Vincent shook his head, causing his brown locks to flap a little. “You may know her current woes, but did anyone tell you that Lady Phoebe was sent into the countryside and was solely under the care of her grandfather until she came of age?”
Sebastian swallowed, recalling the conversation over a dinner with Verity and Percy two days ago, where Verity had noted that fact. Apparently, Lady Genevieve was proving to be a highly informative connection between the two ladies. And although Verity was not one for gossip, she was one to know exactly who she brought into her life.
If Verity was interested in Lady Phoebe, then it meant she was important in some way.
“I do know all of this. Lady Phoebe told me about her grandfather herself. She was quite attached to the old man. It was a shame when he died.”
Vincent took a long sip of his drink then. “You knew Lady Phoebe’s grandfather?”
“Indeed.” Sebastian nodded but said nothing further.
“And?” Sebastian’s curiosity was piqued. If his friend had not mentioned Lady Phoebe or her past, Sebastian certainly wouldn’t have brought up either topic. But now that Ravenwood had broached the conversation, Sebastian did not appreciate his close-lipped manners.
He waited for a response or addition, but his friend said nothing.
“Vincent,” Sebastian grumbled into the silence, “you are irritating me.”
Vincent snorted into his glass. “Tonight, the feeling is mutual, I’m afraid.” He swallowed another small gulp of his beverage. “I am incapable of carrying on a proper conversation and you… You are not yourself because your energy is elsewhere. It is focused on the Tripleton House, clearly.”
Sebastian tugged on his cravat, winding a finger around the silk knot. It was suddenly too tight.
He meant to argue with Vincent and explain again why his interest in Lady Phoebe was purely granted out of concern for her well-being, but he found he did not have the energy to debate the matter.
Vincent had known the thoughts that plagued Sebastian’s mind, so it was also likely that his friend already understood how much Sebastian cared for the young lady.
When he stared into the depths of his second tumbler, Sebastian did not see the amber contents. Instead, he saw only the blue of Lady Phoebe’s eyes.
They were curious, always inquisitive. Even when he teased and flirted with her, she seemed to listen to his words and seek to understand them. Some women just blushed and hid their pretty faces behind fluttering fans. But Lady Phoebe surprised him endlessly with her need to absorb his words and meet them with a response, sometimes a halting one, but a reply, nonetheless, of her own.
“Shall I leave you with your thoughts?” Vincent asked as he drained the rest of his tumbler and shifted in his seat.
Sebastian shook his head. “I would like the distraction of your company.” He sat back, cocking his head. “Actually, although I may not be a marksman by any means, when did you last visit the Green? I know you are not in the Crown’s service anymore, but surely you might miss firing a shot or two. A slash here, a slice there?”
“I did have a penchant for knives,” Vincent mused. “And it has been a long time.”
Sebastian gave up his pretense of sipping for taste and polished his drink off before he stood up. He tossed several coins onto the table, nodding to Vincent to rise as well.
Together, they left and made their way to the Green.
Familiar.
Predictable.
Knowable.
Chapter Eleven
“Phoebe, are you all right? You have been nibbling on the same macaron for the past five minutes.”
Genevieve’s voice snapped her into focus, and Phoebe looked around the tearoom they were in, reminding herself of where she was since her thoughts had wandered.
“It is… tasty?” she tried to pass off, cringing.
“Theneat it,” Genevieve laughed, picking up her own dessert of lemon cake.
Phoebe’s dessert plate was crowded with different-colored macarons. She had barely eaten three, her appetite coming second to her rumination. She turned the lavender flavored one over between her fingertips then dropped it back onto the plate.
“Perhaps you should not have ordered those confections.” Genevieve took a slow bite of her cake, closed her eyes, andmoaned quietly, as though she could not help but savor the flavor. “I told you that you might not like the earthiness of the lavender and rosewater.”
