Page 16 of The Trouble with Tweed

Claire wondered if it was always that plain when a man was fascinated with a woman, or if it was just because she knew William so well that she could see it clearly. Claire certainly hoped that if any man ever looked at her that way, she would be observant enough to notice.

Birds twittered. A gentle breeze ruffled the ash-brown tendrils that had slipped from the low bun at Claire’s neck. Her sisters were preoccupied by the scratch of Dahlia’s pencil against her notebook, but Claire subtly searched the other occupants of the park.

Lily shifted at Claire’s side. “Do you think she’s drawing me?”

“No,” Claire lied. Based upon the way that Dahlia glanced up often at Lily, she absolutely was sketching her, but Lily was terrified of it for some reason. “I think she’s sketching Margaret.”

Lily sagged and a breath of relief gusted through her full lips. “Thank goodness.”

“Why does it make you nervous?” Claire asked, even as she scanned the horizon for Michael.

“I just don’t like attention, at least not that intently.”

Claire made a rude noise. “You do realize that you’re about to receive nothing but attention this season?”

“That’s different.”

“How so?” She arched an eyebrow.

“Because everyone will be receiving the same amount of attention.”

If Claire hadn’t known her to be genuine, she would have thought Lily’s shyness was an act of some kind to lure the gentlemen in. But in truth, Lily was relentlessly unaware of her own beauty.

She possessed luminous skin, large blue eyes, and an abundance of light brown hair that curled into loose waves even without the intervention of a curling tongs. As if that weren’t enough, she had a lovely figure, a soft voice, and a charming, sweet personality. Perhaps if Lily hadn’t been so kind, or if she hadn’t been her own sister, Claire might have disliked her.

“I’m not sure that’s true,” Claire said slowly. “It simply depends on how many gentlemen are interested in courting any given lady.”

“Of course, but there are so many gentlemen, I’m certain there’ll be enough attention to go around.”

Claire shook her head, bemused by her sister’s way of thinking. Not another young lady in the ton would have answered as she did—even Beatrice and Margaret had admitted they were afraid of competing with their sisters for the same man.

Despite her stated positive outlook, Lily fussed with the delicate eyelash lace at the edge of her sleeve.

“You know you might confide in me,” Claire murmured lowly so that the others wouldn’t hear. Not that there was any danger of it—two children flying kites had captured their collective attention. “What bothers you?”

“I’m just afraid that someone will find out,” Lily whispered.

“William and I are the only ones who know, and neither of us would breathe a word to anybody.”

After a moment, Lily admitted, “It’s only that I wasn’t completely honest with you.”

“About what?” Claire’s eyebrows drew together.

It was unheard of for Lily to tell a falsehood. Which was why it had been such a shock that dreadful morning nearly sixteen months ago when Claire had gone to Lily’s bedroom to find her missing, a short letter of explanation the only thing she’d left behind.

But that part of Lily’s life was over now—as were the many lies Claire had told to cover the truth from their sisters. William knew the entirety of it—he was the one who’d found her, in the end— but he and Claire shared a rare spot of consensus that no one else should ever find out.

For all his faults, William truly did seem to want to give his sisters the opportunity to achieve excellent marriages. The truth of what Lily had done put the entire family name at risk, though in retrospect, Claire could hardly blame her.

“It was about how I left,” Lily murmured.

“It’s all but forgotten. We needn’t speak of it.” Claire patted her hand—partly in reassurance, partly to still the thin fingers that still plucked at the expensive lace.

“Not how I left home…” Lily whispered, but Claire had already been distracted by a tall figure across the park.

“That’s Michael,” she said.

Lily gave a tremulous smile. “Oh, are you two speaking again?”