Free Lady in Demand by Wendy Vella Page B

Miss Langley, have you always reacted so vehemently to people questioning your behavior?”
          Surprise flashed across her face and Finn wondered if someone else had raised this topic with her before, presumably a parent or sibling. It was obvious Phoebe did not take well to criticism or censure, no matter how warranted.  
          “Willful or spoilt, Phoebe, which one are you?” Finn mused, knowing he should shut his mouth but didn’t seem able to.  
          She hissed, which drew the eye of the elderly Lady Russell in front.
          “Excuse me, Lady Russell, I was about to sneeze.”
          The transformation from raging vixen to sweet debutante was startling. Finn had never been graced with a smile from Phoebe like the one she was bestowing on Lady Russell. Ridiculously, he now wanted one.
          “That’s alright, my dear, we all have little lapses,” the lady said, patting her hand. She then looked at Finn.
          “Smart move sitting next to this one, Levermarch. Sharp as a whip with both intelligence and beauty, and so sweet-natured,” she added before once again facing the front.
           Sweet natured…Phoebe?
          The smile dropped from Phoebe’s face as she turned to once again snarl at him.  
    “I have no idea why we are having this conversation, Lord Levermarch. Furthermore, I wish for you to keep your distance from me in the future.”
          “Alas, in that I fear you are to be disappointed,” Finn said calmly. “As your brother-in-law is my best friend.”
          “Yes, that is certainly one of life’s mysteries, as my brother is usually an excellent judge of character,” she muttered.
          “I can be quite a nice person when the occasion warrants it.”
          She snapped her teeth together hard. “I have no further wish to sit next to you, my lord, hurling insults back and forth. Therefore, I wish for you to move seats for the remainder of the musical, before I truly say something I’ll regret.”
          “You haven’t already?” Finn said, facing the front once more. He did not like causing scenes and in fact avoided them. He was not a game player nor did he deliberately antagonize people yet he was doing just that with Phoebe and could not seem to stop himself.
          “If you will not do the gentlemanly thing and move, then I will.”
          She had moved past Will to take the seat next to Livvy before Finn could stop her.  
          “Move over here, Levermarch, before some other idiot takes the space,” Will hissed, patting the seat Phoebe had recently vacated.
          “Are you calling me an idiot, Ryder?” Finn moved into the seat and glared at his friend. Why the hell could he not just have a reasonable conversation with that woman? They always seemed hell bent on taking a piece out of each other.
          “Picture having Major Dumble or the elderly dowager Duchess Pomley sitting between us. It would mean a night spent being nudged and yelled at.”
          “True,” Finn said, trying to relax into the hard seat and ignore the warmth beneath his buttocks and how it had become warm.  
          “Care to tell me what the hell that conversation between you and Phoebe was about?” he said, still looking to the stage where the musicians were now warming up.
          “No.”
          “Well, then, I’ll just point out that you are my staid, correct friend, the one who never places a foot anywhere without first checking every direction to assure it will not land in manure. Yet with Phoebe, your usually stellar character traits seem to have deserted you and by the dark look on her face I would say you are now up to your neck in it.”
          Finn sighed because nothing else really seemed to fit the moment. Will was right, damn him. He wasn’t behaving as he usually did and it was her fault; she made him stop