Page 7 of Is This Real or Just Pretend?

Alex returned to the ballroom and scanned the crowd for Lucien. She needed to get this business settled as quickly as possible. But she hadn’t managed more than a few steps before Phoebe glided over with a too-wide smile and took her arm.

“Come take some air with me and Will.”

“I can’t right now. Have you seen Freddie? I need to speak to her.”

“Well, I need to speak to you .”

Alex raised an eyebrow at her sister’s schoolteacher tone. But before she could tease her for it, she noticed that people kept looking over at them and whispering. There seemed to be a hum in the air. Something had happened.

“Just act normally,” Phoebe murmured before she could ask.

Well, that never worked for Alex as people seemed to find her version of normal incredibly off-putting. Instead, she tried to follow Phoebe’s lead and forced a smile, nodding at various guests, who only stared back in wonder.

When they finally reached the back terrace that led out to the garden, Phoebe tugged her over to a secluded corner where Will was waiting for them. As usual, the garden had been decorated to match the ballroom.

“Tell me what is going on,” Phoebe demanded without preamble. “Is it true about Lucien? How on earth did that happen? And when ?” Her sister grew more agitated with each question.

Alex’s pulse raced. Her careless remark had already begun to spread. She needed to put her plan in action before it reached Lucien’s ears.

“The way it usually does,” she said flatly. “We saw each other this afternoon and that was that.”

Will let out a kind of choking sound, while Phoebe looked incredulous. “ That was that? Come now, Alex. There has to be a fair bit more to it.”

She let out an impatient huff. “Why? Isn’t that how it was with the two of you? You saw each other and just knew .”

Phoebe and Will exchanged a sheepish look.

“In a way, perhaps,” she admitted. “But it certainly took longer than a few hours for us to be together.”

“Only because we were both being hopelessly stubborn,” Will said, giving Phoebe a fond smile. She grinned back at him and Alex rolled her eyes.

She had no desire to stand here while they mooned over each other. “Well, I’m simply more efficient. My time is valuable and I can’t spend months denying my very obvious feelings for no good reason.”

Phoebe pointedly ignored the dig. “But you barely know each other,” she protested. “Freddie was at least playmates with him once. But you—”

“I know enough,” Alex insisted. This was met with skeptical looks and Alex’s chest began to tighten.

If she couldn’t convince Phoebe and Will, there was no hope of convincing the Ericsons.

“And we… I… we’ve been corresponding,” she spat out.

“Though we hadn’t settled things until today.

” There. That sounded like a somewhat more reasonable explanation.

Even still, her mouth twitched. She was a terrible liar but managed to hold Phoebe’s incisive gaze.

“Oh.” Her sister’s eyes softened with understanding. “So earlier, when you were so cross with Freddie for taking an interest in him, it was because you were…”

Alex squeezed her eyes shut. She knew what Phoebe was implying.

Jealous.

A base, childish emotion she had rarely indulged in even when she was a child, as it served no real purpose and indicated an appalling lack of self-control. And yet, in this scenario it aligned perfectly with her current needs. So Alex swallowed her pride and opened her eyes.

“Yes,” she finished. “I was… jealous.” The word felt sour on her tongue and her lip curled in distaste, but this only added an air of authenticity to her performance. “We weren’t yet ready to discuss our relationship, as it is still very new, but Freddie’s behavior has forced our hand.”

Phoebe and Will exchanged another look. She was certain they had bought it.

“Now then,” Alex said primly. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to find Lucien.”

“Of course.” Phoebe nodded, now full of sympathy and understanding. “But perhaps you should talk to Freddie first before she hears it from someone else.”

If she hasn’t already.

Alex could picture her younger sister’s riotous laughter over the news, which could ruin everything.

“I saw her slink upstairs not long after her waltz with Lucien ended,” Will said. “Though he is nowhere to be found.”

Alex’s mouth twisted as she analyzed the situation. She would bet the entire company that Freddie was preparing to rendezvous with Lucien in the summer house and she had to put a stop to that as soon as possible.

“Thank you,” she replied and hurried back into the ballroom without waiting for Will’s response. They would forgive her rudeness, as usual.

Alex then picked her way through the crowd as quickly as she could manage without bothering to acknowledge anyone else.

There wasn’t a moment to waste on pithy small talk or empty hello s.

Once she had reached the other side, Alex avoided the main staircase and the assorted people milling about the entry hall and headed up the back stairs instead.

Then she practically bolted down the hallway and had just put her hand on the knob to Freddie’s bedroom when her sister opened the door and immediately looked disappointed.

