An Unexpected Proposal (St Daine Family 1) by Leighann Dobbs Page A

for the past two Seasons?”
    His brow furrowed and he shook his head. “No, I do not believe either of those explanations truly do justice to precisely how my sister Julia is somehowchanged this evening.”
    Regretfully slipping her evening footwear back onto her feet, Phoebe straightened herself and stood to consider both the dress and Julia's seemingly much more confident attitude. Nay, it was not confidence, Phoebe decided, but rather an attitude of absolute nonchalance. “Does Sebastian know?”
    Nicholas's lips, which had before merely quirked upward the slightest bit, now spread wide in a gleeful grin. “He does not, though I have very little doubt he will be made aware of it 'ere dawn has fully lit the eastern sky.”
    Pulling Phoebe close so that she could peer along the corridor toward the ballroom with him, he lifted his hand toward his sister. “See you Lord Wyndham there? Is that not an impressive storm cloud brewing upon his brow?”
    Phoebe saw it, realized immediately what it meant, and laughed. “Oh my! You mean Adrien is jealous...?”
    Nicholas shook his head. “Aye, but the sotted fool hasn't a clue.”
    After sharing another chuckle or two at Marquess of Wyndham's privately held blustering and confusion, Phoebe brought the conversation around to the topic she really wished to discuss with him. “Nicholas, have you heard aught on the waterfront that might give a hint toward Tristan's whereabouts? I am beginning to fear he has fallen into a dreadful bit of trouble....”

----
    T hough the mantel clock had long since struck three, Lucien remained seated in the library behind his mother's hand-carved, teak and rosewood escritoire. Given the tiring events of the past several days, he should have been upstairs hours ago, but his mind was simply too full. During the past week since Phoebe's guests had arrived for a grand house party, all conducted beneath his grandmother's watchful eye, Lucien had been quite run ragged by the proclivities of the women in his family.
    The few minor skirmishes with fellows taking a premature shine to either Alaina or Emily notwithstanding, he had had his hands full with avoiding his grandmother's quiet attempts to pair him with her guests while continuing to maintain a safe distance from those who played out schemes of their own, but so far, the beauties seeking to make a conquest of the Duke of Rothwyn had been far more easy to handle than his own sister.
    Phoebe, however, had led him through quite a merry dance for weeks now. In her pursuit of information which might somehow magically disclose their missing brother's whereabouts, she had continued to exercise a blatant and socially dangerous disregard for the rules, and thrice Lucien had been called upon to extricate her from possibly scandalous situations.
    The very night of her debut, she had gone, alone, onto the Kelsing's back terrace with Captain Parker Usburne—because she had learned from Christina that he was to captain one of the Wyndham-Locke ships and, knowing the captain was likely a frequent visitor to the docks, Phoebe hoped he might have seen or had word of Tristan. If Lucien hadn't circled around and slipped out a side door to be there at her side when she came back in, he could only imagine the gossip that would have arisen from her thoughtlessness.
    Lucien had patiently explained the risks to her reputation, but it hadn't stopped her from trying to wheedle information from Lord Wyndham several nights later in similar circumstances—and Adrien, damn it all, knew better! At Lady Andibald's affair when she had smiled at yet another gentleman across the dinner table, Lucien had known instantly the fellow was her target for the evening, yet he had still barely managed to avert what would have been certain disaster, had he not been paying ridiculously close attention to his wayward sister.
    Despite his own fervent wishes to the contrary, Lucien knew he could not forbid Phoebe's going about with friends and