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The four of them had fallen into an unlikely set of friends. A Duke’s second son, a steward, a blacksmith, and an innkeeper’s daughter. But it wasn’t always easy to find others who shared their unconventional views.

Sarah was the village innkeeper’s eldest daughter and helped run the establishment with her father. It hadn’t taken long for Theo and Sarah to recognize each other as one and the same, and the two non-traditional women had quickly become friends.

And then there was Leo Turner, the village blacksmith. Leo’s younger brother, Nathan, was close with Bash and also preferred men. Leo was very protective of the two. And he was able to watch over them in ways Theo would never be able to. He kept an eye on the two when they were determined to do something addlepated—which tended to be more often than not, though Bash was showing signs of maturity. Possibly.

Bash whined. Possibly not. “Yes, and no?”

Sarah chuckled. “Not only did you not come remotely close to answering the question with that—you also turned it into a question. That might have been the best non-answer I’ve ever heard.”

“I want to go,” Bash said slowly as he threw down his card. “I just…”

Leo threw down a two of hearts and caught Theo’s eye, a spark gleaming in his blue eyes. Theo fought her grin. She and Leo were partners for this game. Hearts was the trump suit. Which meant they won that trick. It also meant Leo didn’t have any spades left. Theo made a mental note.

“You don’t want to leave your mother,” Leo said succinctly, gathering up the cards.

“And he’s afraid to leave home,” Sarah added.

A soft pink bloomed on Bash’s cheeks, giving their friends away as being correct in their assessment.

Bash hadn’t once had to leave home. He had private tutors instead of attending Harrow. After the late duke passed…it took a long time for the Duchess to heal from whatever horrors she’d experienced with him. By the time Bash had been old enough to attend school, he hadn’t wanted to leave his mother. Even though she was perfectly safe now, Bash held a lot of anxiety around his mother’s well being. Theo couldn’t imagine what it must do to a child to witness their mother go through what Her Grace had.

“Change is always scary,” Theo said. “But one, the Duchess will be absolutely fine. And two, the minute you step foot on that Continent soil and some pretty man bats his lashes at you, you will forget all about being scared.”

“We’ll be lucky if Lord Sebastian comes back at all,” Sarah mused. “The men will flock to you there.”

“It will be slightly easier to be me there,” Bash said. He turned wide green eyes on Leo. “And Nathan definitely cannot join me? He can come as my valet. It would be perfect.” He blinked up the blacksmith beseechingly. “Please, Leo.”

Theo covered her grin with her hand. Leo became immune to that look long ago.

Leo rolled his eyes. “The answer will still be no, no matter how much you beg. We can’t afford such a trip, and I can’t afford to lose Nathan’s help at the shop.”

“And if Nathan went, there’s a large possibility neither of you would ever come back. You two would be gallivanting out on the Continent for the rest of your days.”

“Honestly, it’s for the Continent’s sake more than anything,” Leo agreed. “The two of you set loose? No supervision? Frightening.”

Now Bash was rolling his eyes. “We are not that bad. And we’re both eighteen. We’re men. We don’t need supervision.”

Theo snorted, and Sarah coughed on her whisky. They shared a look, and Theo saw her own thoughts dancing in Sarah’s eyes.

“I know where this is going,” Leo said, his tone heavy with resignation.

“Men require supervision at all ages,” Sarah said bluntly. “Considering most of the world’s problems are caused by men. Oh, what a world it would be if men were required to stay at home while us women handled affairs.”

Theo lifted her tankard of ale. “Hear, hear.”

Theo and Sarah clinked glasses. They both were wildly unconventional women. Sarah essentially ran the inn for her father and had improved business immensely since she had taken over. And then there was Theo, a Duke’s steward. The world was determined to minimize what women were capable of.

Not only that, but they worked together, discreetly helping women in need. Sarah often had women in trouble arriving at her family’s inn. Needing a safe haven, a place to hide…or help. Help in the variety that Theo had become well-versed in.

Autonomy was something that gave women a small amount of power in their world. A woman’s life could not only be ruined by becoming with child but ended—when she had almost no say in the matter. Theo was all too familiar with that fact. Her mother had passed giving birth to her.

Theo was determined to give women the little say she could. And she wasn’t the first. Cookbook after cookbook was full of hidden instructions, discreetly tucked between recipes of figgy pudding and blancmange. Wisdom passed down generation after generation, women to women.

“Bunch of greedy cowards,” Sarah said, staring down her nose at Leo and Bash. “Men know what they stand to lose by giving women any power.”

Leo’s lips twitched. He lifted his hands, palms up. “You both know I love nothing more than a strong woman.” His gaze slid over to Theo’s, those blue eyes flashing with invitation.

Theo very much knew Leo liked a strong woman. She and Leo had had an off-and-on dalliance over the years. Currently off, though by the look in Leo’s eyes, he was hoping to start something up again. It had worked well for them. Neither wanted anything more. They were busy with their own lives. But they trusted each other, and they were…compatible.