Page 34 of A Lady’s Guide to Mystery and Mischief

“What were they fighting about?” he questioned, knowing he wouldn’t be helping himself if he continued to stare at her in silence.

She sat on the cushioned platform, rubbing absently at the smear of freckles on her nose. “Oh, I don’t know. I think Helena danced with the same gentleman twice, and Mr. Jennings was jealous. I only intervened because she brought science into the conversation, and we all know how that tends to go.”

“You’ll have to enlighten me,” Grey said, joining her by the window.

A breathless chuckle escaped her as she shook her head. “Of course I do. I keep forgetting that I haven’t known you my whole life.”

Grey blinked at her, the words sinking into him, gripping parts of him that had broken long ago. Parts he’d intended to leave broken.

“Because we understand each other so well,” she continued with a cheeky twinkle.

“Right.” He forced himself to play along. “Of course.”

“The long and short of it is that Mr. Jennings got caught trying to steal my cousin’s research.” She lowered her voice as if she were telling him a secret. “He’s a bit of a disgrace in the scientific community, or so I’ve heard from Kalila.”

“Kalila?”

“My cousin,” she clarified. “She met her husband after disguising herself as my brother to infiltrate some scientific society or another. The name escapes me.”

Grey, who had no idea how else to respond, said, “That’s quite the story.”

“I know!” Farah launched herself away from the window with a burst of energy. Then, seeming to catch herself, she said, “Yes, I know. In any case, Helena is stuck with Mr. Jennings. And, well—I hope to have a house in London after I marry, a house she can hide away in. She’s so alone here—her family doesn’t enjoy being in town.”

Her sentences tumbled out of her mouth in an artless rush, further evidence of her inability to filter her thoughts before putting them into words.

“Is that why you’re so hellbent on marrying?”

He didn’t know why he was asking. He shouldn’t be asking.

“Will you think me horrible if I say no?”

Unable to conceal his surprise, he replied, “No, I suppose not. I’d think you honest.”

“It’s a benefit, of course,” Farah told him. “But it’s not the primary reason behind my wanting to marry.”

“What is, then?”

Pausing, she fidgeted with one of the silk roses that sat by her collarbone. “You won’t laugh, will you?”

“I’m not the laughing sort.”

She laughed at that, the sound airy and free. “All right. The reason I want to marry so badly is—well, when I look at my family, I see so much magic.”

“Magic?” Grey echoed.

A dreamy smile came over her face. “Yes. Look at how Kalila found love. And my uncle gave up everything in the name of it—all for my aunt. My mother? She fell right into my father’s open arms. What would you call that if not magic?”

Even Grey, cynical as he was, could not argue.

“I thought it was inevitable—that my life would also be magical. So, I waited…and waited. When that didn’t work, I decided to help the situation along by putting myself in all sorts of situations—”

“Situations?”

“You know.” She waved a hand in the air. “Purposefully dropping my handkerchief, lingering in front of places I thought were romantic.”

“And nothing worked?”

“It depends on your definition of worked,” she said with a huff. “No matter how hard I tried, all my attachments fizzled out. They’d stop writing, or they’d return from the dead without any explanation, or—well, the list goes on, really.”