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widening, Sophia pushed herself upright until she sat eye to eye with Julia. “I do not believe you. Benedict is in love with you.”
    “Oh, pish-posh.” There Sophia went, building another of her fancies.
    “He is.”
    Benedict? In love with her? Then Julia caught the glint in her sister’s eye. “Stop. Why do you insist on teasing?”
    “What makes you think I’m teasing?”
    Julia stood and began loosening her gown. “Because I know Benedict, and if he is in love with anybody, it is most likely his horse.”
    “Haven’t you ever imagined what you’d say if he proposed?”
    Julia’s gown pooled at her feet. “Of course I haven’t.”
    The last thing she wanted was to set aside the suit of an old friend, but if what Sophia said were true, she’d have to do exactly that. If she married at all, she refused to do so based on the brittle frailty of sentiment.
    She presented her back so Sophia could help unlace her stays. “At any rate, I shall never have to concern myself with a reply.”
    Because he’d never ask. Growing up on neighboring estates, they’d played together. Lord only knew they’d landed each other in enough trouble over the years. As a child, she could dare him to do anything, even jump from the high hayloft in his father’s stables. He took her up on the challenges without question and to devil with the consequences. Later, after he’d left school and joinedthe cavalry, his occasional letters had recounted all manner of amusing anecdotes about the other members of his regiment. Hardly the stuff of passion, that.
    “What a pity.” Tone light, Sophia finished loosening Julia’s stays and stepped back. “I happen to think he’s perfect for you.”
    “M ISS , you have a caller.”
    Julia studied Billings’s stiff posture, compensating, no doubt, for yet another overenthusiastic bout of tasting the St. Claires’ dwindling wine stores. From across the morning room, it was impossible to tell whether the old butler had addressed her or Sophia.
    Next to her, Sophia shrank down in her seat. “Already?”
    Her curiosity aroused, Julia sat straighter. Sophia? Dreading a caller? Whoever it was must have something to do with her mysterious claim she’d been compromised. Sophia, drat her, had been all too successful in her attempt to divert Julia’s attention from the subject last night. “Who is it?”
    Billings marched forward and presented a calling card on a tarnished salver. Red, spiderlike veins stood out on his overly prominent nose. Julia took the stiff vellum in hand. “Sophia, it’s Ludlowe.”
    Sophia inched to the edge of the brocade chair, her hands fluttering about her face. “Oh my.” She pinched at her cheeks. “Do I look all right?”
    “Stop. You’re already bright red. Do not make it worse.” Julia hopped to her feet. “Show him in, Billings. I’ve suddenly recalled I left my embroidery in the library. I simply must get at it.”
    Billings paused mid-bow, wavering slightly as he straightened once more. “But miss, Mr. Ludlowe has requested to see you.”
    There was no denying it this time. Billings fixed watery blue eyes directly on her. From this distance, even his wire-rimmed spectacles couldn’t hide the direction of his gaze.
    Julia slanted a glance at her sister. In an instant, Sophia’s complexion went from glowing to ashen.
    “I’ve no idea what he could possibly want with me,” Julia murmured for her sister’s benefit. If there was anything to what Benedict had told her last night, she knew exactly what he wanted.
    Marriage. With her.
    The reason why he’d chosen her out of all the eligible young ladies of the
ton
remained a mystery—Benedict hadn’t been exactly forthcoming on that score. Nor, for that matter, had he mentioned how he’d come by the information.
    She sank back into her seat. “Very well. Show him in. And you stay right where you are,” she added to Sophia. With any luck, she could contrive things to her sister’s advantage