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She’d had no occasion to interact with anyone else in Madeleine’s life—a personal guard was as invisible as a servant, or should be—but she had drawn some conclusions about the ones she’d observed during small, intimate luncheons. The young women were mostly flighty and empty-headed, though one or two seemed as kind as Madeleine, which boosted them in Jayla’s estimation. The young men were similarly unimpressive, appearing to waste their lives drinking, gambling, and engaging in sports; if any of them spent time working in their family businesses, they never mentioned it in conversation.
Jayla had been surprised, two days after taking the job, to discover that Madeleine planned to marry Tivol. He had driven them to and from a large, merry luncheon at an establishment deep in the Quatrefoil, so Jayla had had a chance to observe him at close quarters. She liked his friendly, easy style and the affectionate way he treated Madeleine, but there was a carelessness about him that she found irksome. Probably because she herself was never careless.
Shortly after they’d returned to the house, as they’d climbed upstairs, Madeleine had said, “If I need to travel outside the city, you’ll accompany me, won’t you?”
“Of course. Where are you going? And when?”
Madeleine paused outside her door. “To Marata, but I’m not sure when. Tivol’s mother keeps inviting me to visit.”
Up till this point, the two of them hadn’t had much conversation that could pass for personal. Jayla preferred it that way—but she also didn’t mind a chance to get to know a little more about a client’s life. Sometimes the information came in handy. So she repeated, “Tivol’s mother?” in an inquiring voice.
“She wants me to understand all the intricacies of running the property so that I know what I’m doing once I marry Tivol.”
“Tivol? Not Reese?” Jayla said without thinking.
Madeleine made a sound that could have been a laugh or a sigh. “No, although Reese would like to change my mind.”
Jayla’s face burned; she had been unforgivably rude. “I’m sorry, dona, I didn’t mean—”
“Actually, it’s a relief to talk about it,” Madeleine confessed. “All of my friends adore Tivol, because he’s so charming and cultured. And because he flirts with them, but that’s harmless. Reese is—not quite as refined as most of them like.”
“I only met him once,” Jayla said. “The day you came to the training yard. He seemed very interested in your well-being. And—” How could she phrase this without risking offense? “He seemed sensible and solid. Maybe not the kind of person who is at ease in a ballroom.”
“Exactly! He’d rather be mucking around on his father’s farm than accompanying me to a dance.”
“I don’t know how the wealthy families of the city plan their marriages,” Jayla said. “Do the parents arrange for their heirs to marry? Or do you get to choose who you fall in love with?”
Madeleine leaned against the wall, looking like she was prepared to talk all night. “A little of both,” she said. “Since I was quite young, it was clear my father wanted me to marry Tivol. I’ve known him my whole life and he’s always been my best friend. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world that he would propose to me and I would accept.”
Jayla just raised her eyebrows and waited.
Madeleine sighed. “And then, Reese . . . I’ve known Reese my whole life, too, of course. But he was hardly ever in Corcannon, and when he was, he didn’t play around with the rest of us much. He was always so serious. But then last year, he was here all the time, and I would see him at a ball—or he would come to the house to visit—and we would go for walks—”
“You fell in love with him,” Jayla said, because otherwise it seemed like Madeleine would never get to the point.
“No! Not exactly. I mean—well, he did kiss me.”
Jayla tried to hide her smile. “I suppose you can kiss a man you’re not in love with.”
“Oh, I’ve kissed dozens. But this was—different.”
There was a silence. “But you still want to marry Tivol,” Jayla finally said.
“I do! But Reese doesn’t want me to.”
“What would your father say if you told him you were going to marry Reese?”
Madeleine shivered. “He would be so angry. He and Heloise—Tivol’s mother—have launched any number of business deals partly because of the wedding. We’re both the sole heirs of our families, so all the property we have will be combined.”
“I can understand your father’s reasoning, then.”
“But Reese comes from a wealthy family, too, so he’s certainly aneligiblematch.”
“I suppose it comes down to which one you would rather marry.”
“Tivol, of course,” Madeleine said a bit too quickly.
“Well, then, everything seems to be taken care of.”
