“I’ll say it,” Rhys volunteered, getting an immediate snap of the head and glare from Malcolm.
Hattie gave a helpless little shake of the head, frustrating burning in her jaw. “I wish someone would,” she confessed, dropping her hand away from the glass. “Why do people not just say what they are thinking at all times? I do.”
“We know,” said Rhys, reaching across the table and patting her hand. “We know.”
“It is blue on one side, and white on the other,” Ruby’s voice suddenly exclaimed, shrill as she described the Jadwiga dress to Errol. “It was obviously made to be worn by me. Hattie favors fire colors, anyhow. I wear the jewel tones.”
Hattie gave a small smile across the table at Rhys. “See? Ruby says what she’s thinking too.”
He chuckled, releasing her hand and swiping a bean off her plate to pop into his mouth. “Sometimes. She’s sneaky, though.”
“Agreed,” said Malcolm. “She is inconsistent. Dangerous in a game.”
“And don’t you forget it,” Ruby announced, clearly eavesdropping, even whilst ranting to her favorite open ear.
Errol chuckled into his napkin.
“Apologies,” Elias’s voice announced, bringing Hattie back up to sudden, perfect posture. “I got waylaid at the post office. Have I missed serving?”
“You’ve a plate,” Libba said, gesturing with her fork to his place. “Might be a bit tepid.”
Elias nodded in thanks, sighing and crossing the room, still in his riding boots and kit.
Hattie did not stare.
“Don’t stare,” Malcolm whispered unnecessarily.
She pressed her lips together. Because she was not.
“Did you sell your commission, then?” Rhys asked as Elias took his seat, dropping his cheek into his hand as the question left his mouth. “I feel like someone will take offense, but I suppose that’s not how military types operate, is it?”
“Someone very well might,” Elias said with a wince. “But yes, it’s done now, or will be once the letters reach their destinations.”
“And?” said Errol, perhaps just as curious, even if he wasn’t lolling about on the table to demonstrate it. “How do you feel about it?”
Elias looked surprised, Hattie thought. His eyes widened, dark, slightly arched brows rising just a smidge. The corner of his lips ticked, almost like it struck him as funny to be asked.
He had not yet touched his wineglass.
“Relieved, I think?” he said, after considering it a moment. “Yes. I think I’m relieved. Which is odd because I liked my commission.”
“Like parting ways with a lover who’s run his course,” Ruby suggested, blinking her big, glossy lashes.
“Erm,” said Elias Selwyn. “Perhaps.”
“Oho,” Rhys said with a grin. “This one doesn’t part with his lovers. He keeps them all in perpetuity.”
Elias colored a bit, giving a stilted chuckle, and shook his head. “If that’s what you want to believe,” he managed, reaching out for the wine, his fingers just short of grasping the crystal, “I shan’t dissuade it.”
“Oh, well, perhaps you should,” Monica suggested softly, making him pause, his hand hovering just short of its prize. “You are about to be married, after all.”
“Ah,” he said, retreating from the glass, seemingly oblivious to the pain it was causing Hattie that he would not just grasp the thing. “That is an astute point, Miss Thresher.”
“You should only dissuade the things that are not true,” Hattie said, her voice going louder with exasperation. “Why would you do otherwise?”
Malcolm sighed as Rhys began to giggle.
Elias was now staring at her, something very curious in those dark-blue eyes of his as she began to color.
