“I didn’t bed your—”
“I’m not judging you, Amberley.” Colin flashed him a crooked grin. “My own daughter arrived a month early.”
Trick’s gaze went to the hilt of Colin’s ever-present sword. His reply was slow and measured. “I told you, I didn’t bed your sister.”
“You know, Kendra kept claiming much the same thing on the way home. Did her fighting best to convince us of it, too.”
He’d bet she had. “You didn’t believe her?”
“Jason doesn’t know what to believe. Frankly, I don’t think he cares. Kendra’s been a noose around his neck for years. She’s absolutely refused to consider anyone suitable, so as far as he’s concerned, this circumstance is a dream come true. God knows she would never have looked at you twice if she’d known you’re a duke. A stubborn one, Kendra is.”
“And now that she knows?”
“She doesn’t.” Colin laughed. “Thinks you’re an impoverished minor aristocrat forced to highway robbery, and she’s mad as hell at us for condoning the match. To our faces, that is. I suspect that, privately, she’s walking on air. The lady’s in love.”
“Love?” Trick rolled his eyes. He’d forgotten about her naïve ideas on love. “Don’t tell me you’re another believer in love at first sight?”
“It seems to be the Chase way,” Colin mused. “My wife, Amethyst, captured my heart with a single glance across a jewelry counter.”
“It’s insane,” Trick declared, throwing back the rest of his whisky. “You’re all insane. This is utterly outrageous.”
“You’re angry, then?”
Trick considered that for a moment. “Not exactly,” he said slowly. “I think your strong-arm tactics are abhorrent, but as to the outcome…I suppose I must wed, and your sister’s as good a choice as any.”
Before long, he hoped, he’d be back at the London docks, where he could better oversee his burgeoning shipping empire. Just as soon as he’d satisfied the king’s demand. Having Kendra here in the countryside, raising his children and awaiting his attentions, was not an unpleasing thought.
“I haven’t the stomach for courtship,” he added, “so a business arrangement suits my purposes just fine.”
“Business arrangement? I know what a man looks like when he wants a woman, and I saw that look in your eyes. You’d better not hurt my sister.”
“Hurt her?I’mnot the one forcing her into this marriage.”
Colin looked astonished at that accusation. “There’s no way she’d be forced into any marriage—this one included—if we weren’t one hundred percent certain this is right for her. If her happiness weren’t our primary concern, she’d have been off our hands years ago—you’d need only see her list of rejected suitors to be convinced of that.” He met Trick’s gaze. “She wants this.”
Trick had to consciously close his gaping mouth. “How do you know?”
The other man sighed. “Pride will keep her from admitting it. But you’re the first suitor she hasn’t outright refused, whether she realizes it or not. And maybe not all that much happened today, but there’s something between you two, Amberley—you cannot deny it.”
While Trick reeled under that onslaught, Colin drew breath and smiled. “I’m sure it will work out all around.” He raised his glass. “To the groom.”
Trick looked at his own empty glass, then shrugged and went to refill it. He might as well get foxed on his last night as a free man. “To the groom,” he echoed wryly before tossing the liquor down in one gulp.
Colin drained his own drink and set it on a table. “Well, I’d best get home. Big day tomorrow for all of us, eh?”
Trick nodded.
Nodding in return, Colin stuck out his hand. “Till tomorrow, then. Let me just send the messenger back to Cainewood. Jason will be relieved to hear you’ve agreed.”
“Agreed?” Incredulous, Trick pulled his hand from Colin’s grasp. “I thought I had no choice.”
“Of course you had a choice. What kind of people do you take us for?”
“But—”
“Did you think I came here to run you through if you failed to cooperate?”
“The thought crossed my mind,” Trick said dryly.
