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CHAPTERNINE
The next morning,Tillie lounged against the pillows on her bed, Millie next to her, their heads bent together.
The group was having a hunt today and while the men had left straight after breakfast, the women would follow behind at a more leisurely pace.
“How have you been?” Millie asked as she threaded her fingers through her sister’s.
“All right,” she answered, her gaze fixed on the coverlet. How did she tell Millie that until Alex had arrived, she’d been more lost than ever?
She’d known she didn’t wish to be pushed into her mother’s schemes but without Millie’s emotional guidance, Tillie had been adrift.
“You don’t sound all right.”
Tillie then shared the conclusion she’d come to regarding Juliet and then Juliet’s letter.
Millie frowned. “I’m glad Lord Smith is checking in on her. I worry about her being alone.” Then Millie hesitated. “But I’m equally glad you’re not joining her research project. If you’re going to defy convention, it should be for your dream and not someone else’s.”
“That’s more or less what Alex said.”
“Did he?” Millie gave her sister’s hand a bit of a shake. “He’s always been smart like that.”
“I suppose he has.”
“You two are a nice complement to one another.” Millie added quietly.
“Are we? Until this trip I thought of us like oil and water.” Despite her words, hope rose in her chest. She didn’t tell her sister about the kiss, it seemed too intimate to share with anyone, but she’d love some insight into her relationship with Alex.
“Well, you’re both very academic, but he’s got a very gentle and steady nature while you tend to swing…” Millie tapered off.
“You can say it,” Tillie sighed. “I tend to swing wildly from one disaster to the next.”
Millie chuckled. “You’re never dull, Tillie.”
Tillie shook her head. “Let’s be honest, it’s the very trait that makes me a deplorable marriage prospect.”
“Says who? Mother?” Millie sat up, both her hands now clasping Tillie’s.
“Says everyone.”
But Millie shook her head. “Each person is looking for something different. Alex has always been so reserved. I could see him enjoying a partner who is more…vivacious.”
That didn’t make Tillie feel any better. She’d gone out last night to support Alex and she had. But she’d been unsuccessful in learning more about what he did want. Did he wish for a more vivacious bride or would he like someone who was more sedate? He was a baron. Likely, he wanted a wife suited to the role and not a hoyden. Then again, he’d kissed her.
Oh! If only she’d asked him more about why he was resisting his mother’s matchmaking schemes. If only she’d asked him more about anything at all. “But we don’t know that, do we?”
Millie only grinned and the grin just spread wider and wider across her face. “But you want him to like you. You’re smitten with him.”
Was she? She blinked. Perhaps she was. She released one of her sister’s hands allowing her own to flutter up to her lips. “I’m smitten…”
Millie gave a tinkling giggle. “That’s a good thing, you know…”
“But he’s never liked me…” Her words tapered off. Even she knew that when a man kissed her, he bore her some affection.
“He looks at you like…” Millie started.
“Like what?” she asked, her breath catching.
“Like he more than likes you,” Millie answered.
