Blinking, Alathea refocused on Mary and Alice, strolling with Heather and Eliza ahead of her on the lawns. It was clearly not they who had called. Looking around, she discovered two blond beauties rushing to catch her up. Both held on to elegant bonnets, ribbons streaming in the breeze; profusions of golden ringlets danced on their shoulders.
Recognizing the twins, Alathea halted. She'd been introduced to them at a ball, but they hadn't had a chance for any lengthy chat.
Gaining her side, the twins waved at their cousins, then turned beaming smiles upon her as they flanked her. Alathea got the distinct impression she'd been captured.
"We wondered if we might speak with you," one began.
Alathea smiled, a shrewd suspicion of what was to come dawning in her mind. "You'll have to take pity on me-I can't remember which of you is which."
"I'm Amelia," the one who'd spoken testified.
"And I'm Amanda," the other said, making it sound like a confession. "We wondered if you'd mind giving us your opinion."
"On what subject?"
"Well, you've known Gabriel and Lucifer since they were young. We've decided that the only way we'll be able to escape them and find our own husbands is for them to get married, so we wanted to ask if you could give us any pointers."
"Any hints as to who might be suitable-
"Or characteristics to avoid, like being hen-brained."
"Although that does narrow the candidates."
Alathea looked from one bright face to the other-they were earnest, eager, and totally serious. She stifled a gurgle of laughter. "You want to marry them off so they'll no longer be in your way?"
"So they'll no longer guard us like the crown jewels!"
"We've heard," Amelia said darkly, "that some gentlemen won't even come near us, simply because of the ructions that might ensue."
"They actually cross us off their lists, right from the first, all because of those two!" Amanda all but shook her fist at her absent cousins. "How on earth can we reasonably assess all the possibilities-"
"And make sure they've assessed us properly, too-"
"If our watchdogs are forever snarling-"
"And they always snarl loudest at the most interesting gentlemen!"
"Well," Amanda went on, "you know what gentlemen are like. If there's the least hurdle, then they simply won't bother exerting themselves."
"Well, they don't need to, do they? There's always so many other ladies about for whom they need exert themselves not at all."
"So you see, when it comes to eligibility, we're laboring under an unfair disadvantage."
"Oh, dear." Alathea fought to straighten her lips. "You know, I really don't think Gabriel and Lucifer would like you to think of them as an 'unfair disadvantage'." She suspected they'd be hurt, their male egos bruised.
Amanda kicked at the grass. "Well, we don't plan on telling them, but that doesn't excuse the fact. They are a disadvantage."
"And they are unfair, too."
Alathea didn't argue-she thought the same. They were being pigheadedly unfair, refusing to see that Amanda and Amelia had any modicum of sense and, regardless of all else, had every right to choose their own husbands. The way Gabriel and Lucifer had always treated her-as an equal companion-stood in stark contrast to how they treated the twins. Although they'd always interposed themselves between her and any threat, they hadn't tried to stop her from encountering those threats.
Looking up, she checked her charges ambling ahead; all four girls were engrossed in some avid discussion. Alathea glanced at the twins-at Amanda, scowling at the grass as she walked, then at Amelia, softer of face but with the same determined set to her chin. "Why do you think their marrying will help?"
Amanda looked up. "Well, it has with all the others. They're no longer a problem."
"All you have to do is look, and you'll see it. Why, Devil was the worst, but he's so much easier now."
"Once they marry, it's as if all their attention is focused on the lady they wed."