Laughing, he lifted a tiny black-and-white kitten from the basket. “Almost exactly what I wanted.”
“I surmised as much.” Diana’s smile was mischievous, but the love in her gaze sincere. “You’ll find her, cousin. She’s out there. I swear it.”
He leaned back on the settee and allowed the kitten to nestle on his chest. It purred with every stroke of his finger.
“What will you name her?” Diana asked.
Thad thought it over.
“Wednesday,” he said at last. “At least now there’ll be something good about it. One tires of Almack’s.”
He had never deceived himself on which rung of the social ladder belonged to him. He had enough coin to live well, but not lavishly. Fortune-hunters hurried past, but he was eligible enough and popular enough that perceived interest from him could raise a debutante’s credibility in the eyes of other bachelors.
Being used as a stepping stone was perhaps worse than being overlooked. Everyone danced with him, but often only for a boost to reach even higher.
“I’m glad I don’t have riches or a title,” he said at last. “I want a wife who wants me for me.”
Diana nodded. Her marriage was a love match. Her parents had been, too. She understood.
Thad had never seen it; never experienced it for himself. He longed to believe not just that “happy ever after” really did exist, but that it could even happen to him.
But Cupid’s arrow had yet to strike.
“Patience,” Diana said. “It’ll happen when you least expect it.”
He stroked the kitten’s soft fur. “Who has patience? If love were as simple as fitting Cinderella with the right shoe, I’d drag a cobbler to the doorstep of every woman in town right this minute.”
“The only thing I know about love,” Diana said, “is that it’s never simple. Until it is.”
“You are terrible at advice,” Thad informed her. “Stop giving it.”
Diana lifted a shoulder. “I’m good at kittens, though. We have about twelve more if one isn’t enough.”
“One’s plenty,” he said quickly.
What if he did find the woman of his dreams, only for her to turn him down because he was living alone with a house full of cats?
“Don’t overthink it,” Diana cautioned.
“Says the happily married duchess.” But she was right. Diana hadn’t found love; it had found her.
Thad had always assumed he would recognize love when he saw it. Now he was starting to worry he wouldn’t realize the truth if he stumbled across it.
Perhaps he’d already missed his chance—or even many chances—because he’d been waiting so long for fireworks that he failed to pay attention to little sparks.
“How did you know Colehaven was The One?” he asked.
Diana grinned. “He drove me mad.”
Thad snorted. “By that logic, I should be pursuing Priscilla Weatherby.”
“Pris…” Diana stared at him. “How can anyone not get on with Priscilla Weatherby?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Thad stroked the kitten’s spine. “Perhaps it was when she gave me the cut direct at Almack’s. Or when I tried to make up today in the park, and she informed me we were not friends and would be nothing more because I had nothing she needed.”
Diana’s mouth fell open in shock. “Priscilla Weatherby gave you, of all people, a setdown?”
“Flaming defeat,” Thad reminded her. “I told you.”
