happy outcome, surely?"
"We married four months later after many trials and tribulations," Elf said bluntly. "It could well have worked another way, and I was very lucky not to end up inconveniently with child."
Diana's cheeks had turned a little pink at this. "Then your brother would have made him marry you, and you would be in the same happy state."
"I wouldn't have married him for that, and Bey - all my brothers, even Cyn - were lined up to prevent me forcing Fort to the altar."
Diana stared. "Lord Rothgar knew what you had done? What did he do?"
"Gave me a short, sharp lecture on using people." Elf pulled out a handkerchief and blew her nose. "The point is, I feared what he'd do to Fort, but I never feared for myself. I always knew he wouldn't reject me or punish me." "Struth, this wasn't the right message, either!
Diana looked down, running a beringed hand over the green silk. "Have I just received a warning against maidenly restlessness?" She looked up. "Your wickedness led to a happy outcome."
"But could well not have." Elf leaned forward to take her new friend's restless hand. "I worry, Diana. I'm sorry if that seems intrusive on such short acquaintance, but I truly understand how you feel, and I know the dangers. I recommend the conventional route. I can vouch for the delights of the wedded state."
Diana slid her hand free. "I'm sure it can be delightful," she said coolly. "The price, however, will always be too high for me."
Lud! Elf thought. Diana could warn a person off as icily as Bey. Despite that, she persisted. "You would still be the countess if married."
"But not the lord. Believe me, Elf, as soon as any man became my husband he would be earl in the eyes of the world. Apart from that, he would have all the legal rights of a husband. Most women have no power to lose, but I do, and I will not toss it away. I will not marry, no matter what the delights."
Elf stared. She'd seen the social face of the Countess of Arradale, but now she saw a steely will and determination worthy of an earl. She shouldn't be surprised, but she was.
And worried. If marriage was impossible, then illicit love would beckon. She knew that. It wasn't long since she had felt the same hungry yearning - for knowledge and excitement, but also for someone to replace the void left when her twin married.
Diana had just lost Rosa.
It was as if she stood on a hill watching a horse and rider head toward a hidden ditch. Nothing she could say seemed likely to prevent the fall, yet she must shout a warning.
Rising, she said, "If that is the case, you must be careful. I have one thing that might help. I will send a maid with it."
She paused, knowing it would be wiser to leave the subject, yet impelled. "The trouble is," she said, "that we women find it hard to be intimate without caring for the men involved, particularly when it is our first time. And that, my dear, is a slippery slope."
Diana rose, too. "Rosa said the same. She thought she could do it with Brand and be emotionally untouched..."
"Brand would touch the emotions of a stone statue. My brothers are all rather dangerous in that respect." Since there was only one brother left unwed, Elf didn't belabor the point, but took her leave.
Back in her bedroom, she found a copy of the leaflet she and Sappho published anonymously and distributed as widely as they could. It was a short treatise on things a woman could do to reduce the chances of getting with child. She wrapped it in plain paper and sent it to Diana.
Of course Bey knew all these things. He'd been intent on not getting a woman with child since the beginning. But, even if Diana wished it, Bey would not be the man to introduce her to womanly pleasures. That could not come about in a day and a half.
Elf couldn't help thinking it a shame. She had no doubt he was a skillful and generous lover, and from nature and intent, he was the last man to try to seduce Diana to the altar.
But in Diana's mind it wouldn't stop at curious exploration.
In the mind, it never did.
Diana retired to her bedroom that night in a state of considerable annoyance and frustration. She hadn't exactly expected the marquess to repeat his seductive invitation