that I am, perhaps, more daring than I should be… but to be a voyeur in such a way… Still, if I must, that sounds feasible.”

“We will have locked the main library door, so as soon as you come into the library, you’ll need to unlock it, throw it wide as if you’ve just come in, then start screaming, while we look utterly shocked and surprised. The Duke will be convincing, because he doesn’t know any of the details of it, he just knows that something like this will occur.”

Mariel laughed, caught up in it all despite herself.

“I never thought you so devious Selina. This is by far the most interesting party that I have ever attended.”

They walked back to the house, and Selina reflected that, by the time she went to bed that night, she would be a far different woman indeed.