“I’m afraid that’s probably true,” Lady Harrington observed, both her voice and her expression rather more serious than the Earl’s. “I wish it weren’t,” she went on, turning away to reach for Nimitz. The ’cat leapt into her arms and swarmed up into his proper position on her right shoulder. He perched there, with the tips of his true-feet’s claws digging into the special fabric of her uniform tunic just below her shoulder blade while one true-hand removed his ear protectors, and she turned back to White Haven. “Lord knows I sympathize with her, but showing her contempt for him so obviously, even in private, doesn’t help the situation at all.”

“No, it doesn’t,” the Earl agreed, his own tone less amused then it had been a moment before. “On the other hand, Elizabeth and High Ridge are like oil and water. And say what you will about her tactfulness, or lack thereof, no one could ever accuse her of deceitfulness.”

“There’s deceitfulness, and there’s guile,” the Steadholder replied. “And then there’s the recognition that grinding someone’s face in the fact that you loathe and despise him, even if you only do it in private, can only make things worse.”

“It’s hardly fair to say she ‘grinds’ it into his face, Honor,” White Haven protested mildly.

“Yes, it is,” she contradicted firmly. “Face it, Hamish. Elizabeth doesn’t handle people she despises well. I know, because in my own way, I have the same weakness.” She did not, LaFollet noticed, say anything about the famous White Haven temper. “But I’ve had to learn there are some situations I just can’t solve by simply reaching for a bigger hammer when someone irritates me. Elizabeth recognizes that intellectually, but once her emotions become involved, it’s almost impossible for her to mask her feelings except in the most official settings.”

She held the Earl’s gaze until, finally, he nodded almost unwillingly; then she shrugged.

“Elizabeth has enormous strengths,” she said then, “but there are times I wish she had a little more of Benjamin’s… interpersonal skills. She can lead in a way very few people could possibly match, but she’s the wrong woman in the wrong place when it comes to manipulating people who don’t already want to be led into following her. And that’s doubly true when the people she ought to be convincing to do what she wants want to do exactly the opposite for reasons of their own.”

“I know,” White Haven sighed. “I know. But,” he added in a stronger, more cheerful voice, “that’s what she has people like you and Willie for—to advise her when she’s headed into trouble.”

“Willie, maybe,” Lady Harrington said with another shrug.

“And you,” the Earl insisted. “She’s come to rely on you for a lot more than your insight into Grayson politics, and you know it.”

“Maybe,” she repeated, obviously more than a little uncomfortable with the thought, and he changed the subject.

“At any rate, I decided that since I was in the area, and since Willie had bent my ear about what High Ridge—and Janacek—had to say at the briefing, I’d stop by and see about bringing you up to speed, as well.”