The first thought that came to Hal's mind after Isabella's statement was,
'What's the catch?'
When he looked sideways at Melinda and saw she was already looking over at him with an identical expression on her face, he knew she was thinking the same thing.
Neither of the two felt the patroness could reply change her mind on the matter so quickly and yet for all intents and purposes, Isabella seemed to mean exactly what she had said.
The first to speak was Hugh who looked over at Hal which an expression that showed he really did not quite care for his cousin's fiance. To even think the word was quite annoying,
"What about the other suitors?" He asked with an incredulous expression.
Isabella sighed,
"There was never any" she said and that caused them all to look over at Isabella while some of them finally understood why they had not detected a buzz among those she supposedly contacted.