“The restaurant is crowded,” Iris remarked as they ate. “Our hotel is very full as well.”
“The Olympics,” Gavina said. “People have flocked from all over the world.”
Indeed, which was why Evie’s mother hadn’t been able to beg a room at their usual London hotel. Which had led to Jamie offering his uncle’s suite, which had led to so much more. The Olympics committee didn’t know what they’d done to Evie’s life.
“Not that it is a terrible thing to see all the athletes.” Iris indicated a group of young men who sauntered to a table, led by the maître d'hôtel. Heads turned to watch the gentlemen’s lithe grace.
“It is not,” Gavina said as one young man nodded in their direction. “How polite they are. And forward at the same time.”
“Are they runners, do you think?” Evie asked. “They’re slender rather than muscular.”
“Perhaps we could tell if they showed us their legs,” Iris suggested. “They’ll run with them bare, why not give us a glimpse now?”
The same young man regarded them quizzically as they stared at him, and the three ladies fell into laughter, interrupted only by the waiters bringing them further dishes.
Evie noted the young men continued to cast glances in their direction, especially at Gavina, who was a radiant light, and Iris, a shining beauty. Any lad would be lucky to catch the eye of either of them, Evie thought without resentment.
“I’d love to have been on a rowing team,” Gavina was saying when Evie returned her attention to the meal. “But I can’t row a stroke. I’m much better at tennis—singles, that is. Probably because I play alone and don’t have to worry about keeping pace with others.”
“Rowers do have to learn to work together,” Iris said. “Evie was our fearless leader. We won many matches with her shouting at us.”
Gavina’s brows rose. “I can’t imagine Evie as the heavy-handed captain of the ship.”
“Oh, believe it,” Iris said with mirth. “Captain Bly, we called her. Only on the river, of course. Off the river, she’s a sweetie.”
“She is indeed,” Gavina said warmly, making Evie flush. “Did you continue rowing after university?” When both Evie and Iris answered in the negative, Gavina continued, “Pity. Then maybe you could have been Olympians too.”
Iris wrinkled her nose. “The only rowing teams competing are men. Ladies are too delicate, did you not know?”
“Rot that,” Gavina scoffed. “I wager you could beat the male teams, hands down.”
Gavina was being a generous friend, but Iris’s eyes lighted in a way Evie knew could spell disaster.
“We ought to try,” Iris said excitedly. “Gather the rest of the team and show the men how it’s done.”
“Sarah and Alice are married now.” Evie put a note of caution in her reply. “And Alice has little ones. They’ve put their rowing days behind them.”
“I’ll ask them,” Iris proclaimed happily.
Evie did not bother arguing with her. Alice and Sarah would probably laugh and decide Iris was being Iris, and let the matter drop.
But she understood Iris’s enthusiasm. Evie recalled their camaraderie on the river, the soaring joy of skimming through the water, oars moving in unison, their triumph when they were first across the finish line. The closeness of the four, who knew each other’s deepest secrets.
But those days were gone, when Evie had been young, silly, and happy. Alice and Sarah had found their true loves and started new lives. Iris had returned to Greece, and the foursome now communicated by letters when they could. And Evie …
She groped for a change in topic. “Look,” she said in relief that she’d found one. “Isn’t that Miss Carmichael?”
Evie pointed with her fork at the fair-haired young woman who was being seated at a table not far from them, directly under the light of a large chandelier. An older woman with a pinched face spoke sternly to her.
Miss Carmichael, instead of listening, had turned her gaze to where Evie, Gavina, and Iris giggled together. The loneliness on the young woman’s face tugged at Evie’s heart.
“The heiress,” Iris said. “Everyone at our hotel is talking about her, though she and her family are at the Langham.”
Evie hadn’t seen her there, but her family probably locked her tightly away when they weren’t parading her about.
“Her parents want her to land a titled husband,” Gavina said. “So they can strand her in England and boast to their friends that their daughter is a duchess or a countess or some such.”
Miss Carmichael was alone, as usual. No sisters, brothers, or friends to keep her company, only her parents or chaperones, like the one who scowled at her now. Whatever friendships she’d had in New York must have been severed when her family had transported her thousands of miles to London.
As only a handful of titled gentlemen at any time were young, handsome, and single, Miss Carmichael might well find herself shackled to an elderly aristocrat who’d plop her in the middle of the country somewhere and expect her to run his large estate and raise his children, without a thought to her personal happiness.
The stern woman unexpectedly left the table and disappeared somewhere, probably to the kitchen to lecture the chefs on what to prepare for her charge.
Evie dabbed her mouth with her napkin and surged to her feet. “I’m going to speak to her.”
Iris brightened. “Aren’t there rigid rules of introduction in this country?” she asked, even as she rose.
“I saw Miss Carmichael on the ship,” Evie said. “She’ll remember me from there.”
“And my cousin Violet told her fortune,” Gavina said, joining them. “You see? We’re practically acquainted already. Shall we ladies? Before the prune-faced biddy returns.”
Evie led them to Miss Carmichael’s table, the athletic gentlemen turning in their seats to watch them pass.
“Miss Carmichael,” Evie said when they halted at her table. “Good afternoon. I’m Evie McKnight. I longed to speak to you on the Baltic, but Mama forbade me from approaching you. Impolite, she said.”
A hopeful smile appeared on Miss Carmichael’s face. “I saw you too, with your sisters. You seemed to be having a marvelous time.” Her voice was gentle and smooth, different from the harsh accent Evie had expected. “I am Imogen. How do you do?”
Evie shook Miss Carmichael’s hand, noting that her grip was firm, though her palm was soft. “Miss Gavina Mackenzie and Miss Iris Georgiou,” she said, waving at the others. “We’re mates from university, having an outrageously loud natter together. I hope we didn’t disturb you.”
“Not at all.” Miss Carmichael shook the other two ladies’ hands in turn. “You shouldn’t apologize for being lively. I have—I had lively school friends too.”
Her family had indeed ripped her from all she loved. Evie felt ashamed of how she’d teased Jamie about his interest in Miss Carmichael. Jealousy, Evie realized. Jamie, regardless of his lack of title, could be the perfect match for this young woman.
Evie had already run out of things to say, so she fell back on the small talk drilled into her since childhood. “Did you enjoy the voyage?”