The Importance of Being Wanton - Christi Caldwell Page 0,85

we should thereby bring in outside perspectives on topics that we’ve spoken on . . . or mayhap not spoken on.”

“I’m confused,” Annalee said with her usual bluntness. “You were the one who was most adamantly opposed when Sylvia suggested male membership.”

“Yes,” Brenna agreed. “And that was just one man, and him being granted a temporary membership.”

“And this, this would be a permanent change?” asked Annalee.

The eight sets of female stares trained on Emma were incriminating, and guilt brought a heated blush to her cheeks. Her friends weren’t wrong. She had been most outspoken when, just a few weeks prior, Sylvia had recommended adding Lord St. John, and that had been with the intention of securing societal approval so the women would be free to meet without being yanked out by protective guardians.

And yet . . . they were deserving of the truth . . . the whole truth. The reason for her evolution in thought belonged to one person.

“Lord Scarsdale raised the point to me,” she allowed.

Gasps went up.

“Of course he did,” Isla muttered under her breath.

Emma rushed to speak, reassuring her friends that this wasn’t because of any weakening on her part toward Charles. “He pointed out there was no reason women and men cannot come together. We are continually separated. In Parliament. In the household. Why, even after dinner. And in that separation, we can never achieve a status where we are seen and treated as equals.” He’d helped her see as much. Her resentment for how she’d been treated had filled her with such anger toward men that she’d simply wanted them barred from any venture she was part of. “Mayhap more good could come in pushing for an equal place in society.”

“And so your brothers and Olivia’s are our token members?” Annalee quipped.

Emma wrinkled her nose.

“It is just . . . they have everything,” Isla moaned.

Pierce’s brow dipped. “I don’t have every—”

“Not you! Men on the whole.” Isla spoke over her brother. “Men in general. They have clubs. They have streets where they carry out their separate lives. This is ours. I . . . vote for a female-only society.”

“Well, it’s a sad day indeed when a chap has to say he’s driven women to driving all men out,” Pierce said, making to climb to his feet once more, when this time Annalee rapped him on the knee and stopped him.

“Ouch,” he grunted. “What was that for?”

“You don’t get to decide when to leave, pup.” The socialite leaned over and glared Pierce right back into his seat. “Everything is put to a vote, including your presence here.”

Emma’s brother swallowed visibly, but was wise enough to comply.

“What are you proposing, Emma?” Sylvia asked for clarification.

“I’m proposing, unlike before when we invited Lord St. John solely and with the lone benefit of lending his respectability to our venture, now we actually consider welcoming men within our folds.”

Valerie paused in her note keeping, and looked to Emma. “A temporary invitation, again?”

“Only until we reconvene and decide whether to move forward as Isla wishes, with a female-only society. I’m just saying that perhaps we should consider it,” she finished weakly.

“Ahem.”

Everyone looked to Owen.

“I-if I may?” he began, waiting for permission to speak, and when none was forthcoming, he continued to hesitate before finding his voice. “I want to begin by saying how very honored I am to be included in your ranks.”

Pierce and Morgan snorted, twin expressions of mockery effectively silenced by the glare of every woman in the room.

Owen continued. “I would greatly welcome the opportunity to come and discuss whatever matters you may have. As a barrister, I can provide guidance on legal matters members might have.”

And just like that, every woman sat up a bit straighter and attended the young man all the more.

“However, I am . . . suspicious of the motives.”

Emma frowned.

“Not yours, of course,” he said, his voice rising a decibel. “But rather, it is just . . . Lord Scarsdale.”

A pall fell over the room.

“If he is suggesting your society invites male members, then . . .”

“He’s doing it for a reason,” Isla murmured.

Owen’s spectacles slipped forward, and he pushed them back into place. “P-precisely. That is what I’m worried about.”

The room fell quiet as everyone contemplated those fears raised. “We invited Lord St. John because he was respectable and lent that respectability to our society. We cannot afford to be anything but selective,” Valerie pointed out.

Because of Caroline, the lone widowed mother amongst their group. Where it had been a concern