Truly, that statement alone put her at ease.
But then she thought of the duchess's words. “The ones who make it easy are worth examining more closely.”
But Lord Alderton didn't feel easy in the way Mr. Fairchild had. Fairchild's charm had been effortless. In hindsight she could see that perhaps it had been too effortless. A practiced effortless.
She winced now to recall how eagerly she’d soaked it in. The perfect willing audience for his polished performance.
But Alderton's warmth was quieter and… Well, slightly awkward. He stumbled once over a compliment about the evening's roast and seemed genuinely embarrassed. It was rather endearing, really.
She permitted herself a small flutter of hope.
From nearby she felt Sebastian's gaze. She'd developed, over the past few days, an unsettling awareness of exactly where the Marquess of Blackwood was at any given moment and precisely how intently he was watching her.
His stares—or glares, as the case may be—brought an odd warmth, as if he were not just looking at her, but searing her with a hot iron.
He'd been civil this evening, though. More than civil, actually. Since their promenade in the park, something had changed. The wall was still there, but there were cracks in it now, and occasionally she caught glimpses of the person on the other side.
He'd greeted her tonight with something that almost resembled warmth.
Almost.
He'd held out her chair. And he'd even managed a response of more than two syllables when she'd asked about his day.
But now Lord Alderton was asking her about Langley Park, and she was telling him about the gardens, and she could feel Sebastian's attention sharpening on her.
She risked a glance.
Sebastian was in conversation with an elderly dowager on his left, but his dark eyes kept cutting back to Estella and Alderton. His expression was perfectly composed. But his left hand, resting beside his plate, was clenched into a fist.
Estella looked away, confused. Was he concerned about Lord Alderton? The man was a viscount, for heaven’s sake. Hardly a bad prospect. And he was perfectly respectable, even the duchess said so.
He was exactly the sort of match Sebastian and the duchess had said they wanted for her. Sebastian should be pleased. But…
He did not look pleased. Not one bit.
Then again, there were many ways in which Sebastian Vane seemed a conundrum. The man was a walking contradiction. Hot then cold, gentle then firm.
She turned back to Lord Alderton, who was asking whether the gardens at Langley Park included a folly.
"Not a folly, precisely," she said. "More of a crumbling stone wall that my brother once claimed was a ruined castle. He was very convincing about it until one realized the castle was approximately four feet tall."
Lord Alderton’s laughter was warm and genuine, and not at all performative. "My sister did something similar with a drainage ditch. Insisted it was a moat and charged a ha'penny toll for crossing."
She smiled. She liked this man. Not with that sense of desperate relief she'd felt with Fairchild, but something much calmer. This man could be…a friend.
And that was how good marriages started, did they not? With understanding and friendship?
She looked down quickly. Was she really thinking about marriage after one conversation over dinner? She was getting ahead of herself.
She blinked down at her plate. The second course had just been served when she’d been distracted by conversation. Estella picked at her food.
It was difficult to understand how anyone could truly enjoy a meal such as this one when they were constantly trying to make conversation and appear to their best advantage. One might as well ask her to juggle knives while reciting Shakespeare.
But she dutifully took a small bite of her food and hurried to swallow, lest she be called upon to speak with her mouth full.
There was a slight commotion at the head of the table, as a servant appeared at the duchess's elbow, looking flustered. Whatever the servant said, it had the duchess's eyebrows rising. Not in displeasure, Estella noted, but in amusement.
And then a high-pitched, familiar voice came from the hallway. "I was told I was welcome anytime. She said so."
