“Marjorie!” Ellen gasped.
Andrew raised an eyebrow. “I see you’ve been keeping tabs on me.”
“You wish. I am simply repeating what I heard from the gossip mills of theton.”
“I see. It’s not because you’re jealous?” Andrew mocked, trying to draw her out. He wanted nothing more than to win in their banter
“Jealous? Of your meddlesome affair? Pray, tell me why I would be?”
“Because you know that despite all your talk of women needing to be equal, and your sharp mouth, you long to be touched. You want to feel skin against yours, hands clasped in yours, and you want a man to hold you. Admit it. You’re jealous because I can get that, and you cannot.”
Ellen looked away and pretended to be interested in the biscuits the butler had just served. She was trying hard not to think about what Andrew’s words might have provoked in Marjorie.
“And who says I don’t already have that?” Marjorie asked, her eyes twitching.
Ellen turned to look at her cousin. Surely, that could not be true. Her cousin could not be…well, that liberal.
Ellen could see that Andrew got visibly irritated, and she vaguely wondered why the thought of Marjorie in an affair with someone else bothered him, but she reckoned he would feel the same way about her as well.
“Marjorie, I came as soon as I got your invitation. What is the problem? Do you feel all right? Your letter had me worried.”
“Me? I am in perfect health. I simply wanted time alone to exchange gossip; I wasn’t aware that you would be bringing your new guard.”
“Mother never lets me leave home without him,” Ellen said mournfully.
“That’s not what I heard. You walked with the Earl of Ridlington without Andrew. Why did not you tell me?”
“Oh! Marjorie! I could not. There was no way you would not have heard before I reached you.”
“So, how was it? I am positively dying to hear every detail.”
“Well, we walked in the park—”
Andrew coughed loudly behind them. They both turned, surprised. “I understand that you ladies want to chit-chat and catch up, but I am not going to stand idly by and watch that.”
“My, my, my. Don’t tell me the Duke of Grant is feeling left out,” Marjorie teased.
“Merely bored.”
“I see.” Marjorie pretended to chew thoughtfully. “Would you be interested in a drinking game?”
“Marjorie, what devilish notion do you have in your head?”
“Why? Are you afraid that a mere woman would beat you in drinking?”
Andrew laughed. “I will eat my hat if you ever do that. Respectable women shouldn’t even be caught drinking, so what nonsense are you talking about?”
“I am a radical woman, aren’t I? I can do anything a man can.”
Andrew eyed her suspiciously. “We’ll see about that. What are the rules of the game?”
“Five rounds of drinks, and whoever remains clear-headed by then, wins.”
“When I win, as I am sure to, what do I get in return?”
“My undying love and affection.”
“You did not tell me we’ll be playing for something so cheap.”
