“I don’t know,” she snapped. “But I do know my sister. Soon I suspect—and this is a point I have already made to her, I might add—she will begin to wonder why she is going to all this trouble for any man. Even a prince. Then she will realize she can’t possibly spend the rest of her life with a man she cannot be honest with. If nothing else, we have always been honest with the men we married.” She nodded slowly. “In the meantime, we must keep a close watch on Camille.”

“And what about Pruzinsky? Shouldn’t we be watching him as well?”

“It doesn’t matter what he does, as long as he doesn’t do it with my sister.” Her eyes narrowed in thought. “She’s been somewhat frantic trying to manage the actors and put together her perfect Mr. Dickens’s Christmas. The busier she is, the more likely she is to come to her senses about why she is doing it. Perhaps . . .”

“What?”

“Well, all in all, aside from a few conversational faux pas, things ran smoothly yesterday and—as Camille has every minute of today planned—today might be uneventful as well.”

“And?”

“And while this farce of hers is fraught with the possibility of disaster, we cannot count on that.”

“I’m afraid I don’t see—”

“Goodness, Grayson, aren’t you listening?” She sighed the way one might when dealing with a very young child. Or an idiot. “If things run smoothly, she won’t be as busy. If she isn’t busy juggling this enterprise every moment, she won’t think in terms of why she is doing something so absurd and so difficult and instead spend more time with whoever-he-is. And even you must admit the man is practically irresistible.”

“Aside from all that smiling and nodding.”

“In truth, that was a nice touch.” She watched Pruzinsky inching his way across the pond. “We need to make certain the Christmas pageant at Millworth Manor does not go well. Chaos, Grayson, would be most helpful.” She glanced at Gray. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

“In horror, you mean?”

“Yes.”

“It seems you and I think in much the same way.”

She shuddered. “That is horrible.”

“For us both. However, if you want chaos . . .” He smiled slowly. “I have just the thing.”

“I like the wicked tone in your voice. You might well be smarter than I thought.” She watched Pruzinsky approach. “He hasn’t seduced her yet, or she hasn’t seduced him. Regardless, it hasn’t happened. That would make his betrayal so much worse.” She shook her head. “Trust me on this point.”

“Oh?”

“It’s a long and sordid story, Grayson. One you shall never hear.”

“What a shame.” He chuckled. “It sounds so interesting.”