“A fire?” she repeated, her skeptical gaze narrowing on her brother. “Where exactly?”
Ash waved a vague, dismissive hand. “Kitchen. Nothing serious.”
Griffin frowned. “You have a cook, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Ash said smoothly, already shrugging out of his coat, “but she wasn’t the one setting things aflame this time.”
Clare caught the flicker of his gaze in her direction, the barest hint of a smile playing at his lips.
Her pulse kicked up.
Theaudacityof this man.
She didn’t believe him. Not for a second. She just hadn’t worked out what his game was yet. Still, she held her tongue.For now.
The four of them settled in for a game of whist in the drawing room, and if Meredith or Griffin noticed the thinly veiled innuendo laced through Clare and Ash’s banter, they wisely chose to ignore it.
“You do realize,” Clare said dryly, as Ash laid down a particularly ruthless card, “that being insufferable is not, in fact, a requirement to win.”
“Ah, but it makes victory all the sweeter,” Ash murmured, his eyes gleaming with mischief.
She rolled her eyes, but her lips twitched before she could stop them.
The game went on, but soon, predictably, the conversation took a turn.
Meredith, ever eager to see her brother settled, wasted no time pressing the one topic Ash always sidestepped.
“Any closer to finding a wife, Brother?” she asked, taking a delicate sip of her wine.
Clare, as always, expected him to dodge. To smirk and offer some halfhearted deflection.
Instead, Ash answered immediately. “Yes, actually. I’ve already made my choice. I can only hope the lady in question says yes.”
Clare choked on her wine. She gasped and coughed, slapping at her chest.Did he truly just say that?
Griffin gave them botha look. Oh, God. What didheknow about it?
Meredith blinked at her brother slowly, giving him a perfectly skeptical glare. “You needn’t make fun,” she said, lifting her nose in the air and tossing a card upon the table.
“I’m not,” Ash countered smoothly, completely unfazed. “I’ve given it quite a lot of thought lately, and I’ve decided you’re right. It’s high time I take a wife.”
Clare stared at him, her mind scrambling to make sense of this unexpected turn of events.
What.
Was.
He.
Doing?
“Oh, really,” Meredith drawled, clearly not believing a word of it. “Then, do tell, who is this woman? She must be a paragon if you’ve decided to ask for her hand.”
Ash shook his head. “Ah, I cannot reveal her name until I have secured the lady’s hand. But she is indeed someone quite special.”
“You won’t share her name?” Meredith retorted, obviously miffed. “That’s preposterous.”
“She may refuse me,” Ash replied, blinking piteously toward Clare.
