And that was exactly what he wanted.
He made no move to make himself agreeable to her, but he did not shrink from seducing her. Of course, he made it quite clear his seduction was naught but a pretext to get information and cooperation from her. She’d be a fool to think he was interested in her as anything more than a means to an end. He wanted money, not a lover, and he’d use all his skills at seduction to achieve his aim.
But as her efforts to reclaim the map had failed, and Westman still had it in his possession, Josie had to admit that his skills were far more numerous and more refined than she had first judged.
Josie was treading on treacherous ground, beginning to imagine sharing Westman’s bed, when a knock sounded on her door, and Ashley poked her head in.
“Are you still in bed? Lord, you must be the laziest girl in London.”
Josie sat and made room on the bed for her cousin. “I’m tired. I had a late night last night.”
Ashley raised a brow. “No later than I. We left Almack’s together, and I saw no need to sleep past noon.”
Josie looked down at her hands and fiddled with the small gold and emerald ring she always wore, a bequest from her grandfather, which she had been given on her sixteenth birthday. “Perhaps my evening did not end after Almack’s.”
The corner of Ashley’s mouth turned up. “I would ask if your mother then dragged you to Lord Effington’s ball, but I do not think you would be smiling were that the case.”
“Lord Effington? If I’d been forced to attend his do, I would probably have spent the night casting up my accounts. He is truly horrid. I pity the girl he marries.”
Ashley scooted closer. “Then what, Miss Hale, were you doing all night?”
“I had a visitor.”
Ashley nodded, a gesture for Josie to go on. Josie paused for a moment, uncertain how much she wanted to tell Ashley, and then decided she might as well tell it all.
“He was waiting for me when I arrived home.” “He? I’m intrigued. Where was this gentleman”—she raised a brow in question, and Josie nodded— “this peer”—another brow, another nod—“waiting for you?”
Josie spread her arms, indicating her bedroom.
Ashley’s eyes widened. “May I ask the gentleman’s name?”
“Perhaps it’s best if we simply refer to him as Lord W.”
“Really? The same Lord W you told Maddie you cared not a jot for at Almack’s?”
“Perhaps. A girl can have a change of heart.”
“Oh, most assuredly. But might one ask why the change of heart? Might one even inquire, rather indelicately, but forgive me, have you taken a lover?” Ashley whispered the last, and Josie felt a small shiver of excitement run up her spine at the idea.
“Not yet. And it won’t be him. He’s all wrong for me. Too small-minded and controlling. He actually threatened to tell my parents I’d sneaked through his window.”
“Well, he wasn’t threatening that last night. I call that progress.”
Josie turned her ring and said nothing.
“Don’t you call that progress?” Ashley asked. “There’s a small problem,” Josie mumbled. Ashley’s eyes, green like her own but with rather more blue, widened. “Is he—” She cleared her throat. “Can he not perform?”
“No, nothing like that. At least I don’t think so,” Josie said. “It’s just that I think he’s more interested in the treasure than in me.”
“The treasure?” Ashley held up a hand when Josie tried to go on. “How does he know about that? Yesterday you told me you sneaked into his house, kissed him, and that he was a horrible kisser, and you didn’t want him. Is that the whole truth?”
“Not exactly. I might have mentioned the treasure on accident.”
Ashley gasped. “Josie! You told me you weren’t supposed to tell anyone.”
“Well, I didn’t mean to, but now that he knows, he’s intent upon finding it. You know his family needs the money. He wants us to be partners.”
“And you agreed?”
