“Much better, but I’d like to be alone with Alan. Houston and I—.” She stopped, since Lee had taken off like lightning again and thrown her and Alan against the back of the buggy.
“And here are our little lovebirds, now. Lee, you should have told us about you and Blair,” Miss Emily said. “When Nina told us you were the lovesick young swain, we all thought it was Houston.”
“I guess it’s true that love is blind,” Lee said, winking at the older woman. “Could we have the private dining room? An old friend of my fiancée’s has come to visit, and we’d like to talk.”
Miss Emily took one look at Alan and smiled. “You have to meet Nina, Leander’s sister, such a pretty young lady.”
By the time they got into the private dining room, and tea and cakes had been set before them, Blair was grimacing, Alan was still looking puzzled, but Lee was smiling proudly.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll tell Alan the truth,” Blair said, as soon as the door was closed. “My sister, Houston, wanted to go somewhere and—.”
“Where?” Lee interrupted.
She glared at him. “If you must know, she had received an invitation to see that monstrous house of Taggert’s that night and she wanted to go, and the only way she could was if I posed as her and went to the reception with you. Anyway,” she turned back to Alan and her voice lost its anger, “my sister wanted to trade places for the evening, like we used to do when we were children, so we did. Except I didn’t know what I was getting myself into because he,” she glanced at Lee, “kept getting angry at me, I mean Houston, and I kept trying to get away from him but he wouldn’t let me. And then, the next day, he found out we’d traded places, and now he stupidly thinks I want to marry him.”
Alan was quiet for several moments. “The story seems to be missing a few pieces.”
“I’d say about half of it’s missing,” Lee said. “The truth is, the twins did exchange places, and I don’t for the life of me know why I didn’t see it right away. I was engaged to Houston, who’s a cool little thing, so I should have guessed it wasn’t her because when I touched Blair she practically ignited.”
“How dare you say such a thing!”
Lee looked completely innocent. “I’m just telling the truth, sweetheart. I took her to my house for a late supper and, well, let’s just say that we had the wedding night a couple of weeks early.”
“Alan, it wasn’t like that. I was Houston and she loves him, Heaven only knows why, because I don’t even like the man. He’s bigoted, egotistical and thinks a woman couldn’t be a partner in the clinic he wants to open. I just want to go home and work in St. Joseph’s and marry you, Alan. You have to believe that.”
Alan was frowning as he ran his fork across the tablecloth. “You must have some feeling for him or you wouldn’t have—.”
“I told you,” Blair interrupted, her face showing her anxiety. “I was Houston. Alan, please believe me. I’ll leave with you right now.”
“Over my dead body,” Lee said.
“Ah! at last a pleasurable thought,” she said, smiling at him with her eyes narrowed.
Alan interrupted them as he turned to Lee. “Tell me, do you plan to drag her down the aisle by her hair?”
“I have nearly two weeks. By the day of the wedding, she’ll be begging to marry me.”
“Are you sure of that?” Alan asked.
“Positive,” Lee answered.
“Shall we put it to a test? On the twentieth she either leaves with me or marries you.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed!?” Blair rose from the table. “I don’t think I want either one of you. I’ll not be bargained over like a head of cattle.”
“Sit down.” Lee put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her back into her chair. “You say you’re in love with him, yet you can’t resist me, so who else do you want to choose from?”
“I don’t want to choose at all. I want to marry Alan.”
“That’s what you say today, but you’ve only just met me,” Lee said smugly. “Of course, it was an impressive first meeting, but—. Here! sit down.” He looked back at Alan. “We need some rules set up. First, she has to agree to stay in Chandler until the twentieth. No leaving town. And second, she has to accept my invitations. She can’t sequester herself in Gates’s house or only go out with you. Anything else is open territory.”
“That sounds fair enough to me. What about you, Blair?”
Her first thought was to walk out of the tearoom and leave them both there, but first, she wanted to know the consequences. “What if I don’t agree?”
“If you don’t agree, and I take that to mean you plan to slip out of town,” Lee said, “I’ll send Gates after you in Pennsylvania, and after he finishes telling his story, you won’t have a medical career. On the other hand, if on the twentieth, you should mistakenly choose Alan, I’ll buy your train ticket and I’ll somehow pacify Gates.”