“You changed that,” she said. “You restored my faith in honorable men and gave me something I never thought to have: passion. After what Phillip did, I’d never thought I’d let another man touch me like that.”

He was so busy fuming about her guardians’ failure that it took him a moment to realize what she said.

“But you did.”

She paused for a moment as if debating something, and then shook her head.

“But what about Despenser and Fitzgerald?”

She shook her head again. “No matter what it looked like—or what people say—you are the first man I have shared any kind of intimacies with since Phillip raped me.”

Alex was stunned; he didn’t know what to say. He was glad, of course. He’d never wanted to believe she was the wanton her reputation made her out to be. His instincts had been correct. She was more innocent maid than jaded seductress.

But how could Fitzgerald have gotten it so wrong? It wouldn’t be the first time a young man had lied about being with a woman, but the young Irish sea captain hadn’t sounded as if he was lying. How could anyone make that kind of mistake?

His gaze fell on the jug of whisky, and that niggle he’d noticed earlier got louder. A hell of a lot louder. Ever since her cousin had mentioned the “magic powder,” something had bothered him. The night she’d come to his chamber, the first thing she’d done was offer him whisky. Whisky that she’d later tried to stop him from drinking. And after he’d done so, he’d fallen into the sleep of the dead. Nay. He didn’t want to believe it. She wouldn’t have drugged him.

But if she’d done the same to Fitzgerald, it sure as hell would explain his confusion.

He forced his mind from the whisky. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you let me think you’d been with all those men?”

She dropped her gaze from his. “Because I would have had to explain about Phillip. And I suppose I wanted to see how much I mattered to you. I didn’t think any man who believed what you did would make me an honorable offer, but you proved me wrong.”

It was a good explanation, and he sensed it was the truth. But perhaps not all of it.

Was there another reason she might not want Alex to know the true nature of her relationship with these men? Could it be so that he wouldn’t question what she was doing with them?

What she was doing with them.