Catriona dared herself not to look away. She tried schooling her features as best as she could. “You developed a cold,” she told him, needing to fill the silence.
“I thought as much.”
“Likely brought on by those long hours you work, neglecting everything else around you.”
“You may be right.”
“It was suggested that, once you recover, you take some time away from your work, lest you find yourself in the same situation.”
“Suggested by you, I assume?”
“The physician,” she answered stiffly. “Though I must say that I agree.”
Joseph nodded slowly. “Very well then.”
“Yes, I know that you have many things to take care of but—” She broke off, blinking at him. “Pardon me?”
“I said, very well. You are right. I shall try not to let my work consume me the way it used to.”
“Oh. That… was far easier than I expected it to be.”
His lips twitched. He closed his eyes briefly as he sighed. “I am far too tired to argue. Perhaps if I recover my strength in the morning, I will be singing a different tune.”
“Don’t get any ideas,” she warned. Her heart fluttered when his lips twitched again. “You gave us all quite the scare earlier, and I would much rather not miss another dinner.”
“You didn’t have to, Cat…”
Catriona looked away, suddenly glad for the limited lighting, hoping he wouldn’t see the blush staining her cheeks. “I know I didn’t have to. I could have let you faint in the hallway and left you there until the butler came across you. Is that what you would have preferred?”
This time, his lips curved upwards. “Who knew you could be so snarky?”
“You did. From the day you first met me, and I thought you were a weird man trying to steal Dorothea away.”
“I didn’t think you were snarky,” he protested, and then he chuckled when she raised her brow at him. “All right, only a little bit. But I was mostly in awe of the length you were willing to go to for a child you just met. And against someone you did not know.”
“And I would do it again if I found myself in the same situation. Though I could have been a little nicer.”
“I like when you’re stern.”
At this rate, her heart was going to stop dead in her chest. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her for a second, and that low-lidded look he gave her made heat curl in the pit of her stomach. “That’s the fever talking.”
“No, it isn’t,” he answered easily. “I admire it most about you. There are far too many who are always trying to put their best foot forward. Not only with me but with others, whether they are trying to gain favor or not. But you did not seem to care when you spoke to me. You treated me like you would anyone else. It was refreshing to see.”
“Is that why?” she murmured.
She was certain his eyes were glowing when he looked at her. “Is that why I asked you to marry me?”
She nodded slowly. “At times, when I think too deeply about it, I cannot understand your reasoning. I was terribly rude to you on our first meeting, and there were many other ladies who would be happy to marry you—ladies who would have easily fulfilled your needs. Beautiful, talented ladies who could step into the role of a duchess, who could have provided you with a dowry, who could easily listen to your commands without challenging you.”
“I have no need for a dowry, and those ladies are not you, plain and simple.”
Catriona thought she might combust right then and there. “You aren’t making any sense.”
“I am making sense. You simply do not want to believe it.” His hand reached up, playing idly with a tuft of hair framing her face. His finger brushed her cheek, and she nearly shuddered. “Dorothea called you her stepmother.”
She could only nod.
“I didn’t think I would ever see the day. It only proves to me that I made the right choice. No one else could have been a better option.”
