“We are going,” he said.
“We are?”
“If they thought that I would hide in fear, they should reevaluate their opinion of me.”
Prim looked at the invitation, too. That simple piece of paper that disrupted their peace, which was just starting. She really hated the Covingtons right this moment.
“Prim?” Leo asked. “I understand. I am asking you to walk inside the house of the very people who had done their best to annihilate your dignity. You don’t have to come. I will make an excuse.”
“No need,” she said, her look unwavering. “I will accompany my Duke.”
He smiled at her wickedly.
“You are right, my Duchess,” he held her close. “The possessive pronouns have some merit.”
Prim felt his fingers in her hair and leaned into his touch. His lips found hers in a fierce kiss as if the idea of her getting hurt stirred the anger in him. When he pulls back, he has that mischievous glint in his eye.
“They will certainly not see that coming,” he said with determination.
“I am sure they won’t,” she chuckled. “It might give you some opportunity.”
“Yes, they might slip. Oh, a strategist, Miss P.J.?”
“Simply a lady of the ton.”
“You are so much more than that. Much more.”
CHAPTER 21
First Course
“Well, the Covington Estate screams,” Prim said.
Leo looked at her from across the carriage as it went up the entrance of the mansion.
“Screams of what?” he asked.
“Screams in general.”
Leo chuckled at her deadpan assessment. She looked out the window. She was not completely wrong. It was symmetrical, titanic, and it looked that it disliked the lawn and nature around it. The edifice of grey Palladian stone seemed to leach the very warmth from everything.
“I find it mostly looms,” Leo said.
“While screaming,” Prim added, her eyes outside, her profile calm.
“I am not sure I should be happy or worried you decided to come.”
“Both,” she said, turning her gaze back to him.
Her eyes were calm, but in their depths, he saw the same focused readiness he felt coiling in his own gut. He decided he was worried. Prim was walking behind enemy lines with him. For him.
“We are here,” She said. “Now, help me out. Me falling on my face would be terribly anticlimactic for the psychological warfare we’ve been preparing.”
“You won’t fall. Remember, Prim. The Dukedom of Mildenhall is one of the oldest in the kingdom. You outrank everyone in that room except me, and on a good day, I’m not entirely sure about me.”
Prim chuckled heartily. She took his hand and stepped out the carriage. He nodded and offered his arm. She took it, her gloved hand resting in the crook of his elbow.
“What a discreet, monstrous, ornate door,” she hissed.
