Charlie’s brow pulled in confusion. “Scott’s letter said she was on the mend.”
“She is, but she took a liking to Scott, and the doctor didn’t think she could endure the disappointment of being abandoned by someone she enjoyed visiting with.”
“And now that we’re here, we have to join in the impression that we’re all mad for Gillian?” Toss asked, amusement pulling at his features.
“If Mrs. Brownlow weren’t so frail still, I would tell her the truth,” Gillian said. “Especially since not doing so means all of you will now have to lie on my behalf.”
“Saying we enjoy your company would hardly be a lie.” Artemis actually looked offended. “Did Scott tell you that he would have to lie in order to speak highly of you?”
“I most certainly did not.” Scott returned Artemis’s fierce glare with a challenging one of his own. “And speaking highly of her was not what she asked me to do.ThatI could do without thinking, without effort.”
This was getting worse and worse. She was not only having to admit to embarrassing falsehoods, but also, Scott had gone from holding and kissing her to being frustrated by her and being in Artemis’s black books over the entire thing. And making an enemy of Artemis Jonquil was not advisable.
“I asked him to tell her that all the unmarried gentlemen at the party found me fascinating and intriguing.” She could feel her face simultaneously drain and color up. “We gave her the impression that it was only a matter of time before all the gentlemen in thetonfell at my feet.”
Toss grinned a bit too broadly for her comfort.
Scott pointed at him and said firmly, “Don’t laugh.”
“I was imagining how horrified Mme Dupuis would be at the idea of gentlemen falling at anyone’s feet, unless they kept a feather’s distance away.”
Whether or not his initial amusement had been at Gillian’s expense, she was grateful it had been redirected.
Daria moved to stand beside her and slipped her arm around Gillian’s, a posture they often struck. “We had intended to secure rooms in Healey so we wouldn’t overtax the household while Mrs. Brownlow is unwell.”
“Nonsense,” Gillian said. “There is room and plenty for all of you to stay here. And the distraction might help Scott make good his escape.”
Toss, Charlie, and Fennel burst out laughing. Artemis held back hers, but it filled her eyes. Daria, bless her, looked horrified on Gillian’s behalf. Duke was, as always, entirely unreadable.
“Holding you here against your will, are they?” Toss asked Scott with a grin.
Scott smiled good-naturedly. Gillian couldn’t manage it.
They were laughing. And though notdirectlyat her, at her just the same. Scott had cut off the earlier bout of laughter. He wasn’t doing so now.
They are not laughing at me. They are laughing at the situation.
They are not laughing at me.
But the inward reminder didn’t overly help. She was not merely part of the situation but was the very reason for it.
Artemis hooked her arm through Gillian’s free one. “Let us go find your longsuffering butler and ask him if this rowdy bunch is welcome or if we ought to hie ourselves to the inn sooner rather than later.”
“Perhaps the housekeeper would be a better choice,” Gillian said.
“Is Mr. Walker still being stodgy?” Daria asked.
She knew the criticism of her father was warranted, and she further knew he didn’t want her to think of him as her father, but it still stung.
“Daria,” Artemis said, “keep these gentlemen in line if you can. Gillian and I will see to the arrangements.”
With a little bit of forcefulness, Artemis pulled Gillian toward the drawing room door but paused as she passed Scott. She hooked her other arm through his and offered him no opportunity to object. The Huntresses’ fearless leader took the both of them out of the room and into the corridor. Without so much as a word, she walked them to the entryway and out the front door, her only attempt at communication being the brief nod she gave the footman at his post.
Once out on the path that wrapped around the front lawn, she spoke at last. “The teasing is not likely to stop. Once Charlie and Toss get themselves on a topic they find humorous, it is not quickly abandoned. And then Poppy—Fennel—joins in, and the entire group is lost in ridiculousness for ages. Even Duke occasionally allows the vaguest hint of a smile.”
“I cannot blame them for finding our predicament a little bit ridiculous,” Scott said.
“Yes, but Gillian is not fond of feeling she is being laughed at.”