“Of course, your grace. Just tell me if it needs to change at any point.”
“Thank you. I will.”
Veronica took extra care dressing for dinner that night. Between what Christopher had agreed to and what she had agreed to, it was hard not to see the night as a special occasion.
It must have been obvious what was going on in her mind, because as they were finishing up, Daisy frowned and asked, “You seem nervous this evening, your grace. Is something on your mind?”
“It had just been a rather eventful day.”
“I should think! You have moved into the master bedroom.”
“I did, and that wasn’t the only thing that happened.”
“Oh? What else happened?”
“I didn’t get a chance to tell you yet, but Christopher and I will be attending a ball next month.”
Daisy ljt up. “Oh that sounds just lovely! But it’s such short notice. There is so much to get ready.”
Veronica chuckled. “It isn’t as much as it sounds like. We are only attending a ball. Not hosting one.”
“Not yet, but it sounds like it is only a matter of time.”
“I wouldn’t get your hopes up just yet. There is every chance we never do something like this again. I would advise you to think of it as a special occasion.”
“But why? Do you not like balls, your grace?”
“If I am honest, I was never the biggest fan of them, no, but jt doesn’t come down to just if I like them.”
“But I doubt Duke Ashton would mind if you wanted to attend alone.”
“Perhaps I do not wish to attend alone.”
Daisy flushed and looked away. “Of course. I am so sorry. I should have thought about it, your grace.”
“Its all right. I know you didn’t mean any harm in it, and who knows, perhaps some day I might want to, but for now, I am content to spend my days here in Ashton Castle with you all. Besides, there are still far too many renovations that need done to spend too much time away from the estate any time soon.”
Daisy frowned. “Sill, you must miss them.”
“Hardly,” she chuckled. “They aren’t as fun as you imagen, you know.”
“What do you mean?”
Veronica sighed, “When I was younger, I always thought they were these grand, glittering parties where everyone wears beautiful gowns and falls in love on the dance floor.”
“Does that never happen?”
“Maybe for some people it does,” Veronica sighed. “But for most of us, it is a sea of pushy parents trying to ‘guide’ their children into making the right choices.”
“Right choices?”
“To bind yourself to the right status. The right fortune. I believe my parents would have been perfectly happy to see me married to a—a wallet as long as it gave them the money they needed.” She shook her head. “The Duke seems to be a good man, but it could have gone wrong in so many ways.”And I want it to goright, to be chosen for myself and not for the children I can bear or the dowry I can bring.
She had escaped any number of dire fates. But was it too much to hope for a happy ending?
Veronica took a deep breath before pushing into the dinning room where Christopher was waiting.
He turned to look at her and paused before taking a second, longer look.
