"It's not uncommon for people to realize their true feelings for someone because there's a sudden risk of losing them forever. It's also not unheard of for a lady to encourage the attentions of a gentleman to make the object of her affection jealous and thus spur him into action." Not that she could say for sure that's what was going on here and honestly it was probably too much of a romance cliché for Tatty at least but she'd have to crazy to choose Macmillan over Valerian. "And besides, he hasn't proposed yet, has he? Nor has he asked for permission to do so. It might seem underhanded but there is no contract between them and the stakes are higher than a little passing gossip - it's the rest of your lives."
