To Catch A Spinster (The Reluctant Bride Collection) by Megan Bryce Page A

back.”
    “Obviously.” Mary sat beside her and stared. “So?”
    “So what?”
    She wiggled her eyebrows. “So how was your first night alone with a man?”
    “Mary!”
    “Olivia!”
    Olivia wiped her brush on the cloth. “It was enjoyable.”
    “Enjoyable. This was your first night together, wasn’t it?”
    Olivia refused to look at her. How could she tell Mary that it wasn’t?
    Mary laughed. “You little sneak. Don’t tell me you’ve snuck off with him before.”
    Oh, to confide in someone. Mary didn’t seem upset with her and it would be nice to share her secrets. She and Mary had always been close.
    Olivia glanced at her. “He came here. After dark.”
    “Ah. So, it’s not only the stars you’ve been studying. How is your Mr. Jenkins, then?”
    “Mary! Now you want details? You wouldn’t give me any after you married Rufus. Technically, this is all your fault. If you had told me anything, anything at all, I wouldn’t have needed to conduct such an experiment. I would have taken your word on the subject.”
    “And stowed it away, problem solved. I know you, Olivia. You have never worried about pleasing Mama and finding a husband, and you’re too independent to think you need one. What does that leave? You would die a spinster, living your whole life under Papa’s roof, having the run of everything, exactly as you please.”
    “I’m sorry, is something wrong with that scenario? It seems quite pleasant to me.”
    “Thankfully, I know better. That is boring, Livvy. Yes, yes, you would have your studies, but no family. No interruptions, no surprises. Having a plan is all well and good, but distractions are sometimes better.”
    “I find this hard to believe coming from someone who has known who she would marry since she was five years old.”
    “That wasn’t a plan, Livvy, that just was. I can’t help it if I found my mate so young.”
    “So, you want me to have distractions. That’s why you wouldn’t tell me about your wedding night.” Olivia narrowed her eyes. “It was your wedding night, wasn’t it?”
    “Of course it was my wedding night, as we were married that day. But was that the first time we were intimate? That was the night before we became engaged. Rufus was so distraught about the whole thing he ran to Father the next day.”
    “I can’t believe you never told me!”
    “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you getting any ideas. That was clearly short-sighted of me; you don’t need my help in thinking up crazy ideas.”
    “And I can’t believe your toady husband was so self-righteously smug!”
    “Olivia, you have a strange concept of the world. Rufus, although of course he loved me, had ruined me, therefore he had to marry me. Mr. Jenkins has ruined you, therefore he has to marry you.”
    “Our situations are vastly different, Mary. You were but eighteen and I am twenty-seven. If you and Rufus and Nathaniel will simply be quiet about it, no one need know that I am ruined. It’s not as if I was marriageable material before, anyway.”
    Mary fingered the paint pots. “Do you not like Mr. Jenkins?”
    “Well, of course I like him. I would not have done such a thing if I didn’t.”
    Mary eyed her. “Sometimes I think it doesn’t matter if you like the idea or not, as long as you find a solution to your problem.”
    Olivia glared at her. “That is a terrible thing to say. I am not amoral.”
    “I believe the vicar would argue that.”
    “I believe the vicar would argue that you are amoral. Simply because you married afterward does not change the fact.”
    Mary shrugged. “The vicar would probably argue that the king is amoral.”
    “The king is amoral.”
    “So he is. But that doesn’t change the fact that you are a ruined woman. You must marry Mr. Jenkins. Soon, Olivia. There are consequences to your actions that will not wait for you to change your mind.”
    Olivia stared out the window. “There is nothing to worry on that regard, Mary. There are