What was true was this—Annaliese had proclaimed herself an abject failure more than once when in his company, but she was anything but a failure.
Granted, she had misplaced his sister, but Norma Jean had always had a certain disregard for the rules. Frankly, she would have been able to slip away from any instructor once she decidedshe wanted to see Velma get sawed in half, but Annaliese had really taken losing some students at the fair to heart.
That right there is why he’d wanted to do something for her that would distract her from the whole being-a-failure business, and insect containers had seemed like the perfect way to do that distracting, and...
“I think there are more qualities that fascinate you about Annaliese other than her symmetrical face,” Rhenick said, yanking Seth from his thoughts.
“Perhaps,” he admitted.
“There’s no perhaps about it, which is why I’m going to encourage you to sort through what those qualities are, but...” Rhenick caught Seth’s eye. “Don’t make an actual list about Annaliese’s attributes because those types of lists always get gentlemen in trouble.”
“That only happens if a gentleman is idiotic enough to make a pros and cons list, but there’s nothing I would write as a con for Annaliese because she doesn’t have any.”
Rhenick settled back in the chair. “A telling statement if there ever was one. And, because of that statement, I don’t believe you’re going to need the matchmaking services of Norma Jean’s friends, or your mother for that matter, because, if you ask me, you’re already well on your way toward a courtship with Annaliese.”
“Except that Annaliese has given me no reason to believe she finds anything about me fascinating.”
Rhenick smiled. “I doubt that’s true, but even if it is, all you need to do to change that is to allow her to see who you really are and not the mad inventor everyone believes you to be. I bet if you do that, she’s going to discover that you’re an intriguing man indeed, and if I’m right aboutthat, then you and I might very well go from being the best of friends to actually being family.”
Ten
Three days later
“Miss Merriweather, wait up!”
Slowing her pace, Annaliese turned and discovered Phoebe and Coraline hurrying down a hallway that was lined with gleaming suits of armor, their arms ladened with books, and hopefully ladened because they’d decided to open those books and read them, which might have them improving their table etiquette, something that seemed to be giving a lot of students a difficult time of late.
“Would it be alright if Coraline and I spend our free period before lunch with you?” Phoebe asked once the girls reached her.
“Don’t you usually spend your free period in the library with the rest of your friends?”
“We don’t have any other friends,” Coraline muttered.
“You have scads of other friends,” Annaliese argued.
Coraline gave a roll of her eyes. “Not since Norma Jean told everyone that Phoebe and I ratted out her and Velma about their disappearing act at the fair.”
“I didn’t even do any ratting,” Phoebe added. “But Norma Jean’s miffed that I want to match you up with Seth, something she definitely doesn’t want to see happen since she’s miffed withyou as well. That’s why she went ahead and told everyone we were rats and breakers of lady codes, even though I’m only guilty of being a romantic at heart.”
It was rather difficult for Annaliese to suppress a grin.
“Would you like me to speak to Norma Jean for the two of you?” she asked.
Clear horror flickered through the girls’ eyes as they began shaking their heads.
“That would only prove to Norma Jean that wearerats,” Coraline said. “We think our best strategy is to simply lay low for a while, but ... speaking of strategies.” She exchanged a smile with Phoebe before returning her attention to Annaliese. “We could use the free period to go over some basic strategies with you, such as how you could best attract Seth’s attention.”
“We’re thinking you should start wearing some of those gowns you have in your wardrobe that you got from Worth,” Phoebe said.
“How do you know I have gowns from Worth?”
Coraline’s cheeks turned a little pink. “I saw them the other day after I came to say my goodbyes to Rhenick and Drusilla and wandered past your room. Your lady’s maid was putting some of your clothes away.” Coraline smiled. “It would have been next to impossible to ignore the sight of those divine-looking gowns.”
“Of course it would have been, and I hope you don’t think I’m under the impression you were snooping,” Annaliese said. “However, even though I own some lovely gowns, I’m not going to take to wearing them around the academy. I doubt any of the students would take my role as co-headmistress seriously if I look as if I’m heading to a ball.”
“A fair point,” Coraline admitted before she brightened. “But perhaps, when classes aren’t in session, you could have Miss Livingston, our other co-headmistress, try on some of your clothes because that would improve her appearance tremendously, andthen we could try to get her matched up with a gentleman as well.”
“I’m perfectly fine embracing my role of spinster, thank you very much,” Seraphina said, rounding a corner and leaving Coraline jumping ever so slightly as her cheeks turned pinker than ever.
