them or leave them,” Wilhelmina replied, her soft voice almost a sigh. Two years older than Kathryn, she considered herself permanently on the shelf.
“You don’t miss the social interaction they provide?”
“Not particularly. Besides, I’ve acquired a new activity of late that I’m rather enjoying.”
“Being pampered at the Elysium Club?” She knew her friend frequented the establishment. They sometimes went together.
“A different club, one you have an interest in as well, if your presence there last night was any indication.”
Kathryn came to an abrupt halt and faced Wilhelmina. “You were at the Fair and Spare? I didn’t see you.”
The lady arched a brow. “I don’t think you saw anyone other than Mr. Griffith Stanwick. He seemed to be your entire focus. And you his.”
As the burgeoning heat of embarrassment warmed her cheeks, she glanced around, grateful no one was near to overhear. She’d been battling her guilt ever since she’d arrived home after her trip to the club. She hadn’t intended to kiss Griff, certainly hadn’t planned to do anything except confront him, but a bit of wickedness had taken hold when she’d realized he was struggling not to touch her. It made her feel powerful, powerful in a way she didn’t experience when she was with Kingsland. It had also made her feel wanted and desired. The kiss he’d given her in the duke’s garden had haunted her, and she’d wanted to know if what had once been devastating to her senses would once again be so.
It had been so much more. Hungry and needy and ravenous. She hadn’t wanted it to end but had also known that it couldn’t continue. Yet, still, she craved another.
“He is the brother of my dear friend, Althea. I merely wanted to see how he was getting on. What were you doing there?”
A bit of devilry edged Wilhelmina’s smile. “Being naughty. I am all of seven and twenty, a spinster destined to never marry. While you may think less of me for admitting it, I see no harm at my age in taking a lover, and I’d heard rumors about a newly opened establishment that provided the perfect opportunity for the unwanted to be wanted.”
“You’re not unwanted.” Her voice was firm, filled with conviction. She hated for Wilhelmina, for any woman, to feel as though she’d been discarded. Unfortunately, most lords in need of a wife favored the debutants, not those with some seasoning to them.
“I’m not saddened by my predicament. Quite the opposite, in fact. I can go where I want, do as I want, without needing to gain a husband’s permission. My father set up a trust for me. I receive two thousand per annum, so I need not concern myself with monetary woes. I do not need a man, but sometimes I think it would be nice to have a gentleman look at me the way Mr. Griffith Stanwick did you last night.”
“Angrily? He was rather put out with me for showing up in his dominion.”
Wilhelmina shook her head. “You did not see him when he first caught sight of you. He looked as though the only person who mattered in the world had just walked in.”
“You have the wrong of it there.” Because it was easier not to face her friend directly, not to gaze into her eyes, when speaking of something so very personal, she hooked her arm around Wilhelmina’s and urged her to continue with their turn about the park.
“It was only for a second or two. Then he shuttered his expression. But I know what I saw.”
“You have always had a romantic bent.” It was easier to believe Wilhelmina had shaded his expression with her own biases rather than to consider that he held deep affection for her. Or to acknowledge that she might have developed a fondness for him last Season, when her life had seemed so simple.
“I’m surprised he admitted you. A lady has to be five and twenty to gain a membership.”
Kathryn wouldn’t be twenty-five until August. “I wonder why he has that rule.” To prevent any encounters between them?
“I suspect it’s because he doesn’t want to see any lady ruined who still has the prospect of marriage available to her. And, make no mistake, it is a place for ruination. It’s the reason the membership is so closely guarded and only the most trusted to keep secrets are allowed access. People only learn of it when it’s whispered to them.”
Not true. It hadn’t been whispered to her. She’d overheard. She wondered if she