Matilda stared at her sister, utterly scandalized. “Youplottedagainst me!”
Hazel’s lips curved into a faint smile. “For your own good.”
“My own good? I nearly joined a convent!”
“Yes,” Hazel said, utterly unrepentant. “And we werenotabout to let that stand.”
Cordelia reached across and patted Matilda’s knee affectionately. “You must understand, darling, you and the Dukewere unbearable. All that staring, all that witty bickering, it wasagonizing.We had to intervene for the sake of our nerves.”
Evelyn laughed so hard she nearly spilled her tea. “Hazel said she’d sooner spend a week with unruly children than endure another dinner where you two glared at each other across the table.”
“Hazel!” Matilda gasped, trying and failing to sound affronted.
Hazel only raised an elegant brow. “I stand by it.”
Matilda pressed a hand to her forehead, torn between disbelief and laughter. “So, all this time, you wereconspiring?”
Evelyn squeezed her hand, her voice gentler now. “Not conspiring, dearest, helping. We only wanted you to see what was already there. You’ve been so determined to protect yourself from hurt that you nearly missed your own happiness.”
Matilda’s indignation softened. Her gaze drifted down to her teacup, where the reflection of sunlight trembled faintly in the amber liquid. “You truly all believed this would work?” she asked quietly.
Cordelia leaned forward, grinning. “Of course! We had faith in you both, though I did give even odds that you would slap him before kissing him.”
“Cordelia!” Evelyn gasped, laughing again.
Hazel sipped her tea with perfect composure. “She’s not wrong.”
Matilda shook her head, smiling despite herself. “You are all impossible.”
“And you,” Hazel said with a soft, proud smile, “are finally happy. So I would call it a triumph.”
Matilda looked around at the faces of the women who had been her strength, her solace, and now apparently her scheming matchmakers. Affection rose in her chest, mingling with a helpless laugh.
“Perhaps,” she said, “I should be angry. But I suppose I cannot, since your plan worked far too well.”
Cordelia beamed. “Ha! I knew it would! I said from the very beginning, he only needed to be properly provoked.”
Evelyn giggled. “You meanyouprovokedbothof them.”
“I do what must be done,” Cordelia said primly, reaching for a scone.
Hazel’s laughter was quiet but warm. “And now our work is complete. Lady Matilda Sterlington is to become a duchess.”
Matilda rolled her eyes but smiled, her cheeks still flushed. “You sound insufferably pleased with yourselves.”
Cordelia raised her teacup like a toast. “We are.”
Evelyn joined her, while laughter sparkled in her voice. “To friendship, foolishness, and love found in the most inconvenient of places.”
“And to meddling,” Hazel added wryly.
Matilda laughed, raising her own cup. “To meddling, then.”
And as the clink of porcelain filled the room and their laughter mingled with the golden afternoon light, she thought there was no sound in the world as dear as that of her friends, herconspirators, celebrating the love she had once sworn she would never find.
Epilogue
Jasper stood before the looking glass in his chamber, trying for the fifth time to make his cravat behave. It seemed to have developed a mind of its own, a rebellious streak that perfectly mirrored his own restlessness.
