“Yes. Of course, I didn’t reveal much. I know he was only fishing for information to woo you, and you’ve made it clear that you’re wholly uninterested, haven’t you?”
Lavinia tapped her fingers along the edge of the table. “Yes. Well, perhaps, but he certainly made you the belle of the ball, now, didn’t he? And the rumor on everyone’s lips was that he was taken with you.”
Alex bit her lip. Confound it. Lavinia sounded jealous. That was no good. Alex had been worried that her sister might not take well to her gathering attention from gentlemen, but she couldn’t very well tell Lavinia that she was courting attention from the one man Lavinia had the least interest in.
“Oh no, rest assured. If he was taken with me, it was solely for the purpose of asking about you.”
Lavinia seemed pleased with that answer. “Tell me, have you had any luck finding a suitable suitor for me?”
Alex froze. She hadn’t expected Lavinia to ask so soon. “No. Not yet. But I haven’t given up.”
Lavinia frowned at that answer, but fortunately, Alex was spared additional discussion on the matter when their mother strode into the room. She was wearing an overly formal taffeta confection of an olive hue with a matching turban. Mother loved to overdress. “Oh, there you are, Alexandra. I’ve been looking for you.”
“Me?” Alex blinked. Her mother was rarely looking for her. To be sought after by not one but both of the other ladies in the household today—why, it was unprecedented. Alex glanced at Lavinia. Lavinia looked surprised, too. She shrugged again.
“Yes, you,” Mother continued, bracing her hands on the top of the chair next to Alex.
“Whatever for?” Alex took another tentative bite of eggs. This couldn’t be good. Mother hadn’t said a word about her suitors last night in the coach on the ride home from the Rutherfords’. Though that might well have had something to do with the fact that Alex pretended to promptly fall asleep as soon as they’d all settled into Father’s coach. Of course, Thomas hadn’t believed it for a moment and took great pleasure in elbowing her in the ribs each time the coach jostled. Something told Alex that Mother was about to make up for it.
Her mother raised her eyebrows imperiously. “I saw Lord Owen Monroe dance with you last night.”
“Yes,” Alex replied hesitantly.
“She said he was asking her all about me,” Lavinia added, her nose pointed in the air and a smug smile on her thin lips.
Her mother’s face bloomed with relief. “Oh, that’s good to hear.”
Alex clenched her fist. “Would it be so odd for Lord Owen to be interested in me?” As soon as the words were past her lips, she regretted them. And not just because both Lavinia and Mother instantly laughed, but also because she didn’t want to even hint about her relationship with Owen. Not now, not yet.
But the laughter hadn’t helped. Now Alex was becoming angry. Her cheeks heated. “Who am I? Cinderella?”
“No, of course not, Alexandra, but you’re hardly the sort an experienced gentleman like Lord Owen would look at twice,” her mother said in a tone that was meant to be sympathetic, but came out irritatingly condescending.
Alex braced both elbows on the table. “What sort am I, Mother?”
Lavinia waved a hand in the air. “You know … short, plump, too talkative, too starry-eyed.”
Plump! Alex sucked in a lungful of air through her nostrils. “There’s nothing wrong with being starry-eyed.” She folded her hands together on the table to keep from slapping her sister.
Her mother shook her head. “Of course not, dear. Don’t be so sensitive. I only meant you two don’t suit. That’s hardly news.”
“But you think Lord Owen and Lavinia suit?” Alex replied.
Her mother snapped her mouth shut and glared at her. Obviously, Alex had gotten too close to her secret.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lavinia interjected, taking a sip of the juice a servant had promptly delivered to her. “I wouldn’t look twice at a scoundrel like him if he were the last titled lord in London.”
Mother swallowed and turned to Lavinia with a pleading look on her face. “Oh, now, dear, don’t be too hasty. Your father says Lord Owen has quite a future ahead of him in Parliament.”
Lavinia’s eyes nearly bugged from her skull. “You cannot be serious, Mother. Why, you yourself said not a month ago that he was nothing more than a drunken lout. The man actually offered me champagne and seemed put out when I refused it last night.”
Mother wrung her hands. “Yes, well, your father thinks well of him, and it’s made me reconsider.” She didn’t meet Lavinia’s gaze.