Her brother flung himself down at Phyllis’s side, taking her hand.
Kynaston remained standing. “So you’ve seen the error of your ways?” he said to his sister.
“About Gretna only,” she replied, meeting his eyes without a flinch. “I don’t want a clandestine marriage.”
“You’ll have none other. I’ll never give my consent.”
“Then we might as well set off again.”
“You won’t leave this room.”
“You won’t stop her!” Norris exploded.
“Oh, won’t I?”
Ariana spoke into a growling silence. “Where’s Ethel?”
“What the devil does that matter?” Kynaston snapped at her.
“Don’t swear at my sister!” Norris yelled, on his feet now.
“This sister islosing her damned patience!” Ariana shouted, shooting to her feet to go nose to nose with her brother.“Where’s Ethel?”
“She abandoned us!”
“She didn’t want to come back with us,” Phyllis said quietly.
Ariana sat again and focused on the girl. “Phyllis, please tell me the tale. You seem to still have your wits.”
“Wits enough not to try to outshout the men,” the girl observed.
“Are you attacking me now?” Ariana asked.
“No, I’m sorry.”
“Why did you turn back?”
Phyllis looked up at her brother with a concerned frown. “I came to see that Titus would be hurt by my elopement. And that he needed to see sense.”
Titus.Ariana hadn’t known his given name. A Roman emperor, rather than a god.
“I see sense perfectly,” her brother said, trying to match her calm tone. “You’re too young to know your mind.”
Phyllis met his eyes. “We’ll wait a year, then. No longer.”
“You don’t get to set the terms.”
“Why not? If you don’t promise your consent within a year, we elope again.”
“I should beat you.”
“Blaggard!”Norris protested, moving to stand between them.
“He won’t,” Ariana said.
“I won’t,” Kynaston agreed. “You remind me of your mother, Phyllis. Beneath her light spirits, she was all quiet steel. Yet she was unwise. She abandoned you.”
“Not unwise,” Phyllis said. “Norris, move out of the way, if you please.” When he’d done so and sat back down beside her, she continued. “You know how young my mother was when she was widowed. She had her life ahead of her and a man she loved. She’s still happily married to Thorpe. And,” she added, with quiet emphasis, “the healthy mother of six other children.”
