Still blushing hotly, Arabella turned up her nose, fascinating Mary.
“Please, call me Josie,” Josie said, smiling widely at Cynthia, who she had mostly ignored until now. Cynthia’s proposed inclusion of her in the discussion had won Josie’s immediate friendship.
“Lily.”
“Cynthia. Considering what we are to discuss, we may as well all be as familiar as possible.” Cynthia was positively cheery, but Arabella groaned and sent a sympathetic glance Mary’s way. Mary frowned. Why would Arabella feel sympathetic? Cynthia clapped her hands. “Now then, Mary, Arabella tells me Hartford has already spanked you. Did you enjoy it?”
Arabella’s sympathy following her attempt at shooing Josie and Lily from the room suddenly made sense. Covering her face with her hands, Mary groaned again as Josie and Lily erupted into a babble of noise, shock and horror filling their voices.
“I will string him up by his toes!”
“Oh, hush, you do not hear Mary complaining, do you?” Cynthia scolded. “Being spanked can be very enjoyable.”
“Only you think so,” Arabella retorted. “The rest of us only like what comes after.”
There was a sudden silence in the room.
“Thomas…Thomas Hoodspanks you?” Lily whispered in disbelief.
“And youlethim?” Josie still sounded utterly scandalized, but there was a note of curiosity in her tone. Mary knew very well Josie had begun to look up to Arabella. There were many similarities between them.
“Oh… you just had to let them stay,” Arabella complained crossly, and Mary had to laugh.
Standing, she turned to face her friends. There was something strangely freeing about Lily and Josie finally knowing the truth. Even better that she had not had to gather the courage to tell them. She admired Cynthia’s forthrightness, even though she hoped the woman practiced some discretion in less accepting company.
“Yes, he spanked me after he caught me at a masquerade in his home.” The heat of her blush was spreading over her chest, but she kept her chin high. Maybe if she pretended to be as nonchalant as Cynthia was, eventually, she would begin to feel it. “I did like it, although what came afterward was even nicer.”
“What came afterward?” Josie demanded to know. Silent but interested, Lily waited patiently for a full accounting.
The full story finally spilled forth, to varying reactions. Arabella looked vaguely jealous of her exploits, Josie and Lily were torn about whether to be scandalized or intrigued, and Cynthia was cackling madly by the end. The countess hooked her arm through Mary’s at the end of her recitation, peering at her with interest.
“Spanked, though?” Josie shook her head.
“Wait until you have been,thenrender judgment,” Arabella said tartly. Neither Josie nor Lily looked convinced, but Mary could not pay attention to them as Cynthia tugged on her arm, demanding her focus.
“We are going to be good friends.” Cynthia paused, her pouty mouth turning down at the sides into a frown. “Why have I never noticed you before?”
“Mary is very good at not being noticed,” Josie said absent-mindedly, her mind obviously elsewhere. “Ow!” Lily had elbowed her in the ribs.
“I knew it! Well, Gabrielle knew it,” Arabella amended quickly. “You purposefully try to not draw attention, and therefore, you are free to do whatever you wish. Is that it?”
“I did not mean to do it at first,” Mary confessed. “It is something that happens naturally, so I have taken advantage of it.”
“Think of all the things I could do,” Cynthia mused, then shook herself out of her thoughts. “I will think on that later. For now, it sounds as though Hartford has kept youvirgo intacta. Rakes.” She rolled her eyes. “They become positively stuffy about marriage. You would not believe the trouble I went through, trying to convince Wesley to satisfy my curiosity before the wedding day.”
“Did he?” Josie was entranced. Cynthia made a face.
“No. He and Hartford are of a similar mindset, it appears.” She refocused on Mary, envy clear in her tone. “It sounds as if you witnessed everything I could have told you about marital relations. Once you are married to Hartford, I shall expect you to secure me an invitation to this club, by the by. Until then, do you have any questions?”
Only one, which exposed a vulnerability she did not want to dwell on, but this opportunity was not to be missed. The Earl of Spencer’s reputation as a rake was second to none—in many ways, Rex was considered his successor. The man had been tamed by none other than the woman before her. If anyone knew how to secure a rake’s heart and achieve a successful reformation, it had to be Cynthia.
“How do I make him love me?” The words were filled with a quiet desperation that changed the atmosphere in the room. Lily reached out, clasping Mary’s hand in a show of silent support, and she clung to her friend but did not look away from the countess.
“You cannot make anyone love you,” Cynthia said gently, a soft smile curving her lips. “But there are things you can do to keep him, shall we say, on his toes. Men like my Wesley, and your Rex, relish the chase. Do not ever let him stop chasing you. Wesley never grows bored with me because I do not give him a reason to ever be bored. He also knows very well, if he were to dally with another woman, I would hardly be the type to look the other way. Not only would I kick up a fuss, but what is good for the gander is good for the goose, and he knows I would only have to crook my finger to have a line of suitors out the door, all vying to be in my bed. It will be the same for you. There are already gentlemen wondering what mystique you possess, which has so thoroughly enraptured the Marquess.”
Mary’s eyes widened. She had not considered things from that end. While she suspected a large deal of Rex’s interest in her was due to the secrets she was keeping and his inability to let the mystery pass by, it was also true he had shown a possessiveness she had not expected. Cynthia’s words about gentlemen’s interest being piqued also echoed Aunt Elizabeth and Arabella’s advice about courtship. That it would continue after the wedding… well, she would be fair game in a way she was not as a debutante.
Thanks to her ability to observe thetonwithout notice, Mary was far more acquainted than most debutantes with the games bored matrons played with various gentlemen.