An Invitation to Sin by Jo Beverley, Sally Mackenzie, Kaitlin O'Riley, Vanessa Kelly Page A

over her mouth. “Hush. Unless it is your plan to have us discovered.”
    Anna went hot and red. “How dare you!” she whispered when he released her. “I would never sink to that.”
    “No, of course you wouldn’t. My apologies, Anna. But you must recognize that the world would have a collective case of the vapors at the thought of our marriage. I’m fourteen years older than you, theoretically old enough to be your father, and have lived those fourteen years to the full.”
    “And do such things matter to you?”
    “They would matter to your father, I’m sure.”
    “Are you saying you would marry me if my father consented?”
    She did not see him move, but it felt as if he had stepped farther away from her. “Anna, stop this. There is no question of marriage between us. Our meetings have been pleasant, but that’s as far as it goes. You will get over your current insanity and in time you will meet a suitable young gentleman and be—”
    To salvage some of her pride, Anna stepped back and closed the door in his face. Then she sat down and won a battle with tears. He was doubtless right. In time it would not seem so tragic. Thank heavens that she, unlike Maria, would have a few years to recover from her own forbidden affection.
    She got up and blew her nose fiercely. In two years time when she entered Society with marriage in mind she would have entirely forgotten the Earl of Carne. It would be much more sensible anyway to marry a man closer to her own age. When she was in her prime, Lord Carne would be a gouty ancient.
    She blew her nose again.
    Then she heard the screams.
    She dashed out into the corridor, then headed toward the noise coming from downstairs. A servant, she assumed, but in some terrible distress.
    It was Maria—a tattered, bruised, hysterical Maria.
    Lord and Lady Featherstone were already with her, helping her into the drawing room.
    “He hit me!” she gasped between sobs. “He hit me!”
    Sir Jeffrey glanced around. “Anna, get some brandy.” He looked back to his older daughter. “Who hit you? Where were you? What have you been doing?”
    “Hush, Featherstone,” said his wife, dabbing at Maria’s dirty, bruised face with her lace handkerchief. “Oh, poor darling. Water. We need water. Who did this to you?”
    Maria stared at her mother a moment as if lost for words. Then she said, “Lord Carne! It was Lord Carne. I went out into the garden, and he tried to … I fought him … Lord Carne.”
    There was a gasp from the hovering servants. Anna gasped, too, then dazedly brought over the glass of brandy. Sir Jeffrey made Maria drink a little.
    Anna studied her disheveled sister, wondering what on earth was going on.
    Maria coughed as the fiery spirit went down, but it seemed to calm her, so that she could lie back on the sofa. With a chill, Anna saw that one of the sleeves of her sister’s gown was hanging loose, and it seemed someone had slashed the front so that it gaped, almost showing her breasts.
    A servant arrived with a bowl of warm water and a cloth and Lady Featherstone began to wipe her face. “Now, Maria, you must tell us exactly what happened to you.”
    Maria’s eyes were still wide with what looked like terror. “He attacked me!”
    “Lord Carne?”
    Maria closed her eyes and nodded.
    “When?” Anna demanded urgently. She couldn’t believe he had done such a thing.
    “Just now,” Maria said. “What a stupid question!”
    Anna had a moment to consider, to contemplate keeping silent. A moment to consider all the consequences. She swallowed. “Then it wasn’t Lord Carne.”
    “Oh, do be silent, Anna,” snapped her mother. “You can know nothing of all this.”
    “Yes, I can. Because just now Lord Carne was with me.”
    Everyone stared at her. Then her father said, “Anna, this is no time for fairy stories.”
    “It’s not a fairy story, Papa. He was with me.”
    “Where? I do see that you are dressed for the outdoors rather than for bed.”
    Anna