“They mean well.” Mary sighed.
“You need a husband. That will get you out of the house,” Dimity said as if she were about to select a new horse. “It’s the best solution, and as it happens, I know just the man.”
Mary did not like the smile on her face at all. It was a bit smug.
“I don’t wish to wed.”
“Do you know what I think?” Freya added.
“I’m fairly sure I don’t want to know,” Mary said.
“I think you should marry Zach and then we will be family and see each other even more than we do now.”
“What?” Mary shrieked.
“Excellent idea,” Dimity agreed at the same time.
“I concur,” Beth added.
“I love that plan,” Ruby said.
“Absolutely not. We loathe each other,” Mary said. Her heart was beating hard, and her head felt a little light at the thought of being married to Zach. “There will be no implementation of that plan!”
“There is no need to shriek, Mary,” Ruby said. “We are right here.”
“We shall work on it,” Dimity said with a look that suggested she’d do exactly that.
“You cannot be serious? We cannot stand each other.”
“They say love and hate are close companions,” Ruby said.
“No they don’t, and who aretheyanyway?” Mary said, panicked now. “Stop this silliness at once.”
She looked at the faces of the women around her, all married to those of Deville blood. Each wore an expression that made the hair on the back of Mary’s neck rise.
“Absolutely not. I would rather enter a convent or… or live with Phillipa and her obnoxious offspring for the rest of my life!”
“Well, that does speak to your desperation,” Dimity agreed. “However, I think I’m right in that you and Zach could be happy together.”
Mary opened her mouth to refute that ridiculous comment, but Dimity raised a hand.
“Now put all that aside, Mary. Let us set about dressing you like the beautiful woman you are and not your maiden aunt who has lived her entire life away from society.”
“We are not putting it aside. We are burying it in a deep hole,” Mary stated loudly as they left the carriage. The other ladies ignored her.
“Oh my, is this Madame Alexander’s?” Mary breathed, forgetting about Dimity’s plans for her and Zach momentarily. “I have longed to come here.”
“Well, now is your chance. Pick up your jaw, dear, and open the door,” Beth said.
They entered, and Mary just stood inside the doorway and looked around her. There were women everywhere, and the noise level was high enough to make her wince.
“Is that the Duchess of Raven?” Mary whispered to Beth.
“Yes. She and Lady Levermarch are friends, and she is often seen in here.”
The woman was stunning. Hair the color of ebony, thick and glossy, was always styled perfectly.
“It almost seems unfair that they are friends and then you add in Dimity, who is now also their friend, and the rest of us fade into the background when they stand together,” Freya said.
