“With ease,” she confirmed. “So, I hope you are prepared, Your Grace.”
“Only on one condition.”
“And that is?”
“If you call me Joseph and never walk away from me again.”
He didn’t mean it as intensely as it sounded, she knew, but as Catriona agreed, her heart couldn’t tell the difference.
CHAPTER 6
“He said he would like to have dinner with us, and I agreed.”
Maisie hit the wrong key, the sharp sound only punctuating the shock that resounded in the room after Catriona’s words. Catriona rolled her eyes, returning her attention to her embroidery. Sometimes she wondered how everyone around her ended up being such dramatics.
Everyone was staring at her. Even Nina and the other dogs, though Gemma and Culver went back to playing moments later while Nina returned to her nap.
“You agreed?” Miraculously, Frederic heard that without issue. “You didn’t tell him that there was no reason to do such a thing and that he should stay where he is?”
“Or that you did not think it a good idea and that you would contact him when it is time for the wedding?” Ava asked. Foronce, she was reading. She rarely ever sat still long enough to be engrossed in a book, but apparently the romance novel Maisie had recommended to her truly was as good as she’d said.
“I don’t think I would do either one of those things,” Catriona protested.
“Ha!” her uncle laughed. “We know you well, Cat. Which means that if you agreed to having him over for dinner, then it means you see some benefit in it.”
“Or she likes him,” Maisie suggested with a cheeky grin.
“I do not like him,” Catriona disagreed a little too quickly. “I only thought it would be a good idea for him to get to know all of you. And he thought it would be a good idea for his daughter to meet us as well which I agreed with.”
“And is there a reason you decided to tell us this only twenty minutes before dinner is to be served?” Frederic asked with a raise of his brow.
Catriona didn’t have an answer to that. She’d been so thrown by her walk with Joseph yesterday afternoon that she’d avoided all conversation surrounding him. She didn’t understand what she was feeling, didn’t know why she felt the need to avoid bringing him up when she had been thinking about him all day.
“Because,” she answered, her mind working quickly for a believable response that would result in the least amount ofteasing, “I knew you all would react like this, so I wished to minimize any conversation about it because it is not as important as you’d all like to think.”
“I beg to differ,” Ava began, but the look Frederic gave her kept her from continuing.
“We’ll be on our best behavior,” her uncle assured her.
Catriona looked up at him, about to show her gratitude, but then she saw the glint of mischief in his eyes. She sighed. “I certainly hope so.”
He and Ava looked at each other, saying everything and nothing in those few seconds. Catriona lowered her eyes back to her embroidery and tried not to think about the fact that they were clearly cooking something up. Her mind was full of other things after all.
She was nervous. It felt like the day they’d arrived in Mayfair all over again, her insides trembling with the fear that she was going to be found lacking by her uncle. But at that time, such an emotion made sense. They’d been orphans, underaged, and unable to care for themselves. The money her father had left behind upon his passing could only take care of them for so long. At that time, Catriona knew that she needed her uncle’s approval simply to keep a roof over her and her sisters’ heads.
But she didn’t need the Duke. She didn’t need to be married. Yes, her sisters would benefit greatly from his wealth and influence, but they’d been expecting to rely on her uncle’s influence as theEarl of Heaton before the Duke came into her life, so it was not as if they were out of options.
So why on God’s green earth did she feel so out of sorts?
The door opened, and it took every ounce of Catriona’s strength not to twist around when the butler entered to announce the arrival of the Duke and his daughter. She acted calmer than she felt, putting aside her embroidery and getting to her feet as Joseph and Dorothea were shown into the drawing room.
His eyes swept the room and immediately landed on her. As if he was looking for her. As if he only cared to know that she was present.
She tried not to put her hand to her chest in an effort to still her racing heart.
“Good evening, Your Grace,” Frederic greeted as he approached the Duke. “Welcome back to our home. You must forgive our surprise, but we were informed of your attendance rather late, you see.”
“Uncle,” Catriona hissed under her breath, her face growing hot.
