“Beatrix puts a distance between herself and the rest of the world. She’s very engaging, but also quite private in nature. I see the same qualities in Captain Phelan.”“Yes,” Amelia said. “You’re absolutely right, Catherine. Put that way, the match does seem more appropriate.”“I still have reservations,” Leo said.“You always do,” Amelia replied. “If you’ll recall, you objected to Cam in the beginning, but now you’ve accepted him.”“That’s because the more brothers-in-law I acquire,” Leo said, “the better Cam looks by comparison.”

“Captain Phelan,” Cam asked, choosing his words with care. “Have you come to ask for our consent to marry Beatrix?”Christopher shook his head. “If I decide to marry Beatrix, I’ll do it with or without your consent.”Leo looked at Cam. “Good God,” he said in disgust. “This one’s worse than Harry.”

“Of all the Hathaway sisters,” Cam said equably, “Beatrix is the one most suited to choose her own husband. I trust her judgment.”Beatrix gave him a brilliant smile. “Thank you, Cam.”“What are you thinking?” Leo demanded of his brother-in-law. “You can’t trust Beatrix’s judgment.”“Why not?”“She’s too young,” Leo said.“I’m twenty-three,” Beatrix protested. “In dog years I’d be dead.”

“We assured Phelan that we were more than happy to let him have you and your menagerie,” Leo retorted.“After that, he said he needed to think.”“About what?” Beatrix demanded. “What is there to think about? Why is it taking him so long to make a decision?”“He’s a man, dear,” Amelia explained kindly. “Sustained thinking is very difficult for them.”

“Amelia told me once about a suspicion she'd had for a while. It bothered her quite a bit. She said that Win and I had fallen ill with scarlet fever, and you made the deadly nightshade syrup, you'd concocted far more than was necessary. And you kept a cup on it on Win's nightstand, like some sort of macabre nightcap. Amelia said that if Win had died, she thought you would have taken the rest of that poison. And I've always hated you for that. Because you forced me to stay alive without the woman I loved, while you had no bloody hell intention of doing the same."Merripen didn't answer, gave no sign that he registered Leo's words."Christ, man," Leo said huskily. "If you had the bollocks to die with her, don't you think you could work up the courage to live with her?”

“Captain Phelan and I dislike each other,” Beatrix told her. “In fact, we’re sworn enemies.”Christopher glanced at her quickly. “When did we become sworn enemies?”Ignoring him, Beatrix said to her sister, "Regardless, he’s staying for tea.”“Wonderful,” Amelia said equably. “Why are you enemies, dear?”“I met him yesterday while I was out walking,” Beatrix explained. “And he called Medusa a ‘garden pest,’ and faulted me for bringing her to a picnic.”Amelia smiled at Christopher. “Medusa has been called many worse things around here, including ‘diseased pincushion,’ and ‘perambulating cactus.”