Though she was prepared to continue deflecting his advances (if she could even call them that with his daft he seemed!), he made something that that brought an expression of visible surprise to her face: he was Eugene's friend.

"Eugene is my brother, yes," she confirmed, her tone turning from chirpy—and perhaps a bit patronizing—to hesitant in a split second. "My brother is an admirable, hardworking gentleman—and plenty handsome!" Any brother of hers was handsome; to suggest otherwise was an insult to her genes!

---