“Oh,” Octavia said with surprise. Normally she wouldn’t meet callers this early, or in the sunroom, but it was Eliza. “Please, bring her here.”
Mere moments later, Eliza appeared, looking too informal for her station. Her dress was much too simple and her hair was tied back in a braid. This wasn’t the kind of social calling one normally did. “Eliza,” she said and rose to kiss her sister-in-law on the cheek. “How are you?”
Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes clear. She looked happy. “Well,” she said. “I hope you had a marvelous time last night. It was a lovely party. When are they going to formally announce the betrothal?”
“Ideally never, but I doubt I’ll be so lucky.”
“Some of their behavior was a little curious.” So Eliza had noticed the slight. She didn’t always pay attention to such things.
“They’re a lovely family,” Octavia said tartly. “Adorable, especially as we are to be tied to them for perpetuity.”
“They seem well matched in some regards,” Eliza said carefully.
“In that they are both dreadful snobs. Yes, they are well-matched in that regard.”
“I suspect they’re trying to enforce the pecking order,” Eliza said, as if she was trying to explain away their behavior. Clearly she was worried that Octavia had taken the cut to heart. Sometimes Eliza was so very innocent. A true paradox, innocent but strong as steel when she needed to be. In all that had happened, she’d managed to keep her heart from darkening. She really was a jewel—and maybe even too good for Caius.
“How is my brother?”
“Well, he has some compendium he wished to attend this morning. It wasn’t something that particularly interests me, so I thought I would come see how you are.”
“As good as always. Tea?”
“I would love some.”
Tennyson had brought another cup and Octavia sat forward and poured the tea, topping up her own cup as well. “The weather is turning. It’s getting colder in the mornings. I find I quite enjoy the dark, rainy days after a long, hot summer.” It wasn’t particularly dark today, light gray perhaps. “And how is Mrs. Broadman?”
“She’s traveling at the moment, and she’s taken her children with her this time.”
Which meant there was no reason Eliza shouldn’t stay with Caius. At a guess, Octavia believed she had the previous night. “Speaking of, have you and Caius spoken any more about taking a trip to the continent?”
“Not recently.”
“You should go. I think it would do you both good. You’ve both worked very hard in the last few months, so some time away to explore would serve you well. Who knows, it might serve as marvelous inspiration for you.”
“Well, I don’t have time so much to create any of the booklets, these days. I am so focused on the management of the business.”
“Perhaps you need to bring a third party into the business, someone well suited for those tasks.”
“Well...” Eliza said with uncertainty. “It would be difficult to find the right person.” Octavia wasn’t sure that was true at all. Eliza was struggling to let go. This was her baby, a business she’d grown from nothing at all. Caius clearly wasn’t pushing her to step away. Then again, if Eliza decided she wanted to walk on hot coals, he would probably encourage her in that too. “Now, I did come here to speak to you about something. Lord Fortescue.”
Octavia rolled her eyes. “What about him?”
“He’s a good man, a good friend. You don’t need to be so...guarded around him.”
Guarded was entirely the wrong word, but Eliza couldn’t bring herself to say that Octavia had been rude, which she most certainly had. “It does no man harm to receive a bit of rude treatment every once in a while. Does them good. It stops them from thinking so highly of themselves, and Lord Fortescue thinks very well of himself. Probably too well.”
“I’m just saying it’s unnecessary.” Which was actually quite encouraging as Eliza felt he provided no threat to her and Caius’ marriage. But it also showed that she liked him sufficiently to not like him being treated with a bit of abrasion. “He is a good man.” Yes, she’d already mentioned that. “I believe he’s looking for a wife. Not in the most apparent manner, perhaps.”
“I think he still has hopes for you.” He’d as much as said so, but there was no point highlighting his directness in stating it to Eliza. “I suggested he try his luck with Lydia Forthill. She seemed welcoming of the idea.”
The slight frown on Eliza’s face showed she didn’t enthusiastically embrace the idea, which now confused Octavia. Was that because it concerned Eliza to see him turn his attention elsewhere, or was it the direction he would turn it to?
“She is very pretty,” Eliza said. “But I’m not sure it would be a good match.”
“Can you think of a better one?”
The question seemed to stump her. “I’m afraid I don’t know the complement of women well enough to say. Maybe someone a little more... Who am I to say?” She remained quiet for a moment. “Judging by past behavior, he isn’t necessarily seeking someone who’s overly concerned about their own advancement.”
The statement was obviously true as he tipped his hat to a lone woman who was about to be decimated by a divorce. It made Octavia wonder what it was in Eliza that had attracted him so. Perhaps it was that quiet strength. Or maybe it was that Eliza cared and protected the people in her inner circle, people she saw as family—which had also driven her here today to ensure Octavia wasn’t devastated by the Forthills’ cut. Or was she here to make things easier for Lord Fortescue? Was he a part of her inner circle now too?
“We should definitely find him someone appropriate to marry,” Octavia
