“Just because we went into the drawing room together? Why didn’t you come out and ask me what was going on?” Jane slapped a hand against her forehead. “Wait, I know the answer to that already. Because it would be too simple. When Lucy Hunt is involved, complicated escapades are always preferred to directness.”

“I take offense to that,” Lucy replied, pointing her nose in the air. “And we did ask you, or tried to. The next morning, don’t you remember? Cass and I came to your room and asked where you’d been the night before. You didn’t mention Garrett once. It seemed suspicious to us.”

Jane crossed her arms over her chest. “And so you…?”

Lucy winced. “We decided to tell each of you that the other had developed a tendre.”

“You did what!” Jane slammed her palms against the tabletop. The silverware bounced.

Lucy kept one eye closed and eyed Jane carefully out of the other. “Cass told Garrett that you had developed a tendre for him, and I told you that Garrett had developed a tendre for you.”

Jane’s breath came in short spurts. She tried to count three but she couldn’t manage it. She waved a hand in the air. “Why in heaven’s name did you do that, Lucy?”

Lucy worried the end of her napkin. “We hoped it might serve to flush out the truth. We thought if you both believed the other had feelings, it might help you to confess to your own.”

Jane was convinced her eyes were wild. She felt wild. “Confess to my own? What in heaven’s name made you think I had my own?”

“You must admit that you and Garrett make a fine-looking couple.”

“We can barely stand to be in the same room with each other!”

“You were doing an admirable job of it that night in the upstairs drawing room. And everyone saw how enchanting you were dancing together the night of the wedding.”

The memory of that dance felt like a punch to her middle. Jane clenched her jaw. “Lucy, I swear, if I didn’t know you were the biggest meddler in the entire kingdom, I’d warn you right now to run far and fast. It would only be sporting to give you a head start.”

Lucy bit her lip again. “But because you do know I’m the biggest meddler in the entire kingdom? Oh, don’t hate me, Janie, please.”

“I’m absolutely incensed. Truly. But I have to admit, it explains a great deal.” She took a deep breath, then another one. “You are known for your schemes and if I were to remain angry with you, I might as well be angry with the sky for being blue.”

Lucy nodded so rapidly her black curls bounced. “That is true.”