The Unlikely Lady (Playful Brides #3)(29)

Daphne Swift was blond. Isabella had raven-black hair. Lucy and Cass would hardly be cavorting with a man in a drawing room. There were a handful of other guests, blond, redheaded, brunette, but none with those dark, soulful brown eyes. No one except …

Garrett’s eyes flew wide open. He braced both palms against the mattress and shot straight up in bed, his head hammering. His heart hammered louder. No. It could not be. It couldn’t possibly be.

Bloody hell. Of all people. Of all the blasted women in the world. He had done all of those things, every last inappropriate, unforgettable one of them, with Jane Lowndes!





CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“I agree. If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I daresay I would not believe it, myself.” Lucy trotted behind Cass as she paced in front of the wide Palladian windows in the upstairs drawing room. The space smelled of the logs that burned slowly in the large fireplace and of spring flowers that had been placed on the side table by one of the maids.

“I’m at a complete loss for words.” Cass pressed her hands to her cheeks and turned in a swirl of peach skirts. Lucy noted with a bit of a smile on her face that Cass had given up the nasty habit of tugging on the ends of her gloves when she was nervous.

“It was Jane, wasn’t it?” Lucy asked, wishing she might have been dreaming the entire episode last night.

Cass nodded, a blond curl bobbing against her forehead. “Yes. It certainly was.”

“And it was Garrett, wasn’t it?” Lucy continued, smoothing her hands over her own green skirts.

“I don’t know who else it could have been. I spoke to Garrett earlier. He was wearing that emerald pin in his cravat and a matching mask.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.” Lucy stopped pacing and plunked down on the amber velvet settee. “There’s no way around it. We have been witness to Jane and Garrett sneaking off together.”

Cass’s brow was furrowed. “Perhaps they were only speaking about something … something about the wedding.”

“Like what?” Lucy sat forward on the edge of the seat, genuinely interested.

“Like … like … Oh, I have no idea whatsoever.”

“I cannot imagine what they’d have to speak about. They can barely tolerate each other. He took her hand, Cass. I was certain my eyes would pop from my skull.”

“I almost wish I hadn’t seen it. The world would still make sense.” Cass plucked at the silver bob that dangled from her ear.

“There is only one thing to do.” Lucy rested her elbow on her knee and plopped her chin on her palm.

“What’s that?” Cass stopped pacing and stared at her.

“We’re going to have to discern what’s going on. Learn the details.”

Cass nodded. “Yes, I’ll go fetch Jane. We’ll ask her.”

“No. We cannot allow her time to come up with an excuse. We must go to her immediately and ask her what happened. Confront her directly. That’s the only way we’ll know the truth.”

Cass nodded again. “Very well. Let’s go.”

*

The knock at Jane’s bedchamber door nearly scared her half to death. Oh, God, it wasn’t Upton again, was it? Come for more of the same? She might not have the willpower to tell him to go. No. That made no sense. Upton didn’t know it had been her. He wouldn’t come to her room, and she doubted that even Upton, rake though he may be, would be trolling the halls in the morning looking for another assignation. Very well. It was no doubt safe to open the door.

Though one couldn’t be too careful. “Who is it?” she called, smoothing down her hair.

“Lucy,” came her friend’s voice.

“And Cass.”

Jane breathed a sigh of relief. Grabbing her spectacles from the bedside table and placing them upon her nose, she hurried to the door. She paused along the way to stare at her reflection in the looking glass. Her white linen dressing gown was perfectly pressed. Her hair was in place. Her cheeks had no rosy glow. She looked normal. Not guilty at all.

It would be best if she could admit what happened to her friends, and she would have. If it had been anyone other than Upton. Ugh. It was a complete disaster. She didn’t even like Upton. How in the world had this happened?

She briefly considered telling Lucy and Cass the story, substituting an unknown gentleman—she could pretend that she didn’t know who he was either. But she quickly discarded that thought during the journey to the door. She knew Lucy and Cass. If her friends learned that she’d engaged in such an escapade with a gentleman at the house party—any gentleman—they wouldn’t rest until they discovered his identity. Not to mention they’d ask her a barrage of questions about what he looked like and what he’d been wearing, and it would all be discovered soon enough. There were only about two dozen gentlemen at the house party. Two dozen, and the one she happened to share a passionate interlude with had to be Upton. She shook her head.

“Are you in there, Janie?” came Lucy’s impatient voice.

“Coming,” Jane replied in the most normal, guiltless tone she could muster. She had to pretend that nothing unusual had happened last night. If Lucy and Cass wanted to know where she’d gone off to, she’d simply tell them she’d been in the library reading. She would apologize to Cass for being unsociable. Better to be thought unsociable than to be discovered being too sociable with the wrong person.