“Blackburn,” Jennette whispered, staring at the coverlet.
“What would possess you to do such a thing? And with him?”
Obviously, Elizabeth had never fallen victim to lust. “I’m not certain. I went to his room to—”
“You went to his room! His room!” Elizabeth’s voice rose with each sentence.
“Shh, you shall wake everyone.” Jennette sat up on the bed and then patted a spot for Elizabeth. “I needed to apologize to him.”
Elizabeth sat on the bed and stared at her. “Then why didn’t you wait until morning?”
Staring at her hands, she replied, “I couldn’t. You were in the room. You heard how horrible Mr. and Mrs. Marston were to him. I knew he would try to leave the party.”
“That’s no excuse. You know better than to go to any man’s room.”
“Elizabeth, you sound like my mother, not my friend.”
Elizabeth sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s just that my mother always warned me about what happens when a lady does such a thing.” She leaned in closer. “But what was it like?”
“Different,” Jennette replied with a frown. “He didn’t know I was a virgin until it was too late.”
“He thought you had done that with another man? What type of lady does he think you are?” Elizabeth bristled.
“John and I were engaged for over two months. Perhaps he assumed we had been intimate.” She couldn’t tell Elizabeth what Matthew had said about John. Jennette wondered what would have possessed John to tell Matthew such a dreadful lie about her.
“But how did it feel?” Elizabeth pressed again.
Jennette bit her lip. “Once I became used to him being in there…it was really the most wondrous sensation I’ve ever felt.”
“So when are you two announcing your engagement?”
“Our what?” Jennette exclaimed. She couldn’t marry Matthew. Wedding him would ruin them both.
“Why do you look so surprised, Jennette? You laid with him, now you marry him. That is the way these things work.”
“Not for me.” Jennette rose from the bed and paced the room. “I have no plans to marry him.”
Elizabeth reclined on the bed with a slight smile. “Of course, just as Avis never intended on marrying your brother.”
“And she didn’t until she realized she could overcome her fear of marriage. I have no fear of marriage but wedding Matthew would be a colossal mistake for both of us.”
“Why?”
Jennette looked away. “The gossips would just love to tell everyone how they knew Matthew had killed John so we could be together.”
“But that was five years ago, Jennette.”
“It makes no difference. Besides, he’s a gambler.”
“Indeed? I have heard none of that. Certainly his father and brother gambled, but not Blackburn,” Elizabeth said, shaking her head.
“It makes no difference. I cannot marry the man,” Jennette insisted.
“If you say so,” Elizabeth said in a singsong tone.
Frustration seeped into Jennette. “You believe everything your mother told you. If you make love with a man you must marry him.”
“That is how it’s done, Jennette.”