“Yes,” Eloise said. “He proposed marriage, I’m sure you’ll be happy to hear.”
Phillip coughed with surprise at her sudden announcement. “I beg your pardon?”
Eloise turned to Anthony. “He said, ‘We’ll have to marry.’ “
“Well, he’s right,” Anthony replied, settling a level stare directly on her face. “You do have to marry. And my compliments to him for not beating around the bush about it. I’d think you of all people would appreciate direct conversation.”
“Scone, anyone?” Colin asked. “No? More for me, then.”
Anthony turned to Phillip and said, “She’s just a bit irritated because she hates being ordered about. She’ll be fine in a few days.”
“I’m fine right now,” Eloise ground out.
“Yes,” Anthony murmured, “you look fine.”
“Don’t you have somewhere tobe?” Eloise asked. Through her teeth.
“An interesting question,” her brother replied. “One might say that I ought tobein London, with my wife and children. In fact, if I did have somewhere else tobe,I imagine that would be it. But strangely enough, I seem to be here. In Wiltshire. Where, when I woke in my comfortable bedin Londonthree days ago, I would never have guessed I would be.” He smiled blandly. “Any other questions?”
She was quiet at that.
Anthony handed an envelope to Eloise. “This arrived for you.”
She looked down, and Phillip could see that she instantly recognized the handwriting.
“It’s from Mother,” Anthony said, even though it was clear she already knew that.
“Do you want to read it?” Phillip asked.
She shook her head. “Not now.”
Which meant, he realized, not in front of her brothers.
And then suddenly he knew what he had to do.
“Lord Bridgerton,” he said to Anthony, standing up, “might I request a moment alone with your sister?”
“You just had a moment alone with her,” Colin said between bites of bacon.
Phillip ignored him. “My lord?”
“Of course,” Anthony said, “if she’s agreeable.”
Phillip grabbed Eloise’s hand and yanked her to her feet. “She’s agreeable,” he said.
“Mmmm,” Colin remarked. “She looks very agreeable.”
Phillip decided then and there thatallthe Bridgertons ought to be fitted with muzzles. “Come with me,” he said to Eloise, before she had a chance to argue.
Which of course she would, since she was Eloise, and she would never smile politely and follow when an argument was a possibility.
“Where are we going?” she gasped, once he had pulled her away from her family and was striding across the lawn, unmindful of how she had to run to keep up.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’tknow?”
He stopped so quickly that she crashed into him. It was rather nice, actually. He could feel every last bit of her, from her breasts to her thighs, although she recovered all too quickly and stepped away before he could savor the moment.
