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“You must attend.”
“Susan, I am not invited!”
“Surely that is only because she does not think you will accept. If you tell her—”
“I am not going to angle for an invitation,” Elizabeth said hotly. “Even I have more pride than that.”
“Can’t you just leave something there by accident on Friday? Then you would have to return on Saturday to fetch it.” Susan made a face that was more hopeful than convincing. “Maybe you would be invited to join in the festivities.”
“And you don’t think Lady Danbury will find that a trifle odd?” Elizabeth scoffed. “I’ve been her companion for five years now, and I’ve never forgotten any of my belongings before.”
“Perhaps she will. Perhaps she won’t.” Susan shrugged. “But you won’t know until you try. And you certainly won’t find a husband if you hide yourself here all day.”
“Oh, very well,” Elizabeth said with great reluctance. “I shall do it. But only after I check the guest list, and then only if I can be certain that there will be an unmarried man in attendance. I’m not going to embarrass myself in front of Lady Danbury just to find that all of her guests are married.”
Susan clapped her hands together. “Excellent! And in the meantime, you shall have to practice upon this Mr.—”
“No!” Elizabeth said loudly. “I will not.”
“But—”
“I said no. I will not seek this man out.”
Susan raised her brows innocently. “Fine. There is no need for you to seek him out. Mrs. Seeton says one isn’t supposed to do that sort of thing anyway. But if you should just happen upon him…”
“That won’t be likely, since I plan to avoid him as if he carried the plague.”
“Just in case—”
“Susan!” Elizabeth leveled her sternest glare in her sister’s direction.
“Very well, but if you—”
Elizabeth held up her hand. “Not another word, Susan. I am going to Danbury House right now, where I will attend to Lady Danbury, and only Lady Danbury. Have I made myself clear?”
Susan nodded, but she clearly didn’t mean it.
“Good day, then. I am certain I shall have nothing to report when I return home.” Elizabeth tramped to the front door and wrenched it open. “Today shall be so dull. Utterly, blessedly dull. I am sure of it. In fact, I probably will not see Mr. Siddons even from afar.”
She was wrong. So very, very wrong. He was waiting for her at the front door.
“Miss Hotchkiss,” he said, his voice so amiable that Elizabeth couldn’t quite trust it, “it is a pleasure to see you again.”
Elizabeth found herself torn between the desire to flee into the house and the urge to wipe his confident smile right off of his face. Pride won out. She raised one of her blond brows in a supercilious gesture she’d learned from Lady Danbury and said, quite acidly, “Is it?”
One corner of his mouth tilted upward, but one couldn’t really call it a smile. “You don’t seem to believe me.”
Elizabeth let out a long breath between pursed lips. What the devil was she supposed to do now? She’d sworn to herself that she wasn’t going to practice any more HOW TO MARRY A MARQUIS edicts on this man. He was clearly far too well versed in the art of flirting to be taken in by any of her pathetic attempts.
And after yesterday’s turnip debacle, he probably thought her a complete ninny. Which begged the question: What the devil did he want with her now?
“Miss Hotchkiss,” he began, after waiting in vain for her to make a comment, “I had merely hoped that we might develop a friendship of sorts. After all, we will be working together here at Danbury House for some time to come. And we both occupy those governesslike inbetween posts—a bit too well-bred to mingle with the servants, yet certainly not part of the family.”
She considered his words—or, to be more precise, his tone, which was suspiciously friendly. Then she regarded his face, which appeared to be equally kind and amiable.
Except for his eyes. There was something lurking in those chocolaty depths. Something…knowing.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” she blurted out.
