The look he gave her was vaguely sardonic. “If I hadn't wanted to join you, there is nothing your mother could have said that would have secured my presence.”
She snorted. “And this from a man who is feigning a courtship to me, of all people, all because he's too polite to refuse invitations from his friends' new wives.”
A rather irritable scowl immediately darkened his features. “What do you mean, you of all people?”
“Well, I…” She blinked in surprise. She had no idea what she meant. “I don't know,” she finally said.