Her confession was so entirely unexpected, Georg was entirely out of his depths. But before he could open his mouth for a retort, she turned to her brother. “There, Julius. I apologised prettily, did I not? Hartenberg and I started off a bit on the wrong foot but I daresay now that I have put things to right and cleared up this misunderstanding, everything is right and dandy.” She beamed at him.
Julius appeared to be entirely unsurprised by her confession. “One moment. You hoodwinked him into thinking you are Miss Honeywell?”
Her eyes studied the stucco on the ceiling. “Yes, well. It just happened.”
Georg cleared his throat. “The mistake was entirely on my side, at least initially. Although I believe I understand why you would have chosen not to reveal your identity afterwards.”
Her eyes grew round. “You do?”
“Yes. Well.” He frowned. “I suppose circumstances were somewhat, err, peculiar.”
She nodded emphatically. “Indeed. Very peculiar.”
His gaze bore into hers. She looked back steadily, without blinking. “Next time, Lady Evie, do me the courtesy of telling me to my face instead of running away. I have spent the past few days chasing you from one inn to another and inspecting every broken-down carriage between here and Wolfsthal. I had rather hoped to be spared that particular form of entertainment.”
She flushed. “I was rather pressed for time to arrive here for—for—for the engagement party, of course!” She looked at him earnestly. “It is to take place in a few days’ time at the Embassy, if I recall correctly. You kept mentioning that it was of utmost importance to be in Vienna in a timely fashion.”
He had said no such thing. “So I have, for how terrible would it be if we were to miss our own engagement, hm?”
Julius looked back and forth between the two, somewhat at a loss. “Now what’s it to be? This morning you informed me, most emphatically too, I may add, that the betrothal was off. And now you claim your antics of the past few days were due to the fact that you could not miss the engagement party. I appear to have laboured under a misapprehension.”
“Yes. Well. I had a moment of panic, and that is now over.” She dipped into a brief curtsy. “I apologise for having inconvenienced you and left in this rather rude fashion,after you had so generously offered your hospitality and tended to my sick companion. Listen to me apologising again, it is quite splendid of me, don’t you think? Oh, and Miss Honeywell is doing well but she is still resting, in case you have been wondering. And you are entirely right, I should have told you so in person. But that is moot, now.” Her eyes were big and earnest. Violet, he thought. Like the flowers.
“Looks like it’s back on again, the engagement.” Georg tore his eyes away from her and clapped Julius on the shoulder. “Brother-in-law.”
Julius gave Evie a mildly irritated look. “You can’t turn the engagement on and off at whim, Evie, just because you quarrel with him. ’Tis not the thing at all.”
Her eyes flew wide. “Quarrel? Us?”
“Never,” Georg agreed.
Julius frowned. “Looks for all the world like a lover’s quarrel to me.”
“But Julius?—”
“Really, Aldingbourne?—”
Both protested simultaneously.
Julius lifted a hand. “Quiet. We will do as follows. We proceed with the engagement. We will announce it, as planned, at the Embassy ball Saturday night. And bring the wedding forward to the beginning of January.”
“I can’t.” Georg’s reply was clipped.
“Why not?” barked Julius.
“Manoeuvre.”
Evie perked up. “Ooh. What’s that?”
“A large-scale military exercise involving the entire army, to test readiness, tactics, and weaponry,” Georg explained. “Unless you want to conduct the wedding in a tent? Either way, it’s an inconvenient time for a wedding.”
Julius drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “You’re right. We ought to wait until the Congress is over.”
“How long will that last?” Evie demanded.
Julius pulled a frustrated hand through his hair.
“Who knows? Maybe we should aim for a summer wedding.”
