Page 11 of Bad Luck Bride

Kay couldn’t disagree, for what else was there to believe? But it served no purpose to rehash it all now, especially with her young, impressionable sister. “Perhaps, but—”

“The horrible part is that it worked,” Jo went on before Kay could redirect the conversation. “Giles broke the engagement when the scandal broke. Oh, I know Sharpe publicly denied the elopement had taken place,” she added as Kay opened her mouth to reply. “But it’s obvious that was just a belated, lame attempt to exonerate himself from being the cause of all your troubles. And his own father disowned him right after, didn’t he? I’ll wager Sharpe hadn’t expectedthatto happen.”

Kay frowned. “How do you know all this? You were only six when I eloped and nine when the whole mess became publicknowledge. You shouldn’t know all these sordid details. Who’s been talking?”

“No one. But I can read, can’t I? The scandal sheets still write about it even now, as we both saw only this morning.”

“Josephine, really!” As the elder sister by a substantial margin, Kay felt obliged to issue a reprimand. “You know that Mama has forbidden you to read the gossip rags on your own.”

Josephine made a sound of derision between her lips, showing what little effect their mother’s rules had on her. “No one believed his denials about the elopement, of course,” she resumed. “And why would they? He didn’t even bother to come home to deny it all in person. He just sent that Delilah Dawlish a statement for her nasty little paper by letter, and that was all he did. The scoundrel.”

That was, no doubt, an accurate assessment of Devlin Sharpe’s character, but again, her responsibility as the elder sister held sway. The fact that she’d been so reckless and foolish at Jo’s age obligated her all the more to be a good influence on her young sibling now. “That was a long time ago, dearest. It’s all water under the bridge. We’ve both gone on with our lives. And if he and Lady Pamela are happy, I’m happy for them.”

Even as she spoke, she could hear the chirpy brightness of her voice and the sickening sweetness of her words.

Jo evidently heard it, too. “And everything in the garden is lovely?” she asked skeptically.

“Well, it is!” Kay insisted. “Because I’m quite happy, too. But,” she added, smiling as Jo continued to eye her with concern, “I do confess, I enjoyed it thoroughly when you pointed out that Lady Pamela wasn’t the only one getting married.”

Jo grinned back at her, appeased. “That was good, wasn’t it?”

“Rather. Are you really friends with her?”

“With Pamela? Who says so?”

“She did.”

“Did she?” Jo seemed vastly amused. “We weren’t what I’d ever call friends. We were in a few classes, of course, and we were on the fencing team together. That was about all. She could parry all right, but she couldn’t lunge for toffee.”

To Josephine, who was mad about fencing, the inability to lunge was a grievous sin indeed, but the girl’s fencing ability wasn’t what Kay wanted to know about.

“And what…” Kay paused, gave a cough, and then said diffidently, “What’s your opinion of her?”

“Of Pamela? Oh, she’s all right, I suppose. She can’t help being a perfect fool.”

Kay laughed merrily at that description.

“And if you really mean it that everything’s all right, then I’m glad,” Jo went on. “Even though it shows you’re a far nicer person than I am.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.” Kay gave her sister a rueful look, wrinkling up her nose. “For a second or two when I first saw him, I admit I was sorely tempted to slap him across the face or bash a bunch of carnations over his head.”

Jo laughed cheerfully at the prospect. “Either of those would have been something I’d have loved to see.”

“I resisted the impulse,” she said sternly.

“What a shame.”

“On the contrary, it’s a very good thing. We’re bound to run into Devlin and Lady Pamela again and again during the course of theseason, so it’s best to be polite. Especially since in the eyes of the world, we have no reason not to be.”

As she spoke, her resentment and rage flickered up again, just as they had when she’d first seen the mockery in his face, and she wondered how she could keep up pretenses when everything in her wanted nothing but to heap on him the contempt and scorn he deserved.

“I don’t see how that’s possible,” Jo said, breaking the sudden silence, reflecting her own thoughts. “Especially for Mama. She adores making scenes.”

At the mention of their overly dramatic mother, Kay once again snuffed out the old anger. It served no purpose to indulge it.

“Mama will have to restrain herself,” she said firmly. “And she will. She knows what’s at stake. The scandal rags still watch me like circling vultures, and I have no intention of giving them any meat to feed on. All Mama’s machinations withTalk of the Townnotwithstanding, my scandal won’t truly be over until I’m safely married to Wilson. And with you coming out a month before that, we can’t afford to put a foot wrong.”

“I know, I know,” Josephine conceded, giving in with a sigh. “It’s best all around if we can all be civil. Won’t be easy, though.”

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