“Questions,” Vix repeated, tilting her head in consideration. “Like how many older brothers he has?”
“Too many to murder,” Hannah replied without pause. “I checked. I’m afraid you will never be duchess, short of something truly horrific.”
“Pity,” said Vix with a shrug. “But not dealbreaking.”
She thought for a moment more, uncertain what sheshouldbe asking, in the absence of any forthcoming curiosity. All she could muster was, “Is he pretty?”
Hannah paused, her lashes flickering. “Oh, yes,” she said, as though the matter were gravely serious. “He is extremely pleasing to look upon. He’s got very pale blond hair that’s always in artful disarray and the most enchanting inky-blue eyes. I think he is striking.”
“Striking,” Vix said with a nod. “That is good.”
“He is also very amusing,” Hannah added, her brow wrinkling as though she felt compelled to say it. “I do not know if he is intentionally so, but I find him most entertaining. He is not a man I would feel unsafe being left alone in the company of.”
“Is that so? I do not know that I’ve met many men I could say that of,” Vix said, blinking. “The latter portion, I mean. Plenty are unintentionally amusing.”
“Plenty are,” Hannah agreed. “He makes a bit of a show out of discontent, from what I have observed. He is not happy about the knighting.”
“Not happy about it?” Vix replied, puzzled. “What is there to dislike?”
“You will have to ask him,” Hannah said with a shrug. “All he would tell me was that he didn’tintendto perform his heroism, and therefore should not be rewarded for it.”
“A jest, surely,” Vix replied, glancing at the clock. “Surely.”
“Perhaps,” said Hannah, following the glance to the clock on the wall. “Ah, yes, we should go down. Are you ready?”
“Of course,” Vix said.
Lying was easy these days.
Unfortunately,due to the intimate and impromptu nature of the dinner, it was not being held in a room large enough for Vix to observe at a distance before entering.
The best she could manage was listening for a beat before allowing the door to swing open and reveal her to her brother and the man she had come to assess.
“You tipped him how much?” Teddy had said, in that brief moment before the door had swung open. “Why?”
“Because I like the violin. Why not?” came the answer in a very posh, slightly mocking tone of masculine depth.
“Because now he will never leave that corner, Aster,” Teddy replied with a sigh. “Now I’ve got a permanent violinist busker outside of my club.”
“You’ve got other clubs,” the man replied, and Vix could have sworn she could hear the shrug that accompanied the statement.
In any event, the exact expression of annoyance that she would have imagined on Teddy’s face was indeed manifested in reality once the barrier of beveled cedar had been fully removed, revealing the room to Vix and Vix to the room.
She drew herself up and moved her eyes from her brother to the other man, uncertain what she expected as she did.
She found him looking exactly the way she felt, his own attention drawn to her with a kind of stunned curiosity that was somehow reassuring. It was almost recognition in the face of mutually being at sea, though she knew that made no sense. Solidarity through isolation? No, not that.
She shook her head slightly and forced herself to focus on the man, no matter how he was looking at her. His features, she told herself, were her aim. His expression was irrelevant.
He was indeed pleasant to look upon, and Hannah’s description of his features had been accurate.
He was wearing a deep indigo color that she thought, oddly, rather suited her own lilac. His pale hair was combed but not quite neat, and he looked like he was uncertain whether he should speak or smile at her.
“Hello there,” he said, so suddenly she almost startled. “Are you Miss Beck?”
“Oh, wait for me, I am sorry!” came Hannah’s voice as she hurried into the room from behind Vix, her green skirts in her fists. “My apologies, I was just issuing a final request for dinner. Ah, Mr. Aster. Welcome to our home!”
He gave a lazy, curling smile, those inky blue eyes sliding from Vix over to Hannah. “Mrs. Beck,” he said with a slight bow. “Hannah. How odd to see you outside of your fox den.”
