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“What does that matter?”
“It’s the only thing that matters. Just ask Lily or Rose.”
“Lily and Rose both made fine matches,” Ally said, “and I’m thrilled for them. But I’m not going to wait around forever. I want Mr. Landon.”
“You want his million pounds.”
“I’ve made no secret of that. But I do care for him. He’s kind, and he makes me laugh.”
“But do you love him?”
“Yes, I think I might.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. Ally enjoyed his conversation and his kisses, and she loved him as one might love a friend.
“Then you don’t. Both Lily and Rose say you’ll know when you’re in love with a man.”
“Perhaps Lily and Rose are wrong. Did you ever consider that?”
“No.”
Honestly, Ally hadn’t considered it either. “Then perhaps Mr. Landon is my true love after all, even though I don’t feel the fireworks that Lily and Rose felt. After all, that crone at the Midsummer festival said my true love was closer than I knew.”
“First of all, I don’t believe any old crone knows anything,” Sophie said. “But even if she does, what makes you think she’s talking about Mr. Landon?”
“Who else in the world could she be talking about?”
Sophie sighed. “I’m sorry. I won’t take part in your scheme. I cannot, in good conscience.”
Her sister’s reaction didn’t surprise Ally in the least. But no worry. She’d simply go to London on her own, find someone else to help her, and seduce Mr. Landon into taking her to bed. How difficult could it be?
She turned toward the parlor door when it opened.
“My ladies,” Graves said, “dinner is served.”
“Thank you, Graves.” Sophie stood. “Will Lord Evan be joining us?”
“Yes, my lady. He returned a little less than an hour past.”
“Lovely,” Sophie said.
Yes, lovely. That was all Ally needed—her stuffy new stepbrother hindering her every movement. Well, she was going to London, no matter what he had to say about it.
Ally took her place at the small table in the informal dining room. Taking meals with only her sister and her new stepbrother for the past month had become tedious. Sophie hardly said a word unless Ally or Evan engaged her, and Evan rarely engaged either one of them. He still wasn’t quite comfortable with their parents’ marriage, and he made no secret of it.
When Evan entered, Ally’s heart lurched. She couldn’t help it. As much as he tried her patience, he was a beautiful man. A former oarsman at school, he was big and muscular, with blondish hair and warm brown eyes. His high cheekbones, slender nose, and broad jawline formed near masculine perfection. He resembled his father, and Ally had no trouble imagining her mother being swept away by the earl twenty years ago, even though she’d been married at the time. Married, of course, to the girls’ tyrant of a father who’d abused all three of them and left them penniless due to his negligence and reckless spending.
“Good evening, Sophie, Alexandra,” Evan said, taking his seat at the head of the table.
“Good evening, E-Evan.” Sophie blushed.
Ally couldn’t help smiling. Sophie still had issue with using Evan’s Christian name. Always true to convention, her sister. Timid and shy to a fault, Sophie often stammered around new people—though Evan was hardly new in their lives. Before their parents had married a month ago, he’d been courting their cousin Lady Rose Jameson. But Rose had loved another and was now married to Cameron Price-Adams, the Earl of Thornton and heir to a marquessate.
“Yes, good evening,” Ally said.
“I trust your day passed pleasantly,” Evan said.
“Yes, of course. And yours?” Ally asked.
“Pleasant indeed.”
