“Are you embarrassed byus?”
Andrew snorted.
Peter rolled his eyes. “I am not embarrassed byyou, except when you do something embarrassing. Remind me why you’re with us.”
Winnie grinned. “You wanted someone to sneak a peek so that if she was of our acquaintance, you had time to gird your loins.”
Ah, yes. It had seemed sensible at the time. The longer he and Booklover corresponded, the less he thought her part of high society. Hopefully, when she saw him for the first time she would not know who he was. But if shewouldrecognize the Duke of Strafford the moment he entered, it was best to know that in advance.
Still… “Remind me again why I brought you, specifically?”
She skipped as he strode, swishing her skirts. “Because I was your only option. And had you tried to cut me out of this adventure, I would have nagged at you for the rest of your days.”
She would have been incessant. Still, if Meg had felt well enough, he would have braved Winnie’s threat of eternal pestering and brought the sister who would have calmed him rather than the one who forced his heart rate higher.
Conscious of Peter’s increasing agitation, Andrew held up his hands. “I am only here—”
Peter nodded. “To see her home safely. Thank you.”
From this distance, he could just make out the hand-painted sign outside the restaurant. He checked his watch. They were five minutes past the meeting time because Winnie could not decide if she should wear white or if she could get away with pink, since Booklover liked the dawn, despite his repeated insistence that it was a pointless exercise given she would remain out of sight. Booklover would not even see her, let alone appreciate what she was wearing. Would Booklover still be waiting, or had Winnie’s tardiness cost him?
His legs were compelled to move, to reach her as quickly as possible. She might very well be his future. If she was askind and intelligent in person as she was in her letters, if she was age appropriate, if she had the fortitude he suspected and could withstand the gossip, it didn’t matter what she looked like or what social class she came from. He would be mad not to marry that woman.
She was the promise of a wife who liked—perhaps could love—him for him. Peter the man, not Peter the duke. He had never thought it possible. He had dragged his feet for years, putting off the inevitable disappointment he’d thought his marriage would be. Now that he was on the cusp of the greatest blessing, those feet he’d dragged were racing.
There was the slightest huff from his sister as she tried to keep up. “Will you ask her to marry you right away? May I watch? I will be very discreet. Andrew and I could take a table across the room.”
“I will not ask her to marry me.” Not tonight, at least. When—if—he asked Booklover to marry him, it would be at one of the many interesting places she had introduced him to. It would be with a retinue of footmen carrying flowers of every color. It would be without his sisters in a five-mile radius.
They slowed to a stop only a few yards from the restaurant. His heart rate picked up a notch. A couple breezed past them, paying him no mind at all, giving no indication that they knew who he was. Perfect. Meeting here had been the correct decision.
“A book with a rose, you say?” Winnie asked, tugging at her gloves as though she were going into battle.
“And she’ll be wearing yellow.”
“What kind of yellow? Honey? Sunflower? Daffodil?”
He and Andrew exchanged glances. “Is there a difference between those three shades?”
Winniehmphed. “A world, brother. A world.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, frustrated with the added complication. “I do not know what shade she’s wearing, but how many women in yellow with a book and a rose could be in there?”
Winnie gave him a leveled stare, as though he was not considering the matter with appropriate gravity. “For your sake, brother, I hope one. It would be awkward to have to approach her with ‘Excuse me. Are you the love of my life or is it the woman sitting over there?’”
Breathe in. Breathe out. Even dukes could be tried for murder. “Booklover is not…” Winnie grinned and he cursed as he realized she’d been baiting him. “Would you just go look? Andrew, would you go with her?”
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his sister to do as he asked. Actually, it wasentirelybecause he didn’t trust his sister.
She skipped up the steps and Andrew followed. The doorman greeted her and she gave him a charming smile. “Oh, I’m not going in. I was just hoping to see if a friend was in there.” She craned her neck to look inside the restaurant. Andrew did the same, no doubt just as curious, even if he hid it better.
“Well?”
“Just one moment. There are a lot of people in there.”
A lot of people. Damn it. He should have picked someplace quieter. Then again, he’d picked Bowen’s Kitchen because it would be busy enough that she could go on her own and wait for him safely.
“Ooh, wait. There’s a book with a rose.” Winnie clapped her hands and the doorman raised an eyebrow.
