Diana paused as Alexander pulled out her chair.
Lady Salford lifted one brow the moment they entered the breakfast room. “How radiant you both appear this morning.”
Alexander felt Diana stiffen beside him almost instantly.
He glanced sideways just in time to see the faint color rising along her cheeks, the warmth spreading upward from her throat in a way that confirmed his suspicion that her grandmother’s observation had landed exactly where it was intended.
Alexander, however, found the remark unexpectedly amusing.
He pulled out her chair before taking his own seat beside her, aware that Lady Salford’s sharp eyes were following the movement with the unmistakable attention of someone who had already decided she knew precisely what she was observing.
“We slept well,” he said, the words coming easily.
And they were, he reflected privately, entirely accurate.
Lady Salford made a slow, thoughtful sound over the rim of her teacup. “I imagine you did.”
Alexander felt Diana shift beside him again, the subtle movement of her shoulders suggesting she was trying very hard not to react too strongly to the direction the conversation was already taking.
“Grandmother—” Diana began.
“Oh, my dear,” Lady Salford said lightly, waving one hand as though dismissing the protest before it could properly begin. “Do not look so scandalized. Married couples occasionally enjoy each other’s company.”
Alexander lifted his coffee cup, hiding the faint curve of amusement threatening to appear at the corner of his mouth.
The memory of the previous night lingered vividly in his mind, far too vivid to ignore entirely. The warmth of Diana beside him when he had woken, the quiet softness in her expression before she had remembered herself, the way she had said his name when she realized he was already watching her.
The thought alone made something settle pleasantly in his chest.
“It was,” he said thoughtfully, lowering the cup again, “a very enjoyable evening.”
The effect of this remark was immediate. Diana turned toward him with wide eyes, and Lady Salford nearly choked on her tea.
Alexander watched the reaction with mild curiosity, though inwardly he found the entire situation far more entertaining than he had expected breakfast to be. He had no particular intention of embarrassing Diana, but he also saw no reason to pretend.
“What?” he asked calmly.
Lady Salford slowly set her cup down. She studied him for a long moment with an expression that suggested she was reconsidering several assumptions she had made about him.
“You are remarkably direct,” she said at last.
Alexander leaned back in his chair slightly, allowing himself a moment to observe both women across the table.
Diana still refused to meet his eyes. He suspected she was debating whether to kick him under the table.
“I see no reason to pretend otherwise,” he said.
It was the truth. The strange gap in his memory had erased his past, but it had also stripped away certain habits of caution he suspected he might once have possessed. Now, when something pleased him, he saw little purpose in concealing it.
Lady Salford continued watching him. Then, slowly, her expression shifted, and a smile spread across her face. It was the smile of someone who had just discovered a particularly entertaining development.
“Well,” she said with deep satisfaction, reaching again for her tea, “this should make breakfast far more entertaining than usual.”
Alexander glanced briefly toward Diana again.
She still had not looked up, but the faintest hint of a smile had appeared at the corner of her mouth. And for reasons he could not entirely explain, the sight of it pleased him far more than Lady Salford’s teasing ever could.
By the time they arrived, the garden party was already in full swing.
