“You brought him out here for me? I assumed it was a coincidence.” Juliet was far too good for the rest of us.
“Oh no, my darling,” Michael corrected. “She found my courtship via surreptitious book selection to be charming.”
“I found it to be somewhere between endearing and pathetic. But they made her happy. I did wonder though, when did you meet? Surely you were not leaving novels for a mystery woman.”
“I should not say, for you will be far too smug,” Michael answered, taking a healthy sip of wine.
“Oh, now I must know,” Hugh added.
“She will be insufferable. Women always are when they’re right.” Michael directed at Hugh before turning to me. “If you must know, it was at your ball. You were quite determined to find me a wife, if you’ll recall.”
“I was, but not that wife! And then you were late. And you left early, I might add. When did you even find the time to meet? I know it was not on the dance floor.”
“In your library.”
“You were in the library? During a ball? I should have known. Certainly, my original choice for you would have been a poor match. I don’t know what I was thinking. She adores dancing.”
“And who would you have chosen for me?”
“Lady Rycliffe, she is the marchioness—” I began. Before I finished the title, he choked on his wine. Juliet burst into a fit of giggles at the sight. “What have I missed?”
“Nothing,” Michael answered far too quickly.
“Tell me.”
“It’s not fit for the dinner table,” he said.
“Well, now you must tell me.”
Hugh sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “I believe my brother and Lady Rycliffe had an agreement of sorts…”
“What sort of… oh.”
“Precisely.”
“Well, why did she not tell me that? ”
“It’s not entirely appropriate, Kate,” Juliet replied.
“Well then, perhaps my matchmaking skills are not so dismal after all.” I replied cheerfully. “Who else is in need of a bride? What sort of ladies does Tom fancy?”
“I don’t actually know,” Michael answered, brow furrowed.
Hugh added, “Tom is just nineteen. He is far too young to think of marriage.”
“Perhaps I should focus on Cee after all. At least now that I know I was not so far off. Jules, who do we know?”
“I do not know anyone. I had less than half of a season.”
“Surely there is someone?”
“Kit.”
“Oh dear, no. Kit is far too studious.”
“Ladies, perhaps we should leave the matchmaking to the fates. After all, I would never have expected that Hugh would have chosen you, yet here we are.” Michael’s comment, delivered jovially, stung.
Hugh straightened. “Why should I not have chosen her? There is no better choice in all of London.”
