Graham reached for Hope’s hand.
“We’re to be wed,” he said, interrupting her.
Hope’s brow lifted as she turned to her side. Graham had a very serious expression on his face and Hope felt the same vague sense of worry she had felt last night creep into her heart. But the loud thwack of Belle’s cane broke her concentration.
“Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!” Belle said, her eyes locked on Graham’s stoic face. “I have not heard such wonderful news in ages. We shall put it in all the papers. TheHerald, theLondon Times, even theEvening Standard.”
“TheTimes?” Hope said, a trickle of concern edging into her spine. “Is there really a need to announce to the entire country?”
“Of course there is. You’re the granddaughter of an earl, my dear. The peerage should know.”
Hope nodded, unsure why she was so hesitant. Perhaps she didn’t wish for Pennington to know about her engagement.
Graham’s large hand squeezed her fingers.
“If you’d rather not, we needn’t post it,” he said.
The expression on his face was veiled, but Hope worried that he mistook her hesitance for some sort of shame and that certainly wasn’t it. She shook her head.
“No, of course we should,” she said, facing her aunt. “Put it in all the papers.”
“Wonderful!” Belle said. “Andrews! Set up my correspondence. I’ll take breakfast in my office. I’ve a number of letters to write.” Her cane wobbled slightly back and forth as she struggled to stand. “What is the date?”
“Oh, well, since our courtship was rather short, I think it would be fitting if we had a longer engagement,” Hope said.
“How long?”
“A year I suppose,” she said, only to be met with a deafening silence. Looking back and forth between Belle and Graham, both appeared stunned. She frowned. “It’s not an unheard-of length of time for an engagement.”
“Yes, my dear, but seeing as you’ve already experienced a long engagement prior to this one,” Belle said. “I would assume you’d wish to be over with this rather quickly.”
“They were never engaged,” Faith said, earning her an elbowing from Grace. “What? They weren’t.”
“A year is far too long,” Graham said, looking down at her, before adding softly. “A month is too long.”
Hope’s cheeks warmed as she grasped his meaning, but she still felt certain that they couldn’t be married in a month. She pulled her hand away from his so that she could think straight.
“A month would hardly supply enough time to sort everything out. Dresses and flowers, invitations, licenses.”
“We’re in Scotland. We could go to the blacksmiths in Glencoe and be done with it today.”
“I don’t wish to be done with it,” Hope said firmly, aware of their audience. She took a deep breath before explaining. “I was raised in large part by my grandmother, and she was a woman who believed strongly in propriety. Out of respect for her, I would like to adhere to a traditional length of engagement.”
“I agree with MacKinnon,” Belle said, lifting her chin. “Tomorrow is good. Today would be better.”
“We are not marrying today,” she said, leaning around Graham’s large frame to glare at her aunt.
“Two weeks then,” Graham said, causing Hope’s attention to snap back to him.
Her hand fell to the back of the closest chair to steady herself. Two weeks? Had he gone mad?
“Absolutely not. It is impossible.”
“One week,” he countered, taking a step towards her likesome predatory animal.
“Half a year,” she offered, pulling out the chair to block his advance.
“Tomorrow.”
