The Lady Seals Her Fate (The Langley Sisters #5) by Wendy Vella Page A

unscrupulous behavior we are showing?” Alex watched his brother bite into a large slice of cake.
    “Your intentions are honorable, and what’s more, when it finishes no one need know it was a farce. Furthermore, I hardly see how it could be a trial to have to keep company with the beautiful Miss Wooller. Indeed, if she had asked me I would have agreed in a heartbeat.”
    “You obviously don’t know her as well as I do. She is a mouthy hellion, intent on sending me straight to Bedlam.” Alex stomped on the stab of jealousy he felt at the thought of Ben and Hannah anywhere near each other. “You cannot possibly fit any more in that mouth.”
    Ben ignored him and continued to shovel in another mouthful. “Don’t tell me love has made you lose your appetite?”
    “It could get complicated, Ben,” Alex said, and his tone drew his brother’s eyes.
    “Yes, and if I’m being honest, it probably will. But I could not have chosen a better wife for you.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous; we would be at each other’s throats the minute the rings were placed on our fingers. And no one said anything about marriage. Rest assured I shall choose a far more comfortable bride when the time comes, which it will not for quite some time.”
    “Perhaps, and perhaps not, but I do know that Hannah would never kiss your large feet like others would. In fact, I’d say she’d stomp on them.”
    “As I said, not a comfortable woman.”
    “But that matters not at the moment, only that I will keep your secret safe and do what I can to aid you in your deception,” Ben said.
    “And what do I pay for your silence?” Alex knew there would be something.
    “I am to take Miss Keaton driving next week, and want to look my best. You know about those kinds of things, so dress me.”
    “I always dress you, and really… Miss Keaton? Doesn’t she simper a lot and say La this and La that at regular intervals.” Alex shook his head, still surprised that his twin had so readily accepted his deception. But then, not much ruffled Ben.
    “She’s sweet.”
    “Good God, you’re embarrassed.” Alex laughed as his brother’s color heightened. “You are seriously interested in Miss Keaton. Well, well, well. It seems we both have secrets to hold, brother.”
     
    “Hannah, you’re quiet and I want to know why, because you are the second person I know who always has something to say.”
    They were in the little house they had acquired beside Madame Alexander’s, looking through their stock. Hannah had spent the morning smiling so much her cheeks hurt in an attempt to convince Phoebe she was in excellent spirits, but somehow she had not fooled her friend. Lifting her head from the box of buttons she was sorting, Hannah looked at Phoebe, seated a few feet away sorting thread. Due to her delicate condition, she occupied the only chair in the room, while Hannah sat on the floor.
    “You can outtalk me, Phoebe.”
    “Which is why I said second person.”
    “Oh, well then.” Hannah placed some yellow buttons in the box. “I am quiet because I am weary, and because my father and I had an argument.”
    “Oh, Hannah, no.”
    Phoebe was one of the most beautiful women Hannah had even known, both inside and out, and as she was expecting her second child she was more so at that moment. She wore a simple blue-and-cream-striped dress today, but as usual she looked exquisite with very little effort on her part. Dark honey-colored curls, soft unblemished skin, lovely brown eyes, and her curvaceous body made men drool. She was also extremely sharp-witted and tenacious, a fact people did not often notice until it was too late. Her husband, Viscount Levermarch, had made that mistake, but Phoebe had soon rectified that, and after a brief but tumultuous battle of wills, they fell in love and married.
    “Yes, we argued over something and have yet to reconcile.”
    “What did you argue over?”
    Hannah had known their friends and family would find out about their