Page 28 of To Love and to Loathe
“He asked for a word after breakfast,” Emily explained. “He… he told me it was nice to see me without my mother or Mr. Cartham lurking nearby, and that he hoped we could use this week to become better acquainted.”
“Better acquainted!” Diana said, gleeful. “I’m sure hedoeshope that. Did he try to become, er,better acquaintedwith you right there in that dark corner?”
“Diana, really,” Violet objected, close to laughter.
“He was a perfect gentleman,” Emily said defensively, straightening. A note of steel ran through her voice as she defended Belfry. Diana rather wished Emily would deploy said note more often where her parents were concerned.
“In any case, we are not discussing me,” Emily said sternly. “We were busy discussing your odd behavior.”
“Quite right,” Violet said, allowing Emily to change the subject without further comment. “Where was I?” She held up another finger. “After flinging Lady Helen at Jeremy at every opportunity, you then vanish with the aforementioned marquess for a suspiciously long period of time, out of sight of everyone in our party, until yourbrotherhas to go and fetch you.”
Diana opened her mouth to speak, but Violet hadn’t finished yet. “And your brother then returns looking uncharacteristically disgruntled, I might add.” She leaned back on the settee, looking like a cat who had just presented its owner with an impressively large mouse. Diana, at least, felt rather like what she imagined a cat owner would feel in that circumstance.
Emily, helpfully, decided to chime in at this point. “Itwasrather suspicious.”
Diana thought it was for the best that this was her first attempt at dalliance, as she clearly was not very good at it—she and Willingham hadn’t gotten around to anything more interesting than a few kisses, and already they were the subject of gossip.
Still, she reminded herself, trying to shore up what remained of her morale, her goalhadbeen to gain experience. She had certainly learned a few lessons in the past day.
Namely, on hownotto behave when beginning a liaison with a gentleman.
Emily, seeming to sense her distress, said gently, “Diana, is everything all right?”
Diana gave a helpless shrug. “I had aplan,” she burst out—seeing as Emily already knew about the arrangement, she supposed it was pasttime to fill Violet in as well. She could not explain her hesitance to discuss the matter—she, who lived for gossip, who delighted in regaling her friends with the tale of the latest gentleman to flirt with her (or, sometimes, proposition her) of an evening. But despite their agreement that this was anythingbutpersonal, she found those moments with Willingham, when his body was pressed against hers, when his mouth moved urgently over her own, to be somehow precious, as though something important was being said without any words being uttered.
It made no sense at all, but that knowledge didn’t prevent her from feeling it, anyway.
At the moment, however, the desire to unburden herself was more powerful than anything else.
“Willingham approached me with a… proposal, of sorts.” Seeing the delighted expression on Violet’s face, she added hastily, “Notthatsort of a proposal. Calm down.”
Violet sagged.
“He has recently ended his arrangement with his most recent mistress.” Emily, of course, was blushing furiously at just the mention of such a relationship; Violet, however, was nodding in aget on with itfashion that was not terribly helpful, butwasterribly Violet.
Diana hesitated, just as she had done when explaining the situation to Emily, unwilling to betray Willingham’s confidence; they might not precisely get along, but there was an odd sort of code of honor between them nonetheless.
Much like Emily, however, Violet did not seem to find any explanation necessary.
“Let me guess,” Violet said after Diana had remained silent for a moment too long. “He offered the position to you?”
“I don’t know that I would phrase it quite like that,” Diana said with as much dignity as she could muster. “That makes it sound terribly mercenary. It’s not as though I’m a kept woman, or anything so sordid.”
“But you are lovers?” Violet pressed, focused as ever on the important bit.
“Well, not quite,” Diana said with uncharacteristic primness. “But we are on that path, yes.”
Emily, always innocent, frowned. “What does that mean?”
Violet turned to her. “It means they’ve been engaging in lewd activities in varying states of undress, but have yet to complete the act.”
Diana choked. “Violet!” She fully expected Emily, of all people, to blush at this, but instead she looked intrigued.
“Just how many acts are there that involve the removal of clothing that are nottheact?” she asked. Diana wouldn’t have been surprised to see her whip out a pen and begin taking notes.
“Emily, I would be happy to educate you on this further at a later date, but I do think we have more pressing matters to discuss,” Violet said.
Emily slumped slightly in her seat. “I suppose you’re right.”
