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“Yes.”
“What did you say to him?”
“I beseeched him not to besmirch your honor.”
Josephine snorted. “What did he say?”
“That I was intolerant and that you were not in leading strings.”
Her cousin pursed her lips as silence fell between them. Heloise had stepped out of her stays and clasped her hands together. She had prepared herself for Josephine’s wrath and was ready to receive it.
“That is not your chemise,” Josephine observed with narrowed eyes.
Heloise eyed the undergarment with its lace edging. It was more exquisite than any she owned and belonged to Lady Follet. However, Lady Follet had a slender figure and the chemise stretched visibly over Heloise’s body. She searched her mind for a reasonable explanation but contrived nothing. Now Josephine would be livid…
“What happened at the château, Heloise?”
Her mouth opened, but no words emerged. Helpless and embarrassed, she could only look at Josephine stupidly.
“Heloise, did you and Lord Cadwell…?”
She dropped her gaze and felt her cheeks redden.
Josephine shook her head. “That rake! I wonder that he accepted you for a replacement?”
Heloise looked at her cousin. “I am sure he was exceedingly disappointed.”
Silence. Then a sly smile pulled at the corner of Josephine’s mouth. “Well, Heloise. I must say that such display of boldness on your part is quite surprising!”
“I will no longer attempt to thwart your acquaintance with him,” Heloise assured her.
Josephine sniffed. “Indeed! Imagine what would be said of you if it should be discovered you spent the night at Château Follet. I think you shall no longer lord over me simply because you are my senior. But did Lord Cadwell make mention of when he would repair my stolen invitation?”
A shameful seed of jealousy threatened to sprout, but Heloise suppressed the feeling. “He did not.”
Josephine knit her brows for a moment, but then waved a hand dismissively. “The invitation is no great loss, though admittedly, I was quite furious when it dawned on me what you had done. But if the Earl of Blythe will not replicate the invitation to Château Follet, Mr. Webster will.”
Heloise said nothing.
“Tell me, is Lord Cadwell as divine as rumored?”
And more, Heloise thought. She noted the mischievous sparkle in her cousin’s eye.
“He is!” Josephine exclaimed. “For you are blushing as scarlet as a pimpernel.”
“Only because I have made a royal fool of myself. He proved me for a hypocrite.”
“I own it is a relief to find you are not quite so virtuous. It is rather taxing to think that I am somehow short of character when compared to you.”
Heloise let out a shaky breath. “I think that I owe you my confidence, dear cousin, but I was compromised long before this.”
Josephine’s eyes turned into saucers.
“Of my own volition,” Heloise added. “Perhaps that is why I thought it no large matter to…to lie with Lord Cadwell.”
“And I had been led to believe you were the virtuous one!”
“When your father was kind enough to take me in, I vowed I would not bring shame upon him—or you, Josephine. You are my only family and far too dear to me.”
