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"Indeed," the prince said, and then, while Harry was bowing, he said soave a curt nod

"You were speaking with each other earlier in the evening," the prince said

Olivia stiffened She had not realized that he had been watching her And she wasn’t quite certain why this bothered her so ood reason to deny it "I count Sir Harry arateful," Harry said His voice had an edge to it, at odds with the gentle senti at the prince the entire time he spoke

"Yes," the prince replied, his eyes never leaving Harry’s "You would be, wouldn’t you?"

Olivia looked at Harry, then at the prince, then back at Harry, who held the prince’s eye as he said, "I would"

"It’s a lovely party, isn’t it?" Sebastian put in "Lady Mottram has quite outdone herself this year"

Olivia nearly burst out with an inappropriate giggle There was so about his deh the tension like a knife But it didn’t Harry atching the prince with cool reserve, and the prince-he atching Harry with icy disdain

"Is it chilly in here?" she asked, to no one in particular

"A bit," Sebastian replied, since they seeht it must be difficult to be a woaroas velvet, but with short capped sleeves, and her aroose bu Then she realized she had nothing more to say beyond that, so she cleared her throat and smiled, first at Harry and the prince, who still were not looking at her, and then at the people behind theh they were pretending not to

"Are you one of Lady Olivia’s many admirers?" Prince Alexei asked Harry

Olivia turned to Harry idened eyes What on earth could he say to so direct a question?

"All of London admires Lady Olivia," Harry replied deftly

"She is one of our ht to have said so quiet and e-too utterly bizarre-to say a thing

They weren’t talking about her They were saying her na her coe and stupidif it hadn’t made her so uneasy

"Is thatwill recoave hihness," Sebastian corrected, although he didn’t sound particularly penitent, "do you dance in Russia?"

"Of course," the prince bit off

"Not all societies do," Sebastian mused

Olivia had no idea if that was true She rather suspected it was not