Vanessa didn’t know if it was or wasn’t! But she guessed, “The sea and the beaches are quite beautiful, but the weather is always too hot to enjoy being outdoors for very long.”
“You should have come home sooner!” Layla exclaimed.
“I wanted to. I missed you both so much. But I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Father all alone.”
“But now you have,” Emily noted. “Why did you come home now?”
“Father grudgingly let me remain with him this past year, but only if I promised I wouldn’t miss my debut a second time. However, I planted a kernel before I left, that he ought to just give up and sell the place, so he could come home, too. He did say he’d think about it.” And if she could figure out a way to get the Rathbans to relent, then all of that wouldn’t be a lie.
“That would be wonderful!”
“Yes, it would,” Vanessa agreed.
Emily suddenly exclaimed, “You arrived with our visiting nobles, didn’t you?”
“Yes, though I joined them only a few days ago. I don’t know them very well.”
“But—they’re men and handsome at that, maybe a little too handsome,” Layla said. “Em has already decided she wouldn’t mind marrying that Monty fellow.”
“I did not!”
“You did, too.”
“He’s a rake,” Vanessa put in, then groaned to herself.
Why the deuce did she mention that? Both twins looked shocked. But it was Emily who asked, “How do you know that?”
Vanessa shrugged. “Men talk freely among men. I heard it mentioned.”
“Well, Lay was teasing, I didn’t say anything about marrying him.”
“Your eyes did.” Layla giggled. “But it doesn’t matter. We’re not picking husbands until we’ve seen all the Season has to offer.”
“And you’ve changed the subject, Lay,” Emily scolded, then glanced back at Vanessa. “If you traveled with those men, who was your chaperone?”
“Father sent me off with two very big guards who would raise an ax if any man even looked my way, but of course none did. I traveled disguised as a man.”
“No, you didn’t.” Layla giggled again.
“I really did.”
Emily gasped. “But that’s scandalous!”
“When no one found out?”
Layla glanced at Emily to ask, “Doesn’t that count?”
But Vanessa jumped in, “Of course it does.”
Emily disagreed, “It might have, exceptthosetwo noblemen are our guests now and will soon find out you were disguising yourself as a boy when you reveal yourself to Mother and the rest of the household.”
“I didn’t know they were going to be guests here because they’re keeping secrets of their own, which is why they won’t embarrass any of us by revealing mine. And remember, Mother is doing them a favor by letting them stay here.” But for good measure Vanessa added, “Father allowed me to travel that way.”
“But did you browbeat him into allowing it?” Emily guessed. “You always could wrap him around your little finger. Layla and I were still trying to figure out how you did that when you hied off with him—for six years! I can’t forgive you for that!”
“Emily!” Layla gasped.
Vanessa didn’t like it that Emily was making her feel defensive—when she couldn’t share the bloody truth! But she did manage to say quietly, “Did you really want Father to be alone?”
