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“Well, it will be a little different,” Lady Katherine said.
Mildred grew warm. “Yes. I—I think I had consumed one too many glasses of port or I would never have considered—not with Alastair.”
“He may be a rogue, but he is a handsome one.”
“Without the port, I would not have had the courage! And it did not occur to me till last night to see him in that…that way.”
“No?”
“I think not, though…”
She wondered if she would ever forget how the look of ardor had sent such thrills through her, how she had lost herself in his kiss, and how she had bared her soul—her deepest, darkest desires—to him.
“And now that you have, you have fallen a little in love with him,” Lady Katherine pronounced.
Mildred shook her head. “He is my cousin.”
“Any woman who submits herself to Andre falls in love with him. You would not be mortal if you did not, my dear.”
“Perhaps a little then,” Mildred conceded.
“Goodness knows if I were not his aunt and were a few years younger, I should like nothing more than to have that man take a flogger to me.”
“Lady Katherine!” Mildred gasped.
Her ladyship chuckled. Mildred smiled.
“Thank you, my lady,” Mildred said. “Thank you for the most marvelous adventure I will know.”
“Do not make such a sweeping proclamation yet. Who knows? Perhaps you can entice Haversham to pay a visit to Château Follet?”
The suggestion struck Mildred as ludicrous, but then, Alastair must have had a similar impression of her, and she had astonished him a great deal. Perhaps she should not be so quick to judge her fiancé?
Mildred smiled. “Perhaps.”
* * * * *
After taking lunch with Madame Follet, Mildred and Lady Katherine readied themselves for the continuation of their travels. Their carriage had been sent for, and as they received their coat and gloves, Mildred heard her alias called.
“Miss Abbey!”
She turned to see Lord Devon. Lady Katherine was engaged in speaking with Madame Follet, and Mildred decided not to interrupt them with introductions.
“Lord Devon,” she greeted.
“It is a shame you have to leave already,” he said. He lowered his voice. “I searched for you last evening.”
“Your pardon. I had had every intention of returning—I did return to the assembly room, only to find it empty.”
“I had given up hope that you would return and was fairly convinced that you had chosen other company.”
Before Mildred could respond, a voice intervened. “She did.”
They both looked in the direction of Alastair. Devon frowned as her cousin approached them.
That would not be quite true, Mildred thought to say.
“My loss then,” Devon said. He bowed to Mildred. “I hope you enjoyed your visit to Château Follet—enough to visit a second time.”
