Chastity’s eyes widened at the open display of affection, Faith rolled her eyes, Grace covered her giggles with her hand, and Helena blushed scarlet.
“I must say that I am quite surprised.” Chastity turned carefully to Helena with a question in her eyes, to which the older sister replied with a look of her own.
“Why am I only hearing of the duke now that you arealreadyengaged to him?” Grace asked with a bluntness that Matteo rather appreciated.
Based on the exasperated looks on all the older sisters’ faces, her bluntness was a common occurrence.
So, Helena had not sufficiently warned her sisters. He had thought that she would at least inform Chastity. He wondered how four sisters could not have communicated such news between them. Then again, he imagined that a day’s warning was not a sufficient length of time to impart a life-changing decision.
Perhaps Helena had planned to introduce the idea slowly to them. But that did not make sense since they had also agreed that today would be his meeting with her father.
It seems that I shall have my work cut out for me in convincing Helena’s sisters that we are indeed in a real engagement.
Matteo smiled inwardly; he welcomed the challenge.
“Your Grace,” Helena looked meaningfully at him. “Have you seen the gardens?”
She gestured towards the window.
“They are quite beautiful this time of year. Might I give you a tour?”
“It would be my pleasure, my lady.”
Matteo felt three pairs of eyes follow him as he escorted Helena out the door.
Helena glanced up at the window to the Blue Room. She knew that Grace would find a way to spy on them. The garden was one of Helena’s favorite places in Huntington House. Indeed, when the weather was pleasant, as it was today, she tried to spend as much time there as she possibly could. More often than not, she would bring her sisters with her.
The pergola was her project; she had entreated with her father its construction, stating the need for a venue for her sister’s outdoor pursuits, not to mention the aesthetic it would add to the gardens of Huntington House. In the end, she was granted her request; Helena and her sisters had spent many an afternoon enjoying the features of the gardens.
With Grace on her mind, Helena led Matteo to the Pergola, which, although seen from numerous windows of the house, provided some privacy due to the rose vines that wrapped around it in profusion. She led him to a bench, and they sat down.
“I know what you shall say.” Helena held her hand out before Matteo could speak.
Matteo lifted a brow and gestured for her to continue.
“I did speak to Chastity last night.”
She spread her hands on her lap.
“But I did not tell her yet that you had proposed—pretended to propose! Oh, you know what I mean!”
“Whyever not?”
“I felt that she would not find it believable if I had jumped from disapproving of you to agreeing to be married to you all in a span of a few days. So, I started to plant the idea that I had started to see the good in you instead.”
“How very kind of you,” Matteo smirked at her, but a frown quickly replaced the smirk. “But I must say that I am quite surprised that your parents had not told the family of your betrothal. Surely news as important as their eldest daughter’s engagement to a duke would have been deemed noteworthy.”
How could she explain to him that her parents never bothered themselves with their children’s lives, that they left her in charge of her sisters’ upbringing—their future, in truth—without making them sound cold and uncaring? For she, herself, had wondered the very thing.
She looked at Matteo; she felt neither anger nor resentment for the roles that she was compelled to assume. Her parents had, after all, agreed to her wish for independence. A prize of sorts for being a dutiful daughter. Though now, that arrangement would,at least to her parents, no longer hold. She would just have to convince them of reviving it somehow once she and Matteo inform them that they would be breaking off their engagement. She had negotiated with them before; she would do so again.
“Helena?”
Helena started, waking from her reverie.
“They do not normally involve themselves in our daily lives. Perhaps they knew that I would make the announcement of our engagement myself since I am usually the one who brings any type of updates to my sisters.” She waved her hand dismissively. “The salient point is that Chastity would not have believed it if I had suddenly told her that I had accepted your proposal of marriage.”
Matteo sighed. He shrugged his shoulders.
