For his part, Witney was less obviously fake when he spoke to Alfred about his plans to refurbish Witney Court. In fact, he seemed genuinely interested in Alfred’s opinion. “I hope you’ll have time today to humor me for a short while. I’m keen to know which architectural firm you hired and how you selected them.”

“I’m happy to help if I can,” Alfred said evenly. He might not be happy to do it, but he would because he possessed a thoroughly compassionate nature.

Alfred moved on to Gregory, which left Evie face-to-face with Lady Witney. The marchioness gave her a less fake smile—she was getting better at pretending. “When will you be returning to London?”

“Soon.” Evie wasn’t going to give her a date. She resisted glancing toward Gregory. It was bad enough that she was going to have to give him one.

“We should be there by the end of January, perhaps sooner. I may return without Witney if he gets too involved with his plans for Witney Court.” She cast him a slightly suffering look and let out a shallow laugh.

“I should want to stay and be part of that, I think,” Evie said.

“I’m afraid I adore London too much,” the marchioness responded conspiratorially, as if they were friends.

“The good news is that London will always be there,” Evie replied airily before directing her attention to Gregory. Thankfully, Lady Witney greeted the person behind her.

“You did well,” Gregory murmured, taking Evie’s hand and stroking the back before releasing her.

“I feel as though I’m running the gauntlet.”

His brows arched. “Hopefully not with me.”

She barely smiled, not wishing to draw attention to their exchange. “Of course not. I’ll let you get back to your responsibilities.”

He gave her an almost imperceptible nod, his eyes gleaming with promise. “I’ll come find you.”

There was a slight jauntiness to Evie’s step as she departed the entry hall, trailing Alfred and Heloise, along with other guests, into a long, stately hall that seemed to be from the original iteration of the house. From her limited knowledge, she judged the beams to be Tudor, perhaps because several of the portraits dated from that time period. One thing she knew was clothing, and the female subjects of the paintings wore decidedly triangular gowns.

“You seemed almost incandescent when you spoke with Lord Gregory,” Heloise whispered so that Alfred couldn’t hear.

Evie nearly groaned. “Do stop. You are not going to change my mind about the duration of my association with him.”

“I just enjoy seeing you happy.”

“Have you considered that my happiness is due, in part, to the fact that this entire relationship with Lord Gregory is, for the first time, completely on my terms?”

“Yes, well…” Heloise trailed off. “I surrender.”

“Truly?” Evie nearly clapped with glee but wouldn’t until she was certain.

“Truly. I shan’t mention him again.”