*Isolde*
Considerably later the same night, I scowl at my sister. “Our parents requested that Rupert and I conjoin without the benefit of matrimony, and we complied, just as if we were a pair of breeding hounds.”
“There’s no need to put it in such a depressing fashion. Although,” Brielle adds, with one of her rare smiles, “after this evening Rupert’s prospects as a breeding hound are somewhat in question.”
“If you smiled at men like that, Brie, you’d have more proposals than you could manage.”
“I do smile,” Brielle protests.
“But your smile often looks as if you were thinking about the fact that they are lower than the rank of Alpha,” I point out. “You could try smiling at them as if they were Alphas.”
My sister nods. “I take your point. At any rate, one shouldn’t compare one’s futur
