Page 34 of A Duchess Untouched

The announcement was met with gasps and squeals. Only Portia looked as if she could not understand what the fuss was all about. She shook her head slowly and deliberately, widening her eyes in exasperation.

“Oh, Selina!” Madeline cried, clasping her hands together. Her eyes shone with happiness and relief. “I am so happy for you! Finally, Matthew has opened his eyes to the treasure you are!”

“I knew it!” Lady Marlow barked with full self-satisfaction. “I knew that I had given you the right instructions, and you were able to follow them to the letter! Oh, my dear Selina, always my pride and joy.”

“I am entirely baffled,” Portia muttered. “I do not understand why we are fussing about this. It sounds like you and Grandmama made an immense amount of effort simply to keep your husband from riding away into whatever it is he does.”

Cathy had her own reaction. She was not as happy as Madeline, nor as befuddled as Portia.

“No, Selina, you did not!” Cathy breathed, her eyes wide with laughter as she glanced at her youngest sister and then at their grandmother. “Tell me you did not let Grandmama teach you how to seduce your husband!”

“Why ever not?” Lady Marlow asked, sounding deeply offended. “My methods are tried, true, and unmistakable! As you can clearly see, dear Selina here is a far better student than you ever were, Cathy!”

“Oh, Grandmama, please!” Cathy complained, her eyes looking heavenward. “She should not be taking lessons from a woman of your age. Besides, Grandpapa is such a sweet man; he always does what you tell him.”

“He was not always like that,” Lady Marlow muttered, thinking of her husband. “And now, he is much more difficult to talk to.”

“Well, I suppose some of what Grandmama told me worked,” Selina said as she took the armchair opposite her grandmother.

“Very well, then,” Madeline mused. “If that is the case, please do tell us everything. How did it happen? Was it because you played the damsel in distress or because of your more revealing dresses?”

“Well, I suppose not all of my efforts worked,” Selina said tentatively. “I was quite awkward in my efforts, and Papa did not exactly help with his attempt at poetry at last night’s soiree.”

“Papa did what?” Cathy was appalled.

“I think he has developed some sort of affection for the Dowager Duchess. Oh, it is a dreadful affair, but I am not sure it has come to Matthew’s attention yet. I thought everything would be ruined after there was that misunderstanding with Oliver.”

“What misunderstanding with Oliver?” Portia demanded.

“Never mind that. I still managed to succeed by taking matters into my own hands, slipping out of my room at midnight in a thin nightgown. I went looking for him. He was not in his bedchamber, but I found him in his study.”

There was no need to tell everyone about how she found Oliver there first.

“Oh, do tell us everything,” Madeline urged.

“In your nightgown?” Cathy asked at the same time. “If the Dowager had caught you doing that—”

“The important thing was that she did not,” Selina clarified. “It was quite late, and Matthew did come to his study, and he lost all control. It was there that he… touched me. He made me lie upon his desk, pushing some of his ledgers to one side, and then he touched me. I… I could not breathe.”

“And…?” Cathy asked.

Madeline was about to fall over her seat in equal anticipation.

“And that was quite magical. I have never felt anything like it.”

Then she looked up at her sisters and their grandmother with a small smile. She expected them to smile back. But something was terribly wrong. Their mouths hung open, not because they were thrilled or impressed. They were no longer smiling. Even Lady Marlow looked a little gray.

“Selina,” Cathy began in a soft, careful tone. Selina thought it odd that her eldest sister was trying to be gentle with her. What was wrong? “Was that all that happened between the two of you?”

Selina blinked, confused. Her shoulders slumped. She could feel that the victory she thought she had won was, indeed, tainted. There had to be more to it, then. She looked at Cathy and Madeline, searching for a hint as to why the two were looking at her the way they used to when she was still little.

“W-what do you mean?” Selina asked, furrowing her brows. “Is there more to it?”

Standing behind Madeline and Cathy, Portia could not take it anymore. She sighed theatrically, slamming her book shut.

“I think I have had enough of this conversation,” she complained. “This discussion has become completely insufferable and ridiculous. I will take my leave. If you need me, I shall be in the library, indulging in books that I may actually need my intellect for.”

She then turned on her heel and left the room. Her footsteps quickly faded away. Selina’s attention was on her two other older sisters.