He raised an eyebrow at her, his lip slightly curled in disapproval. “How bold you are, Miss… I cannot remember your name.”
“Lady Evelyn Bartlett.” She puffed out a breath. “And I must be bold, for I want my friend to make an excellent match. She deserves it. So stop being so obvious and start making her curious. All of your well-practiced and somewhat plain flirtations are no good here.”
Hugo had never been so insulted in all of his life. True, hewasaccustomed to flirting easily and having those flirtations received well and even returned, but he did not need some… woman teaching him how to win someone’s favor.
Who on earth does she think she is?
She had been so quiet and unassuming until they entered the private box, but now he reasoned he was seeing the true face of this strange creature. Why, she was almost as brazen as some of the mothers who had tried to throw their daughters into his path.Morebrazen, perhaps.
“And for goodness’ sake, do not tell her that you wish to sniff the roses in her hair,” Lady Evelyn added, bringing a cough of disbelief to his throat.
He was about to tell her that he had had quite enough of her ‘advice’ and that it might be best if she left, when Selina returned. The beautiful, albeit dismissive, woman did not even offer a greeting as she slipped past him and took her seat once more.
Yet, he found he did not care, for he was still too stunned by the actions of Lady Evelyn to pay a single thought to Selina’s behavior.
Indeed, he could not help but feel as ifhewas the one caught in a mystery, unable to unravel the twists and turns that had led him to the opera tonight, with one woman who had bid on him but did not seem to want anything to do with him, and one woman who seemed rather too invested in the conclusion.
And as the opera began, he found himself looking back more than he glanced at Miss Parsons, startled each time to find Lady Evelyn staring right at him with steely expectation.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Miss Parsons, what an unexpected pleasure.” Matthew’s voice echoed into the parlor from the hallway, propelling Evelyn out of her chair.
She wrenched open the door and skidded out into the hall, breathing hard though she had barely covered any distance at all. It was a strange feeling, but she hated it when her lives met: her one and only friend being here in this house with the family who pretended she did not exist. The last thing she needed was Matthew getting any notions about pursuing Selina, for then Evelyn would lose her best friend too, as if her invisibility were some manner of disease that would could be caught by association with this family.
“Were you not just on your way out?” Evelyn said, rather brusquely.
Matthew cast her a curious look. “I was, but if Miss Parsons has come to have tea, I would not mind joining you.”
“I have not,” Selina said crisply. “I have just come to beg a word with your sister.”
Matthew seemed disappointed. “Then, I shall not keep you. Good day to you, Miss Parsons.”
“And to you,” Selina said, coming up the hall to meet Evelyn.
“I did not hear the bell,” Evelyn apologized.
Selina chuckled. “It is quite all right, Evie. I had just come up the steps when the door opened and there was your brother. I think I gave him rather a fright; you should have seen how wide his eyes became.”
“I have no doubt.” Taking her friend’s arm, Evelyn ushered her into the parlor and closed the door quickly behind them.
Her father had gone out for the morning, and Luke was in his study upstairs, so they would likely not be disturbed, but Evelyn was not going to take any chances. It was not often she was permitted to use the parlor for her own amusement, she just wished it had a lock on the door.
“Has the duke sent word this morning? Does he mean to call upon you? Has he mentioned where he might be taking you for your next excursion?” Evelyn asked without preamble, as she settled back into the spot on the settee that she had vacated in her rush to fend off Matthew.
A yawn stretched Selina’s mouth, though whether she was tired or she found talk of Hugo tedious, Evelyn could not tell.
“Actually, Sir Anthony sent word this morning,” Selina said, shuffling closer to Evelyn on the settee, while she drew a letter out of the pocket of her spencer jacket. “I did not tell him about the auction, but it was like he knew. We are so… connected, Evie. Our minds, our hearts, our souls. I just have to wish for a letter from him, and one arrives.”
Evelyn tried to force a smile. “And what does he have to say for himself? Has he explained why it was simply impossible for him to call upon you when he was last in London?”
She had heard just last night, in fact, upon her return from the opera, that Sir Anthony was in the Capital again. She had been walking past this very parlor when she had overheard Matthew and Luke discussing it, for Sir Anthony was known for putting on boxing bouts, and it appeared her brothers were keen to attend the next.
“Do not be like that, Evie,” Selina said, frowning. “Can you not just be happy for me? He loves me, Evie, and I love him, and if you cannot be glad for me, then I shall just leave.”
“I do not want you to leave, but Idowant you to see that you have been blinded by him,” Evelyn urged, wishing they did not always have to quarrel about that wretched man. “From what I have read and what I have heard, this is what he does. He woos and deceives and toys with the hearts of young ladies who do notknow any better, and when he has tired of you, you will be left ruined and heartbroken.”
“But Idoknow better,” Selina replied sharply. “I know that he loves me. And certainly, I know a good deal more about courtships and romance than you. Perhaps he has had dalliances in the past, but he is not that man anymore. I am not a dalliance to him. He has told me how much he loves me. He does not stop telling me, in truth.”
