Page 45 of The Society Catch
She placed the tablecloth in Starling’s hands, linked her arm through Joanna’s and proceeded up the shallow stairs. Joanna sent Giles a rueful look and allowed herself to be borne away.
Once away from the men and in the seclusion of her own room Hebe proved to be far more worried than she had let herself appear. She sat Joanna down and held her hands, gazing anxiously at her bruised mouth.
‘Whatever happened, darling? You and Giles have not…?’
‘No, certainly not. As if Giles would do such a thing.’
‘Well, no, of course not, although sometimes men just do not know their own strength.’ Hebe’s voiced trailed into silence in the face of Joanna’s furious indignation. She watched her cousin’s face for a moment, then added, ‘I am sure Giles is always the perfect gentleman. But if you and Giles have not been, er, romping in a hay stack, what on earth has happened?’
‘It was Rufus Carstairs.’
‘Lord Clifton? But he has not been here today. Starling would have told me, even if he had informed Lord Clifton that we were not receiving.’
‘He did not go to the house. I think he must have seen me in the grounds and followed me without announcing himself.’
‘Disgraceful. Had you told him you were here?’ Hebe was obviously adding general bad manners to Rufus’s sins.
‘No.’ Joanna twisted her handkerchief tight in her lap. ‘I think Mama must have done that.’
‘Aunt Emily. Of all the misguided things…Try not to be soupset, dearest. He is very eligible and I am sure she thought she was acting for the best.’
‘I know. But that is why she sent me all those clothes, you see, Hebe. And I thought it was as a present to show me she had forgiven me.’ Joanna tried to stifle her misery but the tears were running down inside her nose and she ended up producing a pathetic sound between a sniffle and a sob.
Hebe wrapped her arms around her and hugged tightly. ‘I shall write to Aunt Emily today and tell her just how she is deceived in the wretched man. And I shall threaten to keep you here for ever unless she promises never to allow him close to you again.’
She received a watery smile and a murmur of thanks but Joanna could not meet her eyes. ‘Joanna, he did not do anything other than kiss you, did he?’
‘No. He hurt my arms holding me so tightly, but all he did was kiss me until I could not breathe. I honestly do not think he would have done anything else, Hebe. He was just so angry with me for not behaving as he thought I should. He is a collector, you see, and he has decided he wants to collect me for some reason. Statues and paintings do not answer back or try and run away, so he is not used to rejection.’
She hesitated, glancing sideways at Hebe. Now was perhaps the only opportunity to ask a question which was intriguing her. ‘Hebe, why do men set such a store on virginity? He was obviously very concerned that I had not lost mine in the course of whatever scrape I had got myself into. And the horrible couple who kidnapped me were most adamant that that was the most important thing.’
‘Joanna.Whata question to ask me. Well, I suppose men want to be certain that their children really are their children – at least the first born,’ she added scrupulously. ‘And those horrible brothels – perhaps that is rarity value, or power, orwanting to hurt someone powerless.’
‘And the wedding night of course, I suppose that is something special.’ Joanna mused and was startled at the rosy blush which stained her cousin’s cheeks. ‘Hebe, you don’t mean that you weren’t?’
‘We were shipwrecked in France,’ Hebe said defensively. ‘This is thoroughly improper and we are not going to discuss it any more and you are most certainly not going to do what I did.’
‘I doubt I would ever be shipwrecked with…’ Joanna started then broke off, appalled at how close she had been to saying Giles’s name.’
‘With…?’
‘We are definitely not going to discuss this anymore,’ Joanna said firmly. ‘I am quite all right and I will be very grateful if you would write to Mama and tell her about Rufus. Now, are you not going to ask me why Giles had no shirt on?’
Hebe gave up her attempt at luring Joanna into revealing the name and said with a laugh, ‘I am not sure I feel strong enough to know, but you had better tell me. Did it all end with a fight?’
Joanna told her about the foal which Hebe appeared to find a tame explanation, and then described what had happened when Giles had burst into the loose box.
‘He only hit him once? I find that very disappointing. I was hoping that you would say he had knocked out his front teeth and broken his handsome nose for him.’
‘How bloodthirsty you are.’
‘Only when wretches like that hurt my family. Now, I am going to ring for my maid, have my stays unlaced, put on a wrapper and take a light luncheon up here. Why do you not do the same?’
In the event the cousins spent an indolent afternoon in a state ofdishabilléin Hebe’s room, glancing at fashion plates, gossiping, discussing whether the latest hair styles couldpossibly flatter anyone under the age of thirty and cat-napping.
It was therefore two well-rested, enchantingly gowned and frivolous young women who came downstairs when the dinner gong was rung and it was quite twenty minutes into the meal before Joanna realised that they were sharing the table with two unusually silent men.
Hebe broke off an amusing tale concerning a neighbour and her trials with an unsatisfactory governess and regarded her husband, her head on one side. ‘What is the matter, Alex? I declare you are positively dour and you have not touched that terrine which is usually your favourite. Are you not pleased about the new foal?’
