Sophie said not another word.
"Are you getting tired, Sophie?" Alex asked after another hour had passed.
Sophie shook her head for Mrs. Plack was working so hard, trying so much to please.
"Well, I am. Mrs. Plack is very nearly through with you. The clothes that aren't finished by the time you and Ryder leave for Chadwyck House I will have sent immediately to you."
"It is absurd," the Dowager Countess of Northcliffe said from the doorway.
Alex winked at Sophie. "What, ma'am?"
"That Ryder is taking this girl to Chadwyck House."
"This girl is his wife, ma'am."
"Just look at that shade of green. It makes her look quite bilious. Just how much of my son's money are you spending? I will have to tell him that you are greedy and that is why you married him."
Sophie said not a word, but she did close her eyes. She thought she heard Mrs. Plack snort.
"I think it goes charmingly with her complexion," said Alex.
"Ha," the dowager said. "You have no taste in colors either. 'Tis Douglas who selects all your clothes."
"You're right," Alex said easily. "I'm very lucky that Douglas is so splendid."
"Humph," the dowager said. 'You don't fool me, miss, you weren't speaking about clothes."
"Well, Douglas is splendid when it comes to clothes as well. Except that he wants my necklines to touch my chin. He accuses me of flaunting if I can't touch my tongue to the top of my collar."
Sophie giggled.
The dowager looked aghast; she opened her mouth, then closed it again. However, she was made of stern stuff, and said after only four more seconds had passed, "I wonder why Ryder isn't here. Doesn't this girl consider him splendid?"
"Oh yes," Alex said quickly. "It's just there is so much to be done before they leave for Chadwyck House. Ah, ma'am, her name is Sophie, you know."
It was another five minutes before the dowager took herself off with nary a conciliatory word out of her mouth.
Alex rolled her eyes yet again, then rubbed her fingertips over her temples. "I never had a headache in my life until I met my mother-in-law."
It was another half hour before Mrs. Plack was finished. She was quite pleased with the sum of money Master Ryder was paying her
and was effusive in her thanks to Sophie.
Once they were alone, Alex jumped to her feet and rubbed her hands together. "Now, Sophie, why don't we go to the estate room and steal some of Douglas's brandy?"
Sophie stared at her sister-in-law. "Every time I think I'm beginning to know you, you say something I don't expect."
"That's what Douglas says."
"He's right," Sophie said. "Let's go."
It was the earl who found two giggling ladies sprawled out on the Aubusson carpet in the middle of the estate room an hour later, a depleted bottle of his prized French brandy on the floor between them. Alex was lying on her back, hugging her sides, laughing her head off. Sophie was on her stomach, twirling her hair around a finger, saying, "No, no, Alex, it's quite true. I'm not lying. The pirate really had only one leg and all three of the women wanted him, each for her own reason."
"But Goosie? You're making that name up, Sophie! You say she wanted to carve his wooden leg into a ship? That she'd already carved up a dozen palm trees?"
"Ah," the earl said, coming down to his haunches, "so Ryder told you about the one-legged pirate and his adventure on the island, hmmm?"
Sophie was drunk. If she hadn't been, she would have been so embarrassed she wouldn't have been able to face him for a good year. As it was, both she and Alex burst into fresh laughter, Sophie saying on a strangled breath, "So you know the story, do you? Tell us the ending, Douglas. Ryder didn't tell me yet and Alex really wants to know."