“To what?”
“Why, to the wedding, of course.”
Gad, what was that awful taste in his mouth? “Whose wedding? Lady Lucinda’s?”
His mother gazed at him with the most innocent blue eyes. “I shouldn’t like to go alone.”
He jerked his head in his sister’s direction. “Take Hyacinth.”
“She’ll wish to go with Gareth,” Violet replied.
Gareth St. Clair was Hyacinth’s husband of nearly four years. Gregory liked him immensely, and the two had developed a rather fine friendship, which was how he knew that Gareth would rather peel his eyelids back (and leave them that way for an indefinite amount of time) than sit through a long, drawn-out, all-day society affair.
Whereas Hyacinth was, as she did not mind putting it, always interested in gossip, which meant that she surely would not wish to miss such an important wedding. Someone would drink too much, and someone else would dance too close, and Hyacinth would hate to be the last to hear of it.
“Gregory?” his mother prompted.
“I’m not going.”
“But—”
“I wasn’t invited.”
“Surely an oversight. One that will be corrected, I am certain, after your efforts this evening.”
“Mother, as much as I would like to wish Lady Lucinda well, I have no desire to attend her or anyone’s wedding. They are such sentimental affairs.”
Silence.
Never a good sign.
He looked at Hyacinth. She was regarding him with large owlish eyes. “You like weddings,” she said.
He grunted. It seemed the best response.
“You do,” she said. “At my wedding, you—”
“Hyacinth, you are my sister. It is different.”
“Yes, but you also attended Felicity Albansdale’s wedding, and I distinctly recall—”
Gregory turned his back on her before she could recount his merriness. “Mother,” he said, “thank you for the invitation, but I do not wish to attend Lady Lucinda’s wedding.”
Violet opened her mouth as if to ask a question, but then she closed it. “Very well,” she said.
Gregory was instantly suspicious. It was not like his mother to capitulate so quickly. Further prying into her motives, however, would eliminate any chance of a quick escape.
It was an easy decision.
“I bid you both adieu,” he said.
“Where you going?” Hyacinth demanded. “And why are you speaking French?”
He turned to his mother. “She is all yours.”
“Yes,” Violet sighed. “I know.”
Hyacinth immediately turned on her. “What does that mean?”