Philip had not even thought her capable of anger.
He turned to Lucien to ask to speak to him, only to see his friend watching after her with a look of adoration on his face. Philip did not wish to believe it, hoping that it was simply admiration for her speaking her mind, but he knew better than that.
“You and I need to speak,” he said to Lucien, leading him back to his study.
“Very well, but perhaps you might first wish to return Lady Ophelia’s basket to her?”
“I shall do it,” Lady Elizabeth replied helpfully, jumping to her feet and nodding to Philip.
Lucien did not argue with her, though he seemed displeased by it.
“Now,” he began when they arrived. “Would you be so kind as to tell me what all that was?”
“I do not know what you are referring to.”
“Do not play coy with me, Lucien. Do you think I haven’t been aware of what you have been doing of late? How you continually come here only to spend all of your time with the lady that I am courting?”
“It is as I told you, Philip, we are friends, and I am hardly coming any more often than usual. Besides, after what happened last time do you not think it is best that I ensure this lady is a good one?”
“I will not have any unkind assumptions made about her, am I clear?”
“Perfectly so, and I shall never do it again. Will that be all?”
“Lucien, what is it? Do not evade my questions and simply answer me. I know what I saw just now, and I expect better of you than lies. You have been behaving in an inappropriate manner with Lady Jacqueline and I must know why.”
“Well, it is as you say,” Lucien sighed. “You know what you saw.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
Philip was hoping that there was a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why he had been acting so strangely, that it had all been innocent, but with what Lucien had said he knew that it could not be the case.
“I love her.”
He certainly had not expected that.
“You do not know her,” Philip laughed, exasperated.
“I know her a darn sight better than you. Tell me, what is her favorite color?”
Philip opened his mouth only to close it again.
“It is green,” Lucien scoffed. “And her favorite season is spring. She says it is a time for new life to be born.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“It shows that you do not know her! You think you are in love with her because she is kind to you, and if that is all that it takes for you then you might as well accept Ophelia’s advances. We all know that you have made little effort to turn her away.”
“You say that as though I had a choice to begin with.”
“You did. It is your household, is it not? You could have sent her away the moment she came, but you did not. What is it, Philip? Are you keeping her around for when Jackie refuses your hand? You have been parading Ophelia around as if it doesn’t destroy the young lady you are courting. That is hardly fair on either girl.”
“I have done everything in my power to avoid Ophelia. She is a friend of my mother’s. What do you want me to do?”
“What I want,” Lucien smirked. “Is for you to accept the truth. You loved Lady Ophelia for years, and you spent every day pining after her. Now she is here, wanting you once more, and you expect me to believe that you no longer want her? I knowyou better than that. Why don’t you step aside, let me have Jackie, take Ophelia for yourself once more?”
“Stop calling her Jackie! You do not know her well enough to call her that, and you do not have her permission. Only I do.”
“How would you know? You have spent so much time with your first love that you have no way of truly knowing what discussions we have had. Do you think I wanted to fall for her? I tried not to, but I cannot help how I feel.”
