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“Father,” Gareth said, giving him an oily smile “How pleasant to see you”

A look of revulsion passed across Lord St Clair’s face before he suppressed it “Gareth,” he said, his voice even, correct, and in Hyacinth’s opinion, utterly bloodless “How…odd…to see you here with Miss Bridgerton”

Hyacinth’s head jerked with surprise He had said her name too deliberately She hadn’t expected to be drawn into their war, but it seemed that somehow it had already happened

“Have youthe question to her even as his eyes did not leave the baron’s face

“We have been introduced,” Hyacinth replied

“Indeed,” Lord St Clair said, taking her hand and bending over to kiss her gloved knuckles “You are always charerton”

Which was enough to prove to Hyacinth that they were definitely talking about so

“Do you enjoy my son’s company?” Lord St Clair asked her, and Hyacinth noticed that once again, so at her

“Of course,” she said, her eyes flitting back and forth between the twocompanion” And then, because she couldn’t resist, she added, “You must be very proud of him”

That got the baron’s attention, and he turned to her, his eyes dancing with so that wasn’t quite hu into a half sht was rather like Gareth’s “It’s an interesting adjective”

“Rather straightforward, I would think,” Hyacinth said coolly

“Nothing is ever straightforith my father,” Gareth said

The baron’s eyes went hard “What my son means to say is that I am able to see the nuance in a situation…when one exists” He turned to Hyacinth “Soerton, the matters at hand are quite clearly black and white”

Her lips parted as she glanced to Gareth and then back at his father What the devil were they talking about?

Gareth’s hand on her arht and casual Too casual “For once reement Very often one can view the world with complete clarity”