Finally, on what must have been several dozen trips to the window, she saw him walk down the street. He stopped once and looked up. She stepped back so quickly that she stumbled. The last thing he needed to think was that she was mooning after him.
She was not.
A soft knock sounded on her door as she righted herself. “Come in,” she called as she smoothed her skirts.
“He is gone,” Fiona said.
“What did he say?” As soon as the words were out, she wanted to stuff them back inside her mouth. Fiona would think she was still interested.
She was not. Not. Not.Not.
“He said he wanted to talk to ye.”
Lorelei frowned slightly. That was all he’d said? She’d told Fiona only that she’d seen Alasdair with Melissa out in the gardens. “I hope you told him there was nothing I wished to say to him.”
“Aye. I told him exactly what ye said.”
Her frown deepened. Exactly? She hadn’t necessarily meant for Fiona to quote her. “Well. That is good then.”
Fiona looked contemplative. “It would nae hurt to let him have his say.”
Lorelei lifted her chin. “Whatever hesayscannot change what I saw. Alasdair has made his choice. I do not want to talk about it anymore.”
Fiona studied her a moment longer. “All right.” She reached into her pocket and drew out an envelope. “This arrived while I was talking to him.”
Lorelei took it and turned it over. “It is from my cousin Anne!” She broke the seal and scanned the single page. “My aunt and uncle are returning from the Continent. She will be home in about a week.”
Fiona lifted a corner of her mouth in a half smile. “Is this the same cousin who sent her gowns with ye when ye first came to Scotland because she thought there wasna decent clothing worn in barbarian Scotland?”
“Well…yes. But,” she quickly added, “my sisters and I have all written her so she knows that is not true.”
“She willna be expecting to see Alasdair in a kilt then?”
Alasdair in a kilt. Lorelei’s memory flashed back to his first appearance at Almack’s in his kilt. How magnificent he’d looked… She cut off the thought. That was also the night Lady Melissa had spotted him and walked through the crowd like Moses parting the Red Sea. “I do not think Anne will ask.”
“Tell me about her. I only remember Juliana threatening to invite her to Scotland to put Rory in his place.”
Lorelei managed a little smile. “That was before Juliana decided she was in love with Rory.”
“Aye. Ye could have knocked my other brothers over with a feather when Rory told them he was handfasted to your sister.”
She and Emily had wondered if they’d heard correctly, too, but at least Juliana had ended up with the man she loved. She, on the other hand, might well follow in Louisa’s footsteps and not marry at all.
“So tell me about Anne,” Fiona said again.
“She is a year older than us. Our mothers were sisters. Her father is a viscount and she attended a private boarding school in Chelsea and was in finishing school when we moved to Scotland last summer. The Continent tour was to complete her education in the fine arts.” Lorelei paused, realizing how veryEnglishshe had made her cousin sound. A year ago she would not have thought anything of it. “It will be interesting to see how she liked Europe,” she finished rather lamely.
“Hmmm. Is she like most of the other debutantes I have met?”
Lorelei thought a moment. “Yes and no. Anne’s family has always had wealth, so naturally she had lots of advantages, but she is not demure and biddable like many of the girls who are looking for husbands during the Season.”
“She has spirit then?”
Lorelei grinned. “That is probably not the way her father would phrase it. Anne tends to be opinionated and not afraid to let others know what she thinks.” Probably the real reason her parents took her on tour was to persuade her to refine those tendencies before she participated in a Season to find the right husband. Although, having grown up with her cousin—even if her family had remained genteelly poor, thanks to her father’s investments in inventions—she doubted her aunt and uncle would be successful.
“Anne makes Juliana seem docile.”
Fiona’s eyebrows shot up. “Juliana? Docile?”
