Had she been such a fool?
No.
No. No. No.
She refused to believe that.
Shecouldn’tbelieve that. However, the evidence pointed to the opposite. Luckily, they weren’t married. Now they never would be. Deerhurst was dead to her. Or he would be after she found him to demand answers. She would have an explanation from him, or she would have his head.
His choice.
She just hadn’t figured out how to confront him yet. The very thought caused her belly to clench painfully.
Cats. Cats were much more reliable than men.
“You are right. Something more must be done,” Lady Louisa said.
Phaedra furrowed her brows. The question was what? They were womenandunmarried. They held no clout in society. Who would take them seriously? All they had going for them, according to the list, was their dowries.
Not to mention she was having trouble keeping her emotions at bay. One moment she wanted to burst into tears, the next she wanted to punch the wall. But she did not want to lose face before these women. All so strong. All so determined. She certainly hadn’t told them she had spent the night before in the bed of one of the bastard earls... that she had fallen hopelessly in love with him.
Lord, it hurt.
“So what are we to do?” Lady Harriet asked.
Phaedra shot to her feet as fury renewed in her breast. By Jove, they werenothelpless. She refused to accept they were. “We rise up,” Phaedra said. Lord knew how. They just couldn’t sit back and do nothing.
Lady Ophelia grinned, then moved to fill their glasses with wine. Before she could respond, a footman cleared his throat. “My lady, your mother wishes a quick word.”
Ophelia nodded. “If you ladies will excuse me, I shall be right back.”
Everyone nodded.
When their hostess had disappeared through the door, Lady Theodosia spoke up. “Well, I think Phaedra has a good idea. So how do we rise up?”
Lady Phaedra drew in a deep breath as she stared at the ladies in the room. She’d met each one of them, but they hadn’t conversed much before today. And the matter of the betting book was still a topic that stung. She stared at Theodosia, unable to answer. She knew what she wanted to do with the betting book—stomp it into dust. But that was out of the question. They needed to act strategically, not emotionally.
Easier said than done.
Louisa puckered her brows. “It could be a while before Ophelia returns, let’s form a plan in the meantime. Since the book has been stolen, we must decide carefully how to proceed.”
“We ought to make copies of it and rub it in their noses,” Selena muttered.
“What good would that do?” Harriet murmured. “Except announce that we are in possession of the book.”
“We should not announce it tothem,” Selena said, “We should announce it to the women on the list.”
Phaedra’s heartbeat slowly calmed, and a touch of amusement broke past the haze. “That’s an excellent idea.”
All eyes whipped to her.
“I’m teasing,” Lady Selena said uncertainly. “That would be a terrible idea. Not to mention that it would humiliate the men who have reduced us to breeding stock. Humiliated men lash out.”
Phaedra shook her head. “More reason to do it.” More reason to teach these bastard earls a lesson.
“I agree,” Theodosia King said with a nod. “And men have been reducing us to breeding stock for hundreds of years. I daresay that will never change. But with this mockery they have gone too far.”
Way too far.
