“You cannot be serious,” he growled. “You plan to attend this event?”
“Why not? It’s the perfect place to act normally.”
He shoved the papers to her. “Do you need more reason than these papers? It’s a bad plan. I forbid it.”
“Your anger is clouding your head, Heart.” She picked up a paper. “This is exactly why I should attend. To show the world how unaffected I am.”
“Yes, you seem quite so.” His eyes bore into her. “Areyou unaffected?”
Well, if amusement counted as affected, then no. But looking at Heart’s red-patched face, it was probably better not to mention that or he truly would bar her from attending. She settled for a question. “What reaction are you looking for, Heart?”
“A normal lady would be in tears.”
“What can I say?” She grinned at him. “I am not normal.” It was hardly surprising—the whole family was not normal. And honestly, it was hard enough not to burst into peals of giggles just thinking of that parrot and Dare’s soiled jacket without having to pretend to be normal on top of it.
“I’d be so much happier if you were.”
“Why?” Leonora challenged calmly. “If you focused more on your own life, you wouldn’t need to pin your happiness on mine.”
“You are my sister.”
“I am yourfamily,” she countered meaningfully. Not that he would ever catch onto the meaning, daft man. “I’m also a woman, which means if I marry, I leave this house. And guess what, Heart, you would still be here—alone with no one to fuss over. Which is rather distressing for a man your age. Hence, you should focus on yourself and pay less attention to me.”
“When you marry, I shall too.”
And he questionedherlogic. “Why wait?”
“You need me to answer that?”
She shrugged. “In any event, there are no suitable matches for me at this time.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at her. “What constitutes someone suitable for you?”
“Someone more like me than not.”
His gaze turned dull. “What the blazes do you mean by that?”
“You truly are hopeless, Heart,” Leonora said exasperatedly. “Should I spell it out? I want a man who is more like me character-wise than he is the exact opposite. I am afraid there are not many prospects this season.”
“Because you are being difficult.”
She shrugged again. “I am what I am.”
“Words no man wants to hear.” He gave her a vexed look. “What about Lord Turnberry? He asked you to dance the other evening. A waltz, as well.”
She curled her lip in distaste. “He is the exact opposite of me.”
“Mandeville?”
“Too opposite.”
“I saw you laughing with the Duke of Calstone.”
“Polaropposites.” Well, not exactly, but Heart didn’t need to know that.
His look turned sour. “Look inside yourself, Leonora. Do you truly believe there is a man the same as you?”
One did come to mind. A certain earl who was so handsome even the parrots flocked around him. But while it was true they were similar in many ways, he didn’t count. Not in terms of marriage—a topic she wanted to nip in the bud. She regarded her brother and smiled sweetly. “Why, yes, dear brother. You.”
