If she, Josie, were jilted at the altar, there’d be no secondary candidate waiting in the next room.

The smile in Tess’s eyes suggested that those ten minutes had been sweet, and Josie didn’t want to think about that because it made her feel jealous. “It wasn’t precisely a long courtship period. “You married Lucius only after the Earl of Mayne jilted you at the altar,” Josie said. “I was not compromised by my husband,” Tess said, but she was laughing. “Lady is compromised, gentleman is forced to marry her, marriage ensues.” “That would be a remarkably short list,” Josie said. “Based on our examples?” Tess said, raising an eyebrow. “Tess, did you know that Josie has made a list of efficacious ways to catch a husband?” Annabel asked, taking a final bite of syllabub. One can hardly obtain one’s entire education in the ways of men and women from the pages of novels.” “If my season continues as it’s begun,” Josie said, “I shan’t be married at all. Technically, Annabel’s son Samuel was a member of the party, but since he was all of four months old and dreaming of a red shiny ball, an occasional longing snort were his only contributions. They were eating by themselves because Imogen had heard it might cause misfortune to see her groom on the night before the wedding, and since Imogen was marrying their guardian, the Duke of Holbrook, they couldn’t eat in the dining room. Josie’s chaperone, Lady Griselda, was technically dining with them as well, but since she had spent most of the evening huddled in an armchair reading the Earl of Hellgate’s memoirs, she hadn’t taken more than a bite, nor contributed to the conversation a whit. They were seated around a small table in the nursery, having a light supper. “We’ll give you all the details you need on the eve of your marriage,” Imogen put in. After all, of the four Essex sisters, Tess, Annabel, Imogen, and Josie, there was only one left unmarried: Josie. “It wouldn’t be appropriate for you to join us,” Tess said, with the rather wearied air of someone who has said the same on two former occasions. “I should hope not!” her eldest sister Tess said, not even looking at her.“So if we’re going to discuss Imogen’s wedding night, I’m not leaving.” “None of the novels I’ve read elaborate on the wedding night,” she told her sisters. T here was no way to introduce the subject with delicacy, at least none that Josie could imagine. I have lived a life of Immoderate Passion, and have been persuaded to share the particulars in the hopes of keeping any susceptible gentlepersons from following in my steps… An extract from the widely proclaimed memoir:ĭear Reader,As I would loathe to shock and dismay you, I must beg all ladies of a delicate disposition to put down this volume on the moment.

Pleasure for Pleasure by Eloisa James