Vincent shrugged to show how little he cared for normality, though he did add, “Besides, this is redundant. I have not asked the girl to marry me, nor will I. As to your concern over my taking her to the theater, did it not occur to you that I might have simply wanted to distract the girl from her worries? Or weren’t you aware that her father’s tardiness has her assuming the worst? And besides, I thought I was taking her to a play that wouldn’t be frequented by our crowd. Bloody ill luck that it was such a good performance that word of it has spread.”

“Her father could be dead?”

Trust Jonathan to surmise that and be already thinking how to put that information to good use in his campaign to win her. “Highly unlikely.”

“But possible?”

“Anything is possible, of course. But it’s more likely that he will show up within the week, that whatever has detained him, he will make an effort to finish up. He will want to be home for Christmas, after all, to spend it with his family. Larissa, unfortunately, has it set in her mind that something has gone terribly wrong, and once a fear sets in, it’s hard to shake. I’ve tried to convince her otherwise, with little luck. So I tried a distraction instead.”

Jonathan frowned. “She hides it very well, that she’s worried. How did you find out?”

“Having her burst into tears in front of me when we had been speaking of her father was a very good clue,” Vincent said dryly.

“I would be quite happy to take over the matter of distracting her. No reason for you to be bothered, when she means nothing to you. And you’ve already done quite enough in allowing the girl and her brother to stay here until their father returns. Which reminds me, why did you evict them from their home?”

Jonathan was overstepping the bounds of their relationship in asking questions that were none of his business. He knew that, of course. His slight blush said as much. Yet he wasn’t going to retract the question, because his interest in Larissa naturally included all information he could gather about her, and he no doubt hoped Vincent would realize that and supply some of it.

Vincent sighed. It wasn’t his habit to lie, yet he seemed to be doing a great deal of it since he’d met Larissa. And having assured Jonathan that he had no interest in the girl himself, he couldn’t very well tell the viscount that she’d been brought into his home so he could seduce her, or that his goal was to ruin her family’s good name. That would be information Hale would relish sharing with Larissa, if for no other reason than he’d expect her to be grateful.