Ella muttered something under her breath as she followed him into the house, and Dietrich chuckled to himself. His mother would try to matchmake, but perhaps he could just annoy Ella instead of falling in love with her. That seemed far easier to him.
Ella made herself at home immediately, helping his mother gather mugs for tea and finding the butter in the corner cupboard. Perhaps she spent more time with his mother than he’d realized.
“And what do you do when you’re not avoiding telling people who you’re related to?” she asked, her words as frosty as the piles of snow still hiding in the shadows behind the barns.
“I’m the duke’s stable master,” he said. “I manage the stables and take care of the horses.”
“And spend your free time brushing up with nobility?” Ella said, the words pointed.
Dietrich shook his head. “Beatrice isn’t nobility,” he said. “She’s been a friend for most of my life. It was only a coincidence that she married Lord Alexander.”
“She’s not nobility?” Ella asked.
Mother shook her head. “Did no one tell you?” she asked. “I forgot you were new. No, Beatrice is one of us. She fell in love with Lord Alexander, and well, you know the rest.”
Ella nodded her head thoughtfully as she accepted a mug of tea from his mother. “So all of the talk about them being in love was true, then,” she said. “It wasn’t just the servants gossiping?”
“No, they are blissfully in love,” Dietrich said, the words bittersweet.
As much as he hated that Beatrice lived at Eldenwilde and was no longer in town for him to annoy on a regular basis, it was wonderful to see her with someone who loved her and treated her the way she deserved.
“But it does mean that the spot of my best friend is currently vacant,” he mused.
Ella’s eyes flashed. “If you’re trying to get me to apply for the position, it’s not going to happen,” she said.
“Are you sure about that?” Dietrich asked. “I can be rather charming, you know.”
“No amount of charm would possess me to be best friends with you,” Ella shot back, then her cheeks colored as she turned to his mother. “I apologize. That was rude of me. I beg your pardon, Danise.”
“I didn’t realize I was that hard to be around,” Dietrich said, with a pretend frown. “Apparently I need to brush up on my manners if I’m that offensive. Should I kiss your hand again?”
“Please don’t,” she said shortly. “And please don’t imply that I should become your best friend when we’ve barely known each other for five minutes and the first thing you did when we met was lie to me.”
“It wasn’t a lie,” Dietrich protested.
Ella drained her tea in one go and brought her mug over to the sink, rinsing it out and setting it on the counter before turning to his mother. “Thank you so much for the tea, Danise,” she said. “I think it’s time for me to go home.”
Instead of being upset, his mother simply smiled. “If you say so, dear. Thank you for the bread.”
Ella snagged her basket and stalked out the door.
Dietrich turned to his mother. “What was that?” he demanded.
“What was what, dear?” his mother said with complete serenity as she took a sip of her tea and began slowly buttering a slice of bread. As much as he hated to admit it, the bread smelled good.
“She just insulted me and you and stormed out of here, and you couldn’t care less.”
“I think things have a way of working out,” his mother said as she took her first bite of bread. She let out an appreciative sigh before setting the bread back down. “You, my boy, need to have some things changed, and I look forward to seeing what happens in your life.”
Dietrich scoffed. “The duke coming home is going to be enough change. I don’t need an upstart young miss making things any more difficult for me.”
His mother’s eyes twinkled. “If you say so, dear,” she said.
But Dietrich glanced out the window to watch as Ella left the gate, closed it behind her, and began walking back down the lane. There was something about her.
And with Beatrice occupied, perhaps Ella could occupy the position of someone for him to tease.
But he wasn’t interested in romance.
