"Marian?" Mina smiled, tapping her fingertips. She was so deliriously happy that her plan to derail the conversation had worked that it was only now she realized that there really wasn't much to tell. Certainly nothing complimentary. But she would make due. If becoming a primogen had taught her anything, it had taught her to blow smoke, when necessary.

She settled in her seat. "Marian O'Reily was hired by your mother about three years before you were born. Your parents had settled into the plantation years ago, but they were only just getting it up and running. Three maids, a valet, their driver, and a footman. Marian was the last one hired. Your mother...liked her because she could be easily Dominated."

A fool generally was.

"She was a good, Irish Catholic girl. Repressed. Lonely. So when any man gave her attention, she gave in very easily." Mina made an absent gesture. "Which led to the inevitable."