“Oh. It’s you. What do you want?”

“I need to speak with you.”

But as Alex moved to enter the room, Freddie blocked her. “I don’t have time—”

“ Now , Freddie,” she demanded. “Lucien can wait.”

They eyed each other for a moment until Freddie let out a resigned sigh and stepped aside.

“Very well. Do come in,” she said with an exaggerated wave of her arm.

Alex generally avoided her sister’s bedroom, as it was decorated in a shade of pink that made her eyes ache. Freddie also seemed to have acquired every piece of lace in England.

“Go on. Out with it,” Freddie said from behind her as she closed the door. “I can practically hear your disapproval.”

Alex gingerly sat down on a shapeless lump swathed in frothy fabric. She wasn’t quite sure if it was meant to be a chair or a footstool.

“You’ve managed to find even more things to cover in lace. Somehow.”

Freddie rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t referring to my room, which everyone else loves.”

Alex shot her a dubious look. She could already feel the headache coming on. Time to get to it. “Hank Jr. was not amused by your little display downstairs with Lucien.”

Freddie lifted a shoulder. “We were only dancing. I’m allowed to dance with other men.”

“What about meeting them in the summer house?” Alex challenged.

Freddie didn’t even try to deny it. She simply crossed her arms and sat down hard on the lace-trimmed bed. “We aren’t even engaged yet,” she protested. “And he certainly hasn’t stopped gallivanting around London. It isn’t my fault he gets jealous so easily.”

Alex paused. She hadn’t known that about Hank Jr.—not that it was terribly surprising. Men seemed to have expectations for women that they would never apply to their own behavior.

“It isn’t,” she agreed. “But even still, no one likes being embarrassed. And you know how sensitive men can be.”

“I suppose,” Freddie grumbled.

“Besides, you can’t really be considering throwing him over because of one waltz with Lucien Taylor ?” Alex infused the name with a mixture of horror and disbelief. It wasn’t very kind, but she had to get through to Freddie quickly.

“It’s not only because of him,” she said. “I… I have my doubts about Hank Jr.”

Alex narrowed her eyes. “What kind of doubts?”

But her sister merely shrugged. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Though Alex could certainly challenge her on that point, this wasn’t the time to pick apart her past. And while she could sympathize with Freddie to an extent, it would not be at Lucien’s expense. He would fall back in love with her while she moved on to whatever or whoever caught her eye next.

“You can have as many doubts as you like,” Alex began. “But don’t drag Lucien into it just because you’re having a wobble. He deserves better than to be someone’s distraction.”

Freddie raised her eyebrows. Alex had spoken with more feeling than usual. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“No, you’re right,” Freddie said on a sigh. “He is more than that.”

Alex’s shoulders sagged in relief. “Good.”

“Which is why I think I’m falling in love with him.”

“ What? ” Alex shot to her feet.

“Well, maybe not in love ,” she hastily amended. “But I do like him. Very much—”

“Freddie,” Alex warned, but her sister wasn’t listening.

“—he’s so handsome. And interesting. Did you know he had his own supper club in Paris?”

“Yes.”

Freddie looked surprised. “Oh. Well, it’s quite a brilliant idea, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Alex nodded. “But you aren’t in love with him, Freddie. You—you just aren’t.”

“You don’t know what I feel ,” Freddie protested and dramatically flopped back onto the bed.

“Perhaps… perhaps you should take a nap,” Alex said as she moved toward the door.

Freddie scoffed. “As if I could sleep after that waltz!” Then she sat up on her elbows and tilted her head. “Where are you going?”

Before her sister could catch on, Alex scurried out of the room and closed the door behind her. Then she pulled out the skeleton key she always wore around her neck and locked the door. Freddie let out a muffled cry and began to pound on the door.

“I’m sorry!” Alex called out. “Get some rest!” she added, though there was no chance of that happening.

Freddie shouted something in response. It was too muffled for Alex to understand, but she guessed it wasn’t particularly flattering. “You’ll thank me later!”

Then Alex picked up her skirts and hurried down the hall. She would pay dearly for this, so she had better make it worth it.

As she returned to the ballroom, she spotted Will near the terrace.

“I locked Freddie in her room,” she murmured when she reached his side. “Please don’t let her out for another ten minutes. And don’t let her near the summer house.”

“What?” Will whirled around. “Alex, wait!”

But then she slipped out onto the terrace and headed toward her destination.

It was time to make Lucien Taylor’s wildest dreams come true.