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Allthat to impress a man who’d been a stranger less than a week ago.

Afterthe catastrophe with PeterHartigan, hadn’t she vowed never to let misguided affection dictate her choices?

ButOwenLockington wasn’t just any man.

Hewas the man who’d captured her heart and who Althelia had decided she must marry.

Anotherglance at the Wedgewood ormolu mantel clock confirmed the minute hand had only moved three notches since she’d last looked.

Shepractically growled in frustration.

Whateverwere the men discussing for so long?

Normally, they joined the women within thirty minutes.

Afull five and forty minutes had passed since the ladies had come through for their after-supper tea in the drawing room. If she drank any more tea, she’d have to excuse herself to use the necessary, and just her luck, the men would arrive while she was away. ThenOwen might be corralled into a conversation, card game, or who knows what with someone else before she returned.

Acrossthe room, seated side-by-side on the ivory and gold brocade settee, her lovely sisters-in-law, Clodovea and Aurelie, chatted with Mama and Eva on the opposite matching settee. At the room’s far end in the window seat, Aurelie’s niece and nephew, Nathalie and Rémi, played with an intricately carved and painted wooden Noah’s ark set—an early Christmas present from their doting new grandparents.

Aurelie’sAuntMarie had retired earlier, complaining her bones hurt from the journey and cold. Mama instructed a maid to heat her bed with a bed warmer and Mrs. Tastespotting to prepare a hot toddy for the elderly woman.

Altheliaslid her attention to Grandmama, dozing in an armchair before the fire several feet away, only to find ElizabethWestbrook, the dowager duchess, wide awake and her keen gaze behind her thick spectacles pinned upon Althelia.

Herweak-tea brown eyes alight with a secret, GrandmamaLibby beckoned with a gnarly finger. That was the problem with having an eccentric grandmother with Roma heritage.

Sheknew things.

Altheliacrossed the room and, after settling on the short, needlepoint-covered stool, took her grandmother’s knotty, blue-veined hand in hers. “You wanted to speak with me, Grandmama?”

Leaningforward, the many necklaces around her neck clinking over her mandarin orange clad bosom, Grandmama patted Althelia’s cheek. “My dear child, you couldn’t be more obvious if you waltzed naked down BondStreet wearing the crown jewels.”

Bother and blast.

WasGrandmama correct?

WasAlthelia’s preoccupation with Owen that noticeable?

Itdidn’t matter.

Shewouldn’t admit her innermost thoughts, particularly when they were new, bewildering, and wondrous. “I do not know what you are talking about.”

“Tish, tosh.” Grandmama laughed, a raspy chuckle, like the crinkling of old, brittle paper. “I wasn’t born yesterday. You cannot keep your eyes off that striking rascal, Mr. Lockington.”

Altheliacast a furtive glance around, relieved to see the other women paid her no heed other than a cursory glance from Eva. Her cousin probably had her ears wagging as she strained to hear the muted conversation between Althelia and Grandmama.

“Hush, Grandmama. Someone might hear you and take your ramblings seriously. I’ve only known him for a few days. You’re jumping to ridiculous,”—accurate—“conclusions.”

“Bah and balderdash.” Grandmama waved her hand as if a pesky insect flew about her head. “I’m old but not blind. I know what I’ve witnessed.”

Altheliamust conceal her fascination with Owen until he declared himself.

Surely, he must feel the same way.

Grandmamabent her mouth into a mysterious smile. “AndI know what I’veseen.”

Thatcaused a frisson to skitter up Althelia’s spine, and she shivered, despite the roaring fire blazing in the hearth. Grandmama rarely spoke so boldly of her unique Roma gift. Such preternatural things were frowned upon by le beau monde, though Grandmama, more often than not, cocked a snook at Society.

Itwas on the tip of Althelia’s tongue to ask precisely what her grandmama had foreseen when the brazen dame bent forward and whispered, “Do you suppose his willy is as large as the rest of him?”