An Affair Without End by Candace Camp Page B

Oliver—and I must say it could not have surprised me more if he had walked into the house with the Prince himself as his companion!”
    “Oh, no,” Vivian protested. “Prinny and Stewkesbury would be a much greater oddity—you know that Prinny calls Oliver the Earl of Strictsbury?”
    “Does he really?” Camellia laughed, and Vivian nodded, dimpling mischievously.
    “Yes, but that is not the point.” Eve would not be diverted. “Why were you with Oliver?”
    “’Twas nothing, really.” Vivian shrugged. “I met Stewkesbury as I was leaving to go to Brookman and Son, and he decided to escort me. You know Oliver; he is such a stickler about appearances.” Though she might have told Eve the whole story if they had been alone, Vivian was not about to divulge Oliver’s apology and the reasons for it in front of his young cousins. “And he told me you had arrived yesterday, so of course I had to come see you.”
    “And we’re very glad you did.” Eve turned as the butler entered the room, carrying a large silver tray, and for the next few minutes they were all occupied in the ritual of serving and partaking in tea and cakes.
    After the butler had departed and the first pangs of their hunger had been sated, the talk turned once again to the upcoming engagement ball and the other parties that awaited them this Season. Vivian, glancing over at Camellia, could not help but notice that she seemed unaccustomedly quiet. Though she was not the effervescent sort that her sister Lily was, Camellia was usually quick to speak her mind on almost any subject. It was not like her to say so little—nor to have that hint of sadness in her eyes.
    “How is Rose?” Vivian asked, thinking that the root of Camellia’s mood might lie in missing her older sisters. Both Rose and Mary had gotten married only two months after they arrived in England. “Have you had a letter from her recently? And Mary—when will she and Sir Royce be coming for the Season?”
    “We got a letter from Rose just the other day,” Lily replied. “She’s very happy. And so is Mary.” Her expression changed, her eyes turning brighter and a smile hovering at the corners of her mouth. “But she and Royce aren’t coming to London.”
    Vivian looked from Lily to Eve. “What? Why?”
    “It seems she is in an interesting condition,” Eve said, the same sort of smile growing on her face.
    “Really? Are you serious? Do you mean—”
    “She’s going to have a baby,” Camellia put in with her usual bluntness. “Why is everyone so reluctant to say it?”
    Vivian chuckled. “Because we are all very silly, no doubt. But what wonderful news!”
    “We stopped by Iverley on our way here to see her and Royce,” Camellia went on, smiling now. “They are absolutely up in the boughs over the news.”
    “I am sure they must be.”
    “But she isn’t feeling up to traveling,” Eve put in. “Mary was sorry not to be here to help Camellia and Lily.”
    “Yes, but she won’t mind missing the Season,” Camellia added. “I offered to stay. I thought she could use some help, perhaps.” She sighed. “But she wouldn’t let me.”
    “She would not want you to miss your first Season.”
    “It will all still be here next year,” Camellia pointed out.
    “Ah, but it’s different every time,” Vivian told her.
    They fell once again to talking of the Season and parties and their shopping expedition tomorrow, but after a while the butler announced the arrival of Lady Carr. This news sent Lily into an unaccustomed silence, and she straightened her dress and patted anxiously at her hair.
    “I am sure that you and Lady Carr must have much to discuss,” Vivian said, standing. “And I should be on my way.”
    Next to her, Camellia popped to her feet. “I’ll walk you out.”
    Lady Carr, a small woman with a die-away air, came into the room, and Vivian had to linger for a few moments to greet her and express her felicitations on the news of the upcoming