Thiswas the right thing to say. Aaron didn’t need to have adept social skills to see that his words pleased his little sister.
He only hoped that his words would prove to be true. Because if his wife and his sister did not get along…
Well, that would make his earlier problems seem like nothing at all.
“Ah, Phoebe. There you are.”
Phoebe, in accordance with the poor luck that had been plaguing her recently, was gnawing anxiously at a thumbnail when Aaron found her. It was a decidedly unflattering pose—and not at all the way she wanted him to see her, especially after he’d given her pleasure that had made her knees practically collapse from beneath her, then not taken any pleasure for himself.
The universe, it appeared, was determined to give him the upper hand in all things.
She snatched her hand away from her mouth and hid it between her skirts.
“Good day,” she said, trying to look as though she was not a person who was fretting about her sister’s extramarital pregnancy. “Fancy finding you here.”
It took all her restraint not to smack herself in the forehead at the idiocy of this observation. This was his bloody house. Goodness, she was a mess.
But Aaron didn’t react to her foolishness, not even with so much as a raised eyebrow. He actually looked more distracted than she felt.
“I have something to tell you,” he said.
At once, all thoughts of Hannah vanished from Phoebe’s mind. Oh, God. What was wrong? Was he going to annul their marriage because she hadn’t, ah, fully consummated matters between them? Was he going to set her aside?
This would cause a massive scandal, and then Hannah’s wayward lover would never convince his overbearing mother to agree to the marriage—and Phoebe had no doubt that the man would prove too spineless to defy her—and then Hannah would be an unwed mother, and Phoebe would be a spurned wife, and their father would likely throw them out, and they wouldstarve?—
“My sister has unexpectedly arrived,” Aaron said, sounding extraordinarily grave.
There was such an incongruence between her spiraling thoughts and his words—indeed, such an incongruence between his tone and his words—that Phoebe was briefly stunned.
“I—what?”
Her question did not seem to make him feel any less somber.
“My sister,” he repeated as if he were informing her about the death of the king himself. “She is here.”
“Oh,” said Phoebe. “Wonderful!”
He blinked. “It is?”
At this, a woman about Phoebe’s height pushed her way out from behind Aaron, bustling past him with a roll of her eyes and a friendly smile. She was slim, though not lacking in curves, and her brown hair was styled in a Continental manner.
“Itiswonderful, Aaron,” she said, rolling her eyes in a commiserating fashion as she approached Phoebe. “Now, go away. I want to meet your wife—sinceI wasn’t even invited to the wedding.”
“I am so sorry about that,” Phoebe said at once. “It really was very sudden…”
“Oh please,” said the woman. “I don’t blame you.” She shot a poisonous look over her shoulder at her brother. “Are you still here, Aaron? I told you, we need to speak, woman to woman.”
To Phoebe’s astonishment and delight, her husband didn’t object. Instead, he let out a frustrated sound, turned on his heel, and walked away.
“He thinks if he leaves with purpose, it will trick us into thinking it was his idea,” the woman said, her expression finally breaking into a smile. “I’m Clio. It’s so good to meet you.”
Phoebe, feeling rather in awe of this newcomer, began to curtsey, but Clio made atsking sound and wrapped Phoebe in a hug instead.
“It’ssonice to meet you,” she said. “I can’t believe Aaron gotmarried.”
Phoebe let out a little laugh, the sound shaky with relief that didn’t seem angry—or at least not angry with her. Aaron was another matter, but Phoebe knew how it was between siblings, which meant that she knew enough not to get in the middle.
“I’m nearly as surprised as you are,” she confided. “And I was there at the altar. I’m Phoebe, by the way. Phoebe Tur—Warson. I suppose it’s Warson, now.”
