someone on so short an acquaintance.” It was what she believed. It was what she’d always believed.
“Actually,” Lady Cecily said softly, “I think you can.”
That got the other ladies’ attention, so much so that Lady Cecily blushed and explained, “My parents have a love match. It has made me a romantic, I suppose.”
There was a moment of silence, and then Catriona, grateful for a change of subject, voiced the obvious question. “What do you suppose they are all thinking?”
“Our parents?” Fiona asked.
Catriona nodded.
“They’ll be angry, of course,” Fiona said slowly, “but once they realize it’s only Taran who has taken us, they won’t worry for our lives. Or our virtue,” she added, almost as an afterthought.
“They won’t?” Lady Cecily asked.
“No,” Catriona agreed. “Taran may leave our reputations in tatters, but we will be returned every bit as alive and virginal as when we were taken.”
And then, with an aching gasp, she realized what she’d said. But if Fiona took offense, she did not show it. In fact, Fiona’s voice was completely unaffected as she explained, “It is well known that while Taran’s sense of honor is unique, it does exist. He would never allow us to be harmed in any way.”
Catriona wanted to say that she had never believed the gossip about Fiona, but she could hardly bring up the subject in front of Lady Cecily. Now she felt a little knot of shame in the pit of her stomach. Why hadn’t she gone out of her way to offer Fiona her support? It was true that their paths hadn’t often crossed; Catriona had always been much more likely to come across Marilla at local gatherings.
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to have a dress altered for you before supper this evening,” Fiona said to Lady Cecily, expertly steering the conversation back to mundane waters. She frowned down at the ice blue brocade in her hands. “I promised Marilla I’d finish this one first. Then I’ll do yours.”
“Surely Marilla can wait,” Catriona said. “Didn’t you already see to that red dress she was wearing today?”
Fiona snorted. “If I had seen to that red dress, you can be sure I’d have yanked the bodice up a few inches.”
“But what about you?” Lady Cecily asked. “I insist that you see to your own gown before mine.”
“Nonsense,” Fiona replied. “I can—”
“I will not take no for an answer,” Lady Cecily said forcefully, “and even if you alter a frock for me, I won’t wear it until yours is done.”
Fiona looked up at her and blinked behind her spectacles. “That is very generous of you,” she finally said.
Lady Cecily shrugged, as if walking around in ill-fitting gowns was nothing to the daughter of an earl. “There is nothing to be gained by complaining about our situation,” she said.
“Try telling that to my sister,” Fiona muttered.
Catriona and Lady Cecily looked at her with identical expressions of sympathy.
Fiona just rolled her eyes and went back to her sewing. A few moments later, Lady Cecily turned to Catriona and asked, “Have Mr. Ferguson’s nephews visited Finovair before?”
Catriona shook her head. “First of all, no one calls him Mr. Ferguson. It’s always Taran. I don’t know why; it’s not as if we’re so shockingly familiar with anyone else. And secondly, I’m not sure.” She glanced over at Fiona. “We were talking about that earlier. Certainly, I’ve never met them.”
“Nor I,” Fiona agreed.
“Do you know them?” Catriona asked Cecily. “I would think you would have been much more likely to cross their paths in London.”
“I know of them, of course,” Lady Cecily said, “and I’ve been introduced to Lord Oakley. But not the Comte de Rocheforte.”
“Why not?” Fiona asked.
Lady Cecily appeared to hesitate, and a faint blush stole across her cheeks. “I suppose our paths did not cross.”
That was a clanker if ever Catriona had heard one. But she certainly wasn’t going to say anything about it.
Fiona, however, must not have shared her reticence, because she murmured, “He strikes me as a bit of a rake.”
“Yes,” Lady Cecily admitted. “I imagine that’s why our paths did not cross.”
“It seems to me that he ought
Lady Cecily turned to face her with wide, interested eyes. “What do you mean?”
