Jane counted three. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Lucy was being a good friend, not pressing her for the details, which was quite unlike Lucy, actually.

“I suppose my reputation has suffered,” Jane ventured.

“It’s not good.” Lucy shook her head. “But at this point it’s mostly just gossip. Apparently a servant did say he was under the impression that Garrett might have proposed to you. How preposterous is that?”

That was it. If Jane had still had the teacup in her hand at the moment, she no doubt would have tossed the thing in the air. “Garrett? Proposed?”

“Yes. One of the servants reported that Garrett appeared to be down on one knee in front of you in the drive the morning you left. I admit I was curious as to why he was so determined to see you.” Lucy fluttered a hand in the air.

Jane managed a shaky laugh. “At the house party, you did tell me he’s in love with me, after all.”

“Yes, I know.” Lucy’s voice was oddly high.

“Did you ever tell Cass about that ridiculousness?”

“No.” Something in the way Lucy refused to look at Jane made her suspicious.

“Lucy?” Jane dragged out the word. “What do you know?”

Lucy folded her hands in her lap. A bad sign to be sure. “First, I must tell you I was quite convinced of it.”

“Convinced of what?” Jane’s voice took on a tremulous note.

“That it was true. That Garrett loved you.”

Jane planted both fists against her hips. “Lucy Hunt! You must tell me what you’ve done and tell me right away!”

Lucy pressed her lips together and finally met Jane’s gaze. “We only told you because we thought— Again, we were quite convinced—”

“Who is we?”

“Cass and I.”

“What did you do?” Jane gave Lucy her most formidable glare.

Lucy twisted her hands together. Another bad sign. “We saw you together, the night of the masquerade, looking at the portraits in the upstairs gallery.”

Jane caught her breath. What else had they seen? “Upton and me?”

“Yes,” Lucy replied, still acting sheepish. “I was looking for Garrett and I followed him and … then you went into the drawing room together and shut the door. Well, we had to wonder—”

“Wonder what?” A sinking feeling spread through Jane’s middle.

Lucy shrugged. “Wonder if you were, you know, doing anything?”

Jane forced herself to keep her face blank. “What did you discern?”

“We didn’t discern anything. We left soon after. It was all conjecture on our part, but we decided to find out if you and Garrett might have developed a tendre for each other. You quite shocked us, you know.”