After a stunned moment, Hugh grinned. This directness was what he liked about her. But he supposed she was right: liking was not loving. He was not sure what love was, but she seemed to know. "Does this mean we can go back to quarreling about women's suffrage?" he said cheerfully.
"Yes, but not today. I'm going to talk to your old school friend, Senor Miranda."
Hugh frowned. "Micky couldn't spell 'suffrage' let alone tell you what it means."
"All the same, half the debutantes in London are swooning over him."
"I can't imagine why."
"He's a male Florence Stalworthy," Rachel said, and with that she left him.
Hugh frowned, thinking about that. Micky knew Hugh was a poor relation and he treated him accordingly, so it was difficult for Hugh to be objective about him. He was very personable, and always beautifully dressed. He reminded Hugh of a cat, sleek and sensual with glossy fur. It was not quite the thing to be so carefully groomed, and men said he was not very manly, but women did not seem to care about that.
Hugh followed Rachel with his eyes as she crossed the room to where Micky stood with his father, talking to Edward's sister Clementine, Aunt Madeleine, and young Aunt Beatrice. Now Micky turned to Rachel, giving her his full attention as he shook her hand and said something that made her laugh. Micky was always talking to three or four women.
All the same Hugh disliked the suggestion that Florence was somehow like Micky. She was attractive and popular, as he was, but Micky was something of a cad, Hugh thought.
He made his way to Florence's side, feeling thrilled but nervous. "Lady Florence, how are you?"
She smiled dazzlingly. "What an extraordinary house!"
"Do you like it?"
"I'm not sure."
"That's what most people say."
She laughed as if he had made a witty remark, and he felt inordinately pleased.
He went on: "It's very modern, you know. There are five bathrooms! And a huge boiler in the basement warms the whole place with hot-water pipes."
"Perhaps the stone ship on top of the gable is a little too much."
Hugh lowered his voice. "I think so too. It reminds me of the cow's head outside a butcher's shop."
She giggled again. Hugh was pleased that he could make her laugh. He decided it would be nice to get her away from the crowd. "Come and see the garden," he said.
"How lovely."
