Weird seeing her? Evander smiled thinly. “Not as strange as I suppose it is to – see me?” he remarked, because he had not seen her so much as she had seen – and been – him from head to toe. His face coloured; he hadn’t meant to bring it up, after all. (But perhaps it was better to be plain, and get it all out of the way – if he did not say anything, he was sure she would still be thinking of it.)
At least her addition, Mrs. Darrow is a true delight, soothed some of the awkwardness. “Angry with me? No, no,” Evander murmured, surprised by that assumption. “Not at all,” he said, lest Mrs. Warbeck felt some misplaced guilt for her part in the confusion, as if she had chosen it any more than he had. “I daresay she must have been almost disappointed to have me back,” he said, feigning that this was a joke – but Evander was not in the habit of making needless jokes, so perhaps he believed it a little, himself? And maybe it was easier to speak his mind to someone he scarcely knew? Evander would not have admitted it to anyone else, of that he was sure. “For it sounded as though she had a pleasant enough time with you.”
At least her addition, Mrs. Darrow is a true delight, soothed some of the awkwardness. “Angry with me? No, no,” Evander murmured, surprised by that assumption. “Not at all,” he said, lest Mrs. Warbeck felt some misplaced guilt for her part in the confusion, as if she had chosen it any more than he had. “I daresay she must have been almost disappointed to have me back,” he said, feigning that this was a joke – but Evander was not in the habit of making needless jokes, so perhaps he believed it a little, himself? And maybe it was easier to speak his mind to someone he scarcely knew? Evander would not have admitted it to anyone else, of that he was sure. “For it sounded as though she had a pleasant enough time with you.”
