Page 19 of The Seduction of an English Scoundrel

“Which I never meant to send,” Jane said, her voice high and unconvincing.

“Liar.”

Caroline sent a suspicious glance around the room. A bowl of fruit sat on Jane’s comfortable four-poster, along with a stack of ladies’ magazines and a few novels.

“How long do you intend to play the tragic heroine?” she asked in an arch voice.

Jane blinked, aghast and yet a little relieved to have someone to confide in. She had never been able to keep a secret from either of her sisters in her life. They bedeviled her with their incessant curiosity, forever prying where they shouldn’t. It was a miracle she had managed to keep the truth from them this long. “I did it for us,” she burst out. “I did it so that none of us would have to accept another arranged marriage.”

“You did—” Caroline’s eyes widened in admiration. “It was a plot! Oh, my heavens. I knew it. I knew you and Nigel were planning something during all those private conversations. Miranda thought the pair of you were—well, never mind what she thought. She was wrong, obviously.”

Jane sank down onto the bed, emotionally exhausted. “It was a plot, all right, and it might have come off perfectly if not for that scoundrel Sedgecroft suffering a moral sea change and deciding to set an example for his family.”

Caroline stared at her in concern, apparently quite willing to be part of the conspiracy. “What are you going to do?”

“What can I do? I can’t tell him the truth. He’d be livid. I could never show my face again.”

“I suppose the only thing is to play along until he believes his point has been made. It can’t last forever. Rumor has it he is going to make a certain Frenchwoman named Helene Renard his next conquest.”

“He probably has a collection of conquests,” Jane said, shaking her head in chagrin. “I shall not survive.”

“Come on, Jane. He isn’t that bad.”

“No. He’s that good. As a scoundrel, I mean.”

“You have the strongest will of any woman I know, except perhaps next to me,” Caroline said, her forehead wrinkled in a frown. “I have never known you to submit to temptation, not since after the time you rode Papa’s stallion.”

“Temptation has never, well, it has never tempted me before.”

Caroline blinked, finally looking shocked at this revelation. “Does Sedgecroft tempt you?”

“Of course not,” she answered quickly, too quickly to convince either one of them. “It wouldn’t matter if he did. I have sacrificed my reputation to gain my freedom. I am not about to toss it away for a rogue’s kisses.” Even if his kisses were unspeakably erotic and would haunt her for the rest of her life.

“He kissed you?”

“Of course he kissed me. He can’t help himself.”

“What about you?”

“I couldn’t help myself either,” Jane admitted in misery, covering her face with her hands as if she could erase the memory from her mind.

“Oh, dear. I don’t suppose you liked it.”

“Yes, I liked it.” Jane lowered her hands and released a sigh.

“Well,” Caroline said after a long silence. “I suppose you’re right. Sedgecroft does not seem the sort to stay interested in a woman forever. I mean, not in a woman who doesn’t—”

“Yes, I’m afraid I know what you mean,” Jane said. “I am not the sort to hold his interest.”

“That doesn’t mean that you couldn’t become such a woman,” Caroline said, striving to be helpful.

“Becoming such a woman was hardly what I had in mind when I plotted this mess,” Jane said with another sigh.

“What would Nigel think of all this?” Caroline wondered aloud. “Sedgecroft is his cousin.”

Jane’s voice was dry. “I doubt Nigel is doing much thinking at this moment. He’s happily off on honeymoon.”

“On honeymoon?” Caroline gasped in shock.