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Victoria let out a chuckle. “What a family of spies we are. Thank you all, but he forbade you, Caroline, and all your husbands from visiting our house. If you don’t even know where we live, how will you be able to follow him when he leaves?”
Caroline waved a careless hand. “Do not worry, dear. I’ll take care of it. You are basically living in our house now. Following him from my own home will be a piece of cake.”
“And you have a ball to organize,” Victoria reminded her.
“Pft.” Caroline took a sip of tea. “I can organize a ball with my eyes closed.”
Victoria frowned and wanted to ask more because Caroline had sure seemed nervous about the ball to now be so nonchalant about it, but Helen cleared her throat.
“But while Caroline is following him, make certain that you spend as little time as possible with him.”
Victoria smiled sadly. “Considering I am spending most of my days at Caroline’s house because of his insistence, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”
Helen grimaced. “It’s nights that I am worried about.”
“Oh, yes,” Annalise agreed eagerly. “Do not sleep in the same bed with him.”
Victoria stilled. “Why not?”
“Because if you spend time sleeping in the same bed as him, it can lead to kissing and other things,” Helen said carefully. “You might get attached to him. And then if Caroline finds out that he is indeed seeing a mistress, it’s going to hurt a lot more.”
“Um…” Victoria ran a finger against the edge of her cup. It’s too late for that. “We only have one bed in the tower.”
Lavinia covered her mouth with her hand, hiding her smile. Annalise outright laughed, and Caroline raised her eyes heavenward. “Do not tell me you consummated the marriage already.”
“No!” Victoria said emphatically, trying to force her memories of their kisses and other activities out of her mind, as her cheeks blazed with fire. That wasn’t really a consummation, was it? “Yes?”
“Oh, dear!” The room was drowned in exclamations while the women seemed to look uncomfortable, blushing, and smiling timidly.
“What? Why? Do you think it’s too late?” Victoria asked hastily.
“Too late to avoid becoming too attached to him?” Annalise asked. “Nobody can tell that but you. But please, be careful. Perhaps try to stay away from him from now on and until Caroline finds out the truth.”
Victoria huffed a breath. “How do I do that? Should I find ways to dissuade him from making advances toward me?”
And dissuade myself from making advances toward him.
“A nightcap!” Annalise exclaimed, her hands raised in the air.
“Pardon me?” Victoria raised a brow.
“Blake hated the nightcap,” Annalise clarified as she regained her composure. “Not saying it will dissuade William entirely, but in combination with other things…”
“What other things?” Victoria frowned.
“Nightgowns!” Now it was Helen’s turn to be excited. “Those billowing, frilly ones, the ones that envelop you from head to toe!”
Victoria swallowed an uncomfortable chuckle. That’s what she’d been wearing all along. Were they inappropriate for the marital bed? They didn’t seem to deter William at all.
“Oh! Smells can dissuade,” said Olivia, who was a perfumer. “Sometimes when I make perfume, it makes Jarvis sneeze or gives me a headache.”
That actually sounded like a sensible idea. “You don’t happen to have some of these saved on your shelves, do you?” Victoria leaned closer to Olivia.
“Don’t worry. I have just the thing.”
* * *
The next day, while at Caroline’s, Victoria received a vial of perfume from Olivia and a note.
