“She is a neighbor,” he said. “And a friend of long standing. There is nothing beyond that.”
Neither appeared the least convinced.
“Truly. She is like a sister.” How untrue that was. The words actually felt bitter sliding off his tongue.
Mrs. Northrop nodded. “An ill-mannered sister one wishes he could pretend not to know.”
Jack bit back a retort, though it required a tremendous amount of effort.
“Or could banish somewhere out of sight and out of hearing,” Terrance added.
He had never heard his friend speak ill of Odette. He did not like this change in the least.
“Believe me,” Mrs. Northrop said, “I have suggested banishment. I am not certain Lord Barrington has money enough to bribe someone to take that insolent girl off his hands.”
“Perhaps they might consider shipping her to America,” Terrance said. “They have enough intolerable people there that she would find herself immediately accepted.”
“Do not talk about her that way,” Jack snapped. “She is not ill-mannered or insolent. She is not any of the things Society says about her. I will not stand here and—”
The grins spreading over their faces cut his words off.Knowinggrins. All too knowing.
He turned and closed the book room door. “This was an ambush, was it?”
But Terrance shook his head. “I’ve never even spoken with Mrs. Northrop until now. I’m simply not as bacon-brained as you think I am. I’ve suspected your feelings for Miss Armistead for months. The carriage ride confirmed it.”
Jack looked to Mrs. Northrop.
“The Salsteads’ ball,” she said.
“We merely danced and went in to supper together,” Jack said. They had been so careful.
“It was not your behavior that gave you away,” Mrs. Northrop said, “but the manner in which you looked at each other.”
Terrance laughed lightly. “Smitten, the both of them.”
There was some relief in knowing Terrance was aware of the situation. Mrs. Northrop’s knowledge of it was less reassuring.
“And what do you mean to do now that you have sorted this out?” he asked.
“Sortyouout.” She rose and motioned for him to take her chair. “Do not insist upon standing simply because I now am. I mean to interrogate you and prefer to do so while moving about.”
He could tell by her tone and the snapping of her gaze that she would brook no arguments on this score. He took the chair and braced himself. She paced away.
“How did you get in here?” he asked.
“You seem to misunderstand the wordinterrogate. It does not involvemeansweringyourquestions.”
Terrance could not have looked more amused if they had been watching a Christmas pantomime.
“Whose idea was Miss Armistead’s ‘performance’ this Season?” Mrs. Northrop asked.
Jack swallowed against a lump of apprehension. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Cut line, Jack,” Terrance said. “Isorted out Miss Armistead’s true character, and I see her only at Society functions. Mrs. Northrop lives at her house.”
His interrogator had ceased her pacing and now stood watching him, calm and serene but with an edge of challenge to her posture.
Whose idea had the ruse been?“We formulated the plan together,” he said. “Her sisters were more or less forced into matches not of their liking. If we could prevent anyone from even pursuing a match, she would not have to endure that.”
