“I saw her slink upstairs not long after her waltz with Lucien ended,” Will said. “Though he is nowhere to be found.”
Alex’s mouth twisted as she analyzed the situation. She would bet the entire company that Freddie was preparing to rendezvous with Lucien in the summer house and she had to put a stop tothatas soon as possible.
“Thank you,” she replied and hurried back into the ballroom without waiting for Will’s response. They would forgive her rudeness, as usual.
Alex then picked her way through the crowd as quickly as she could manage without bothering to acknowledge anyone else. There wasn’t a moment to waste on pithy small talk or emptyhellos. Once she had reached the other side, Alex avoided the main staircase and the assorted people milling about the entry hall and headed up the back stairs instead. Then she practically bolted down the hallway and had just put her hand on the knob to Freddie’s bedroom when her sister opened the door and immediately looked disappointed.
“Oh. It’s you. What do you want?”
“I need to speak with you.”
But as Alex moved to enter the room, Freddie blocked her. “I don’t have time—”
“Now, Freddie,” she demanded. “Lucien can wait.”
They eyed each other for a moment until Freddie let out a resigned sigh and stepped aside.
“Very well. Do come in,” she said with an exaggerated wave of her arm.
Alex generally avoided her sister’s bedroom, as it was decorated in a shade of pink that made her eyes ache. Freddie also seemed to have acquired every piece of lace in England.
“Go on. Out with it,” Freddie said from behind her as she closed the door. “I can practicallyhearyour disapproval.”
Alex gingerly sat down on a shapeless lump swathed in frothy fabric. She wasn’t quite sure if it was meant to be a chair or a footstool.
“You’ve managed to find even more things to cover in lace. Somehow.”
Freddie rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t referring to my room, which everyone else loves.”
Alex shot her a dubious look. She could already feel the headache coming on. Time to get to it. “Hank Jr. was not amused by your little display downstairs with Lucien.”
Freddie lifted a shoulder. “We were only dancing. I’m allowed todancewith other men.”
“What about meeting them in the summer house?” Alex challenged.
Freddie didn’t even try to deny it. She simply crossed her arms and sat down hard on the lace-trimmed bed. “We aren’t even engaged yet,” she protested. “And he certainly hasn’t stopped gallivanting around London. It isn’t my fault he gets jealous so easily.”
Alex paused. She hadn’t known that about Hank Jr.—not that it was terribly surprising. Men seemed to have expectations for women that they would never apply to their own behavior.
“It isn’t,” she agreed. “But even still, no one likes being embarrassed. And you know how sensitive men can be.”
“I suppose,” Freddie grumbled.
“Besides, you can’t really be considering throwing him overbecause of one waltz withLucien Taylor?” Alex infused the name with a mixture of horror and disbelief. It wasn’t very kind, but she had to get through to Freddie quickly.
“It’s not only because of him,” she said. “I… I have my doubts about Hank Jr.”
Alex narrowed her eyes. “What kind of doubts?”
But her sister merely shrugged. “You wouldn’t understand.”
Though Alex could certainly challenge her on that point, this wasn’t the time to pick apart her past. And while she could sympathize with Freddie to an extent, it would not be at Lucien’s expense. He would fall back in love with her while she moved on to whatever or whoever caught her eye next.
“You can have as many doubts as you like,” Alex began. “But don’t drag Lucien into it just because you’re having a wobble. He deserves better than to be someone’s distraction.”
Freddie raised her eyebrows. Alex had spoken with more feeling than usual. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“No, you’re right,” Freddie said on a sigh. “He is more than that.”
