  The reflection of X-ray radiation produced near a compact object from its
stellar companion contributes to the orbital variability of polarization in
X-ray binaries. The X-rays are reflected mainly via Thomson scattering
resulting in a high polarization. The orbital variability of the polarization
strongly depends on the inclination and the orbital parameters allowing us to
constrain them. To explore this phenomenon, we present analytical
single-scattering models for the polarized reflection. We find that while
diluted by the direct emission, the reflection can produce a polarization
degree of about 1$\%$ in the case of a large reflection albedo. We fitted the
orbital variations of the X-ray polarization observed by the Imaging X-ray
Polarimetry Explorer from an accreting weakly magnetized neutron star `clocked
burster' GS 1826$-$238 and found that the amplitude of the variations is too
large to be primarily caused by the companion star. The polarized reflection is
more significant if the compact object is obscured from the observer, and thus
it should be more easily observable in certain high-inclination targets.
