Just then Phoebe leaned her head against Margrave’s shoulder and he looked down at her with such fondness that Lucien’s heart ached with a strange kind of longing.
“Neither of them were very convincing either,” Alex replied dryly. “Both moping about for weeks on end yet refusing to simplyadmittheir feelings to the other.”
“It can be a difficult prospect,” Lucien replied, feeling a bit defensive. After all, he had never declared himself to Freddie.
Alex cut him a glance. “I suppose.”
“I understand you approached the duke first about feigning a courtship,” Lucien said, deliberately changing the subject.
She turned to him in surprise. “He told you about that?”
“I think he was evaluating my intentions.”
Alex huffed. “That’s absurd. He knows you’re no threat.”
Though that was a perfectly true statement, Lucien couldn’t help feeling a little offended by her dismissiveness. “Right.”
Alex shot him a wry smile. “I’m sorry. Did youwishto be a threat?”
“Of course not,” he insisted, but her smile only deepened.
“Margrave is overly protective sometimes. He sees dangers where there are none.”
“That isn’t such a bad quality in a friend.”
“No,” Alex said on a sigh. “I suppose not.”
Another thought occurred to him then. “Who would you have gone to if I turned you down?”
Alex tilted her head in consideration. “I’m not sure. Perhaps oneof the fellows at the LaSalles’ salon,” she said with a shrug that set him on edge. She could have easily aligned herself with an unscrupulous schemer.
The image of Benjamin Chisolm came to him and Lucien’s arm tightened instinctively around her own. “You should exercise more caution than that.”
She looked up at him. “Goodness, you’re as bad as Will! I would have at least discussed any potential candidates with Madame LaSalle first. I’m not quite so naive. Besides, the point is entirely moot now.”
“It is,” he agreed. And Lucien was thoroughly glad for that. At the very least he might have kept Alex from aligning herself with some duplicitous knave.
Your intentions are hardly selfless here.
No, they were not. But he would not cause any harm to Alex either. Of that he was certain. And yet, he couldn’t ignore the fleeting sensation that it was not Alex who was the more vulnerable party in their little arrangement. But it did not matter. Lucien needed this to work. Even if he lost everything in the process. It was a risk he had no choice but to take.
Alex was grateful for the distraction provided by the treasures of the Egyptian Gallery, as this conversation had become vexing. Was Lucien really suggesting that she was foolish enough to be taken in by ascoundrel? It would be highly insulting, except she couldn’t deny that she was rather touched by his obvious concern.
They came to a stop before the colossal statue of King Ramesses II.
“Extraordinary,” Lucien breathed. “And I was only here last week,” he added with a surprised laugh.
“Yes, but it is hard to grow tired of marvels,” Alex said. “I saw parts of his funerary temple in New York when I visited their Metropolitan Museum. Strange to think the pieces are now scattered across an ocean. To parts of the world he didn’t even know existed.”
Lucien turned to her in surprise. “When were you in New York?”
“The spring. I accompanied Father on a business trip. That was how we met the Ericsons. Hank Sr. and my father got on immediately and they came back to England with us.”
In fact, it had been Hank Sr.’s barely veiled comments about Alex’s role in the company that had spurred her father’s insistence that she find a suitor. But she needn’t bother Lucien with that.
“I’ve always wanted to visit New York,” he said softly.
“Really?” Alex hadn’t minded the place, but it wasn’t until she returned to London that she realized just how much she missed home. “I suppose it’s exciting. And everyone is always in a great rush there.”
