“Eliza?” Thalia frowned and willed the memory to come, but it refused.
“My dearest friend. My Frances,” Dorothy explained, as she took hold of Thalia’s hands. “This is good. You must not be afraid to ask me anything. If I say something that makes no sense to you, tell me; I am ready to explain everything and anything of the past four years.”
Relief eased the tension in Thalia’s shoulders as she gave a nod of agreement. But as her mouth began to form her first proper question, another voice jumped in ahead of her.
“You should sit. You should not be standing in the draft in your condition.”
Thalia turned to find her brother emerging from the drawing room, his sandy hair shorter than she remembered, his facebearing a mustache that had not been there before, his hazel eyes a little dimmer than they used to be.
“Do not concern yourself with me, Kenneth,” Thalia insisted, a smirk tugging at one corner of her mouth. “You ought to send for a physician for yourself, to take a detailed look at the growth that seems to have appeared on your upper lip. Goodness, I do hope it is not catching.”
A look of surprise flickered across Kenneth’s face, while Dorothy promptly burst into laughter. Almost too enthusiastically.
“You are still the same!” she gasped, squeezing Thalia’s hand. “Thank goodness for that. I warned Kenneth that you might not even recognize him with his mustache, but this is so much better. He simply will not have it shaved, no matter how I stare at it and tease him.”
The ghost of a smile started to form upon Kenneth’s lips, beneath that well combed mustache… and faded as Henry walked in.
“Your Grace,” Kenneth said stiffly, his hazel eyes cold.
Henry acknowledged the greeting with the smallest tip of his head. “Mr. Carter.”
“Thank you for your letter,” Kenneth continued in an odd, flat tone. “It might have been more useful had it arrived sooner, but no matter; we were adequately prepared for your arrival.”
“One cannot write what one does not know,” Henry replied, matching Thalia’s brother’s demeanor. “It was only decided last night.”
Feeling a sudden urge to defend her husband, Thalia nodded. “It is true, Kenneth. There was no plan to visit until last night.”
Despite my insistence,she neglected to add, fearing that might only exacerbate the obvious tension between the two men. A peculiarity that warranted investigation. Evidently, there was some sort of quarrel or unrest between her brother and her husband, and though she suspected neither of them would tell her what it was, Dorothy surely would.
“Well…” Kenneth cleared his throat and dipped his head. “It is a… fine thing to see you back at Farhampton, sister. It has been too long.”
“It has?” Thalia looked to her younger sister for explanation.
“It has been two years,” Dorothy whispered. “I have visited you, but you have not come here.”
A frown forced Thalia’s eyebrows down, suspicion creeping through her like a thief. “Whyever not?”
“Later, perhaps,” Dorothy murmured, just as Thalia caught a warning look narrow Kenneth’s eyes, aimed at their younger sister.
So, she was not wrong that something had happened between Henry and Kenneth to make them unsettled in one another’s company. Yet again, however, it seemed that Thalia would have to wait for the details, to fill in the parts that were missing in her own mind.
CHAPTER 12
The trouble was, wherever Thalia went, Henry followed. And wherever Henry went,Kennethfollowed.
After a polite round of refreshments in the drawing room where no one said much of any real substance, Thalia had hoped to steal some time alone with her sister in the gardens. Announcing the walk, however, had only led to Henry accompanying the two women, claiming he ‘could use the fresh air.’ Kenneth had joined them under the same pretense, walking at the rear of the group as if to keep an eye on proceedings.
Then, the two men saw fit to sit at opposite ends of the Sun Room while the sisters pretended to play a game of cards, like they were trying to see who would give up first.
“This is hopeless,” Thalia muttered under her breath. “What is the matter with the pair of them? I have never seen Kenneth so morose, nor, if what I have learned is true, has my husband ever been so keen to be within ten feet of me.”
Dorothy offered a look of sympathy, her big green eyes searching Thalia’s face with the deep concern that only a sister possessed. “So, you really cannot remember anything of the past four years?”
“Nothing since the carriage accident,” Thalia confirmed with a small shrug. “But do you want to know the worst part?”
“What?” Dorothy asked, her eyes widening with worry.
Thalia put on a smile. “That I have awoken from my latest accident to find that I am three-and-twenty and far from a debutante.”
