“Given that you are happy to have your own sister betrothed to him,” he said, in a low voice, so that they could not be overheard, “I do not take offense.However, I am afraid I don’t quite understand.What is it about Miss Wallington’s interest in George that perplexes you?”
“She is one of the most beautiful debutantes of the season.In London, she is admired everywhere.And her dowry is enormous.She could get a man of title.”
“And yet she is here, at this little rocky estate in Somerset, that is neither particularly prestigious nor particularly wealthy, my sister notwithstanding?”
“I am sorry—”
He laughed.“No.You’re right.When you put it that way, it is perplexing.”
“Yes,” Scarlett said, that blush he loved returning.“And George is a wonderful young man.Any young lady would be lucky to have him.But he is the type of eligible bachelor that mothers tend to appreciate over their daughters.Severn, however…”
“He is a rake.And he has no money.”
“He is very popular in London with the unmarried young ladies.They all swoon after him.While their chaperones and parents frown.”
“I see,” he said with a chuckle.“It is strange to think of Severn in that light.But there is much in London I am sure I do not understand.”
“You have truly never been?”
He shook his head, feeling his own cheeks heat.
“Aren’t you curious?”
“I was—I suppose.Yes.I had planned to go at one point.But then my sister married.”
He broke off.He didn’t want to say more.
“Wouldn’t that have made it easier?”
“In one sense, yes.But in another, more difficult.”
He couldn’t explain it to her.Not here.
And his eye had caught on something across the room.Another of his brothers.George.He stood at the side of the room, his arms crossed.He was in a cluster with Tilly, Mrs.Salisbury, Mrs.Perkins, and some others.That by itself was usual enough.This entire party had been undertaken for George, and usually, he was surrounded by people.And he was well-formed for such a role.He was always the conscientious host, the perfect gentleman, genial even when others would have long ago lost their tempers.
But now, he wasn’t smiling or beaming down at Tilly next to him.
No, now he was glowering.Glaring.
At Severn and Miss Wallington.
Scarlett must have discerned that he had changed his focus because she turned.He saw her trace the same facts that had caught his attention.
She looked back at him, her expression serious.
The footmen entered the room, and the music changed to the processional that announced supper.
“Come,” he said, offering her his arm.She accepted it with a weak smile.It made him wish that they did not have the distraction of her sister and his brothers.They added a difficulty between them which, at present, he didn’t appreciate.
By some miracle, he and Scarlett were seated by each other at supper.
He thanked God for this merciful intervention.But then he considered that, perhaps, it was not God that deserved his thanks, but his infernal sister, who had given him this gift.
Thankfully, they were not seated with any of their siblings either.They were surrounded by the local landowners and their wives.He hoped to spend most of the meal talking to Scarlett.
However, he was quickly thwarted.
Mr.Dermott immediately wanted to talk business.He was especially keen to talk Malcolm’s ear off about crop rotation.Worse, on Scarlett’s right, Mr.Lambet was asking her enthusiastic questions about the London theater and which famous actresses she had seen on the stage.
