Page 7 of A Very Roguish Boxing Day
“Now,” the countess said, “returning to the matter at hand.Did you or did you not speak vows to a man who is now dead?”
“I did,” Gwen admitted.She took a bite of her crumpet and groaned at the delicious buttery taste.
Another thump from the cane.“That makes you a widow.”A gleam came into Lady Wyndam’s eyes.“And are you, or are you not, going to beat your brother at his own game?”
Gwendolyn swallowed the bite she’d taken.She had never beaten her brother, not once in her life.Her parents had always made sure he had received whatever he wanted, and Gwen had been left with the scraps.
She lifted her chin.Not this time.
“I would certainly like to.”
“Hear, hear!”Lady Sylvan called, clapping her hands.“You have come to the right place.”
“That you have,” Lady Wyndam said firmly.“Now, Mariah has informed us that your brother plans to have your marriage annulled and that a doctor is to examine you tomorrow morning to see if the marriage was consummated.”
Gwendolyn’s cheeks burned.“That is correct, my lady.”
The countess leaned forward.“And what will the physician find?”
Gwen looked down at her crumpet.“That I am a maiden.”
Lady Wyndam waved this off.“No matter.The Wicked Widows can take care of that.”
Gwendolyn peered at her, confused.“You can?”
The countess nodded crisply.“It happens that your timing is fortuitous.Twice a year, Madame Heron, the proprietress of the Thalia theater, hosts an auction.”
“A particular kind of auction,” Lady Sylvan added, waggling her eyebrows.
Gwen didn’t see how this could help her.“Oh?What kind of auction?”she asked, taking a sip of her tea.
“A bachelor auction,” Lady Wyndam said.
Gwen came within a hairbreadth of spewing tea across the room.She just managed to swallow it down before she came up coughing.
Once she regained the ability to speak, she glanced from the countess to the marchioness and back again.“I… I think I misheard.”
Lady Wyndam rapped her cane.“You heard perfectly, and I daresay you understood my meaning as well.Each lot in the auction is an attractive bachelor.The highest bidder will receive one night of that bachelor’scompany.”
“It’s precisely what you need,” Lady Sylvan added.
Gwen set her plate aside, too nervous to eat despite the gnawing hunger in her belly.This was happening so quickly!She’d spent most of her life assuming she would never marry, as she wasn’t what you would call conventionally attractive.She’d always been plump, even as a child, a condition that had remained unaltered as she reached womanhood.She supposed that some men did find her full bosom appealing, but in her experience, it only attracted the wrong kind of attention.She was careful to choose dresses with a high neckline, which she usually paired with a fichu for good measure.
Throw in the fact that she was a bespectacled bluestocking whose specialty—bees—wasn’t a topic most people had any interest in discussing, plus her utter lack of success in the years since she made her debut, and it seemed only logical to resign herself to a life of spinsterhood.
The result was that Gwendolyn hadn’t given much thought to the prospect of making love to a man.It hadn’t seemed likely that she would ever have the opportunity.
And yet, tonight, opportunity had rapped at her door.Or rather, her window.
As unexpected as this turn of events was, she didn’t need time to consider the Widows’ suggestion.If giving up her maidenhood would mean that Gwendolyn would get to keep Great-Aunt Agatha’s bequest, setting her up for the rest of her life as an independent woman, she would sleep with the devil himself.
But surprisingly, Gwen found that a part of her was excited by the prospect of spending the night with one of the Thalia’s hand-selected bachelors.Surely, women would not be willing to pay for the privilege of sharing a bed with these men unless doing so was a very pleasurable experience.
Gwendolyn had never experienced that sort of pleasure before.She had no idea how one would even go about it.
But now that the prospect was dangling before her, she found that she wanted to seize it with both hands.She wasn’t just willing.
She waseager.
