Not after the hours Lady Boyle had spent drilling Thea on the ways of Society.
"There is knowing the rules and there is being a slave to them."
Thinking of the difference between Irisa and Cecily, Thea had to agree.
"I was sure my nevvy would up and marry one of that lot and then where would the family be? With an inconvenient connection, that's where."
Drake's family certainly was unique among the ton if they believed that a stickler for propriety was an inconvenient connection.
"There was no risk of that, I'm sure. Drake is a very independent sort of person. I cannot imagine him making the mistake of wedding a lady such as you describe."
Truthfully, she didn't want to envision Drake even dancing with another woman, much less courting her.
Lady Boyle shook her head sadly. "You don't know. He dangled after one miss, a pudding head if there ever was one. Thankfully, she married an aging peer and Pierson narrowly escaped making a lifetime mistake."
Thea did not want to discuss Drake's past amour. The only woman he had ever admitted to loving.
"It's all his father's fault, of course. Pierson set himself up to marry a paragon with impeccable bloodlines to prove to his idiot of a father that he is worthy."
Thea couldn't help admiring Lady Boyle's perception. She doubted that many people saw beneath Drake's confident exterior to understand his need for approval from a man who would never give it. Still, she didn't think Drake had actually planned to marry into the peerage. He wasn't so mercenary.
She said so to his aunt.
"Don't you believe it. He had it mapped out. Even convinced me to help him make a list of worthy candidates. He was going to spend this Season finding the perfect wife." Lady Boyle nodded. "I'm so very relieved that he had the sense to marry you instead."
Thea laughed, knowing Lady Boyle did not intend the words as they had come out. Her amusement was short lived, however. The news that Drake had planned to find a wife this Season disturbed her. She tried to tamp down the irrational jealousy it provoked.
Lady Boyle's eyes filled with concern. "Are you well?"
Thea pasted a smile on her face. "Yes. Why do you ask?"
"You looked for a minute as if you'd eaten the lobster patties at the musicale. I felt terrible I hadn't stopped you when I heard what a commotion they caused among the guests. But when you didn't come down sick, I thought I must have been mistaken when I thought I'd seen you eat one."
Thea tried to make sense of what the dowager was saying. "Do you mean to say that the guests got ill after eating the patties?"
Lady Boyle nodded. "Oh yes. I told you that hostess was a skinflint. The food made quite a few people ill. Cast up their accounts until their stomachs were empty is what I heard. Good thing it didn't cause anything worse. Nothing more devastating for a hostess than to have someone die from the food at one of her entertainments. Have a hard time getting guests to come after that."
That was certainly one way of looking at it.
But the musicale hostess's future social success was not Thea's immediate concern. If Lady Boyle was right, and she had come to respect the dowager's nose for gossip, then Thea had not experienced morning sickness, was probably not pregnant, and had married without the least need to do so.
How did she feel about that? She couldn't say for sure.
Lady Boyle looked at her strangely. "Are you sure you didn't eat those patties?"
"If I did, they certainly wouldn't be affecting me now," hedged Thea.
"I suppose so. Maybe you should sit down. A wedding is a lot of excitement for a young gel like yourself."
Any other time, Thea would have laughed at the older woman's concern, but right now she thought perhaps Lady Boyle was right. Maybe she should sit down.
"Ah, there you are, nevvy. Looking much more presentable, I might add. You've worn your wife out. Take her to find some food and a place to sit."
"My pleasure."
Rather than showing approval for Drake's immediate agreement, Lady Boyle frowned.
Her gaze focused on something behind Thea. "I thought he was still out of Town."