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“I said if you are trying to?—”

She bristled. “I heard what you said. I’m just confused as to why you said it. I will have you know I have no interest in trying to court you!”

“Oh? Is that right? Is there someone better here? Hiding away in the study perhaps?”

“How full of yourself can you be? Based on this interaction, I can’t help but assume most people would be a better choice than you.”

“Is that right?” Something strange seemed to sparkle in his eyes. For some reason, he even seemed to relax. “Then what do you want?”

Amber took a deep breath, casting a glance around, both to make sure no one was listening and in a last-ditch effort to see if there were any better options.

She didn’t have enough time to try and find someone else. A few other people began trickling over, led by the woman he had come in with.

“Come find me after dinner. I’ll explain everything,” she whispered as the others sat down.

“Chris, who’s your new friend?” the woman asked, eyes flickering between them with a mischievous look on her small, heart shaped face.

“Felicity, this is Lady Amber. Lady Amber, this is my little sister, Lady Felicity.”

“Please, if you are a friend of my brother, then you are a friend to me. You can just call me Felicity.”

“Friend is a stronger word than I would use,” Christopher grimaced.

Amber had a quip on the tip of her tongue, but before she could get a word out, Felicity laughed. “I’m not surprised. You always have been so stingy with that word.”

“I think you are too generous with it.”

“There’s no such thing. You just need to learn to be more friendly.”

“I’m plenty friendly.”

One of the people laughed. “Come now, Your Grace. I remember when we first met. You spent three hours glaring at me from across the room.”

“Only because you were wearing that ridiculous suit.”

“Oh, come now. It wasn’t that bad.”

“It was bright blue!”

“My betrothed had it made for me!”

“Your betrothed is severely color blind!”

“She’s only mildly colorblind.”

“Lord Denson, I’ve had the displeasure of seeing her paintings.”

“I think you mean the honor of seeing her paintings.”

“No, frankly I was being kind by calling them a displeasure.”

One of the women started to laugh. “He isn’t wrong, darling. You are the only person who has ever had anything nice to say about them.”

“That is because other people lack taste.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

Felicity turned back to Amber. “It is lovely to meet you. I just know we are going to be the best of friends.”