“I assure you he is,” Tony said, his gaze never leaving hers.
“I am sure Lucinda can make up her own mind on the matter.” Marianne’s voice was soft but reassuring.
Lucinda smiled. “Thank you, Marianne. I confess I am nervous to meet him.”
“I have no doubt he will fall in love with you as we have,” Marianne said.
Her statement warmed her heart. She wished Tony had fallen in love with her. It would have made things so much easier on her heart and mind.
For nights on end, she had battled her own feelings, trying to convince herself that she was not in love with him. How could a few kisses make one surrender their heart? Perhaps this thing that she felt was no more than gratefulness, and she was just mistaking it for something else. She had nothing to compare it to, only the tingles of excitement she felt whenever she saw him. The desperation for his kisses whenever he smiled at her. The pull to be near him whenever possible. Even when he drove her mad with the stupid things he did or said, she loved him. If only…
The silence must have gotten to the dowager as she said, “Surely it must be sooner rather than later, and we have the opera on Friday. Let me look at our schedule and move things about.”
Tony finally broke eye contact with her and nodded towards his mother. “I will await your answer. If you will excuse me.” He bowed and left the room.
Lucinda watched him leave and took a breath. The intense way he had looked at her had her whole body heating.
“Well,” Tony’s mother said. “That is certainly news I had not expected. I assume you had no idea that Shorten was still alive?”
“I thought that if he had not come to get me then he must certainly be dead.”
“Did he know of you?” Marianne guided her back to a seat.
“I do not know. That is certainly one of the questions I will ask him when I see him. If he did, then I will want to know why he did nothing.”
The day shewas to meet her grandfather greeted her with a light drizzle and an overwhelming sense of angst. Staring out thewindow, she waited for the carriage to pull up in front of the house.
Like an eager child, she checked the time on the mantel clock with such regularity that Marianne commented, “Lucinda, the minutes do not tick by quicker when you constantly check them. Here, have some tea. It will calm your nerves.”
“What if he does not turn up?”
“Then he does not deserve to make your acquaintance.”
“I cannot simply forget he exists.”
“Let us worry about that if he does not arrive. Until then, we must give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Marianne was right. She was always right. What would she do without her? She took the cup of tea and sat, took a sip, and stifled the urge to get up again.
“He will be here. He would not have traveled all the way to London to snub you at the last minute.”
“He could have changed his mind.”
“Have you changed yours?”
“No. Oh, I do not know.”
The faint sound of carriage wheels had her up in a flash and running to the window. It was indeed a carriage, and the first out was Tony. He looked up to the window where she stood and gave a little bow before another man emerged from the carriage. Tony took his arm and guided the elderly man up the steps. It was him. Her grandfather. Her mother’s father. She ran back to the sofa and took up her teacup. Marianne laughed at her.
“Remember,” the dowager said. “He is just a man. If things are not going well, you excuse yourself and leave. We will take care of the mess.”
“Oh, lord.” She was feeling lightheaded, like she might just faint. She could hear male voices in the hall. Tony, the duke, and her grandfather.
Marianne took her hand. “All will be well.”
The door opened, and all three women stood, Lucinda still clasping Marianne’s hand. The duke was first in the door. “Ladies, may I present Viscount Shorten.”
A slightly stooped-over man came into the room with a walking stick in one hand. He did not have to bend much farther to bow, but it seemed to pain him. Lucinda looked at him and her heart faltered. There was so much of her mother in this man’s face. His hair may once have been fair but was now gray with age. He had large muttonchop sideburns and a full beard.
