He straightened his waistcoat as he climbed the front steps. After washing, he’d changed into a fresh suit of clothes—dark trousers, a loose-fitting sack coat, and a white linen shirt with a simply tied cravat. It wasn’t too dissimilar from what George was wearing, though perhaps less colorful than his garish plaid.

They’d scarcely ascended halfway up the stone steps when the front doors opened and a young lady emerged. She was garbed in a frothy, striped muslin gown with skirts of a wholly impractical size. The same voluminous skirts that Empress Eugénie of France had made popular some years before. They floated along behind her as she bounded down the steps, her golden ringlets gleaming in the sun.

“George! I thought I heard a carriage. And here you are at last.” She stopped in front of George, a brilliant smile lighting her face. “You’ve finally come home.”

Alex regarded Miss Talbot from a short distance away. Like Edgington Park, she wasn’t what he’d been expecting. She was pretty enough, to be sure—if one liked peaches-and-cream English misses with dimpled cheeks and melting brown eyes. Not that he was wholly averse to such wholesome charms. Indeed, if all went according to plan, he’d have to accustom himself to them. Even so, he’d thought to feel something. A flicker of attraction. The merest frisson of warmth in his breast—or in his loins.

But he felt nothing. He was, as always, quite cold to the heart.

“Henrietta.” George clasped the young lady’s hands. “You look splendid. Do you never age, my dear?”

“By the year, sir. As you’d know if you’d come to my birthday celebration last autumn. Have you no time for your friends anymore?”

“An entire month. And I mean to spend it all in your company.” George turned her attention to Alex, his smile a trifle strained. “May I present my good friend Mr. Archer?”

Alex was amazed George could utter the words without choking on them.

“Archer,” George continued in the same artificially bright voice, “this is Miss Talbot, the loveliest lady in Surrey.”

Miss Talbot looked at Alex, her smile dimming. “Welcome to Edgington Park, Mr. Archer.”

Alex bowed. “Miss Talbot.”

“My companion should be here any minute,” she said. “Shall we walk down the drive to meet her?”

“She’s not here yet?” George’s lips thinned with annoyance. “When did you summon her?”

“I didn’t summon her.” Miss Talbot linked her arm through his. “I asked her.”

Alex clasped his hands at his back as he descended the stairs with George and Miss Talbot.

George hadn’t been entirely honest with him.

He’d said Miss Talbot was a neighbor. A childhood friend and nothing more. He’d never once admitted to her having feelings for him.