Denise glanced over her head to share a look with their brother, both seeming to come to the same conclusion when they wrapped their arms around Daniella in an unbreakable grip.
Danny gasped. “What are you doing?”
“You may as well give it up,” Denise said. “There’re two of us and we’re all equally stubborn. Now, tell us all your secrets or we’ll be forced to throw you into the lake.”
“You wouldn’t—” She stopped, reconsidered addressing her sister, and turned to her brother. “Youwouldn’t!”
He shrugged. “We’re concerned.”
“And letting me catch pneumonia is your solution?”
Denise shook her head. “She’s stalling.”
Don agreed. “You take her arms. I’ve got the legs.”
“Stop!” Danny scowled as they released her, both enjoying smug smiles of victory. She cursed under her breath.Meddling siblings, worse than magpies.
“Out with it, then!” Denise commanded.
Danny glanced back to the house, knowing she wouldn’t make it halfway before they caught her. She sighed. “I met the new Duke of Grandfellow today.”
“Oh.” Danny made a face. “Is he boring? Old? Snaggle-toothed and smells like herring?”
If only.“He’s handsome, mannered, interesting.”
There was a pause, and then, “You fancy him!”
Give her sister a list and she’d write a novel. “That’s ridiculous.”
“I’ve never heard you mention a man as handsome or interesting,” Denise said. “The best compliment you’ve ever used was ‘tolerable,’ which I daresay meant he was nothing of the sort.”
Danny’s cheeks grew warm. “I would never be so critical.”
“She said ‘moderately tolerable,’” Don confirmed. “It was when the Duke of Wembley proposed.”
“Which one was he again?” Denise asked. “The one who proclaimed his undying love from the seat of his carriage?”
“That was the Viscount of Wessex. The duke was the one who’d instructed his gardeners to fetch all the lilies from the surrounding ponds to be placed on our drive, leading up to his white charger.”
“Yes.” Denise nodded, remembering. “Too bad the man had no notion of water plants and their intolerance for sunbaked gravel.”
The ache in her temple wouldn’t abate, no matter how hard Danny pushed. “If you’ve had enough recounting my humiliation?”
“Don’t be selfish, sister,” Denise said. “The humiliation was entirely theirs.”
Don patted Danny’s hand affectionately. “It is rare to hear you so complimentary.”
“I told you, she’s smitten!”
Danny frowned at her sister’s squeal. “I don’t know anything about him.”
Denise waved that rational thought away. “Easily remedied. We’ll ask around, see whom he knows, check his credit with the butcher.”
“That’s all it takes for a gentleman to be a catch? A few friends and a settled account?”
“His account need not be settled,” Denise said. “As long as he has the funds to make it current upon notice.”
“You sound like Mama.”
