“Make sure you use sunscreen,” she told him. “You’d be surprised how fast you can burn here.”
“Jamie already hooked me up.” Duncan pulled a tube of SPF 100 from the pocket of his cargo pants. “Apparently we Brits need top-shelf protection. He also hooked me up with the phrase ‘hooked me up.’ That’s a new one to me.”
“Happy to help. If you’re going to marry an American, you should know the lingo.” Jamie cast a vague smile around the table, not meeting anyone’s eyes directly. That was a sign that he was unhappy about something. Mathilda couldn’t say she knew her brother well, but she knew that much. Maybe he too thought this arranged marriage idea was antiquated and absurd. She didn’t dare ask him how his love life was going. He got irritated whenever anyone broached that topic.
“Absolutely. I’ve been streaming TikTok videos to prepare.” Duncan leaned toward Charlotte. “Was it quite a culture shock when you moved to America?”
“Oh yes. Everything is different here. But I had Mark, and that was all that really mattered to me at that point in my life.” The two of them lost themselves in one of those long eye-locks that always made Mathilda cringe.
But not this time. For the first time in her life, she understood what they might be feeling, that sense of nothing else existing except for that one particular person. She’d experienced it herself now, with Rory.
She stole a glance at Duncan, but his expression was unreadable behind his sunglasses. Marrying him…it would mean giving up any chance of a connection like what her parents had. Just when she finally knew what that might feel like, she’d have to let it go.
But did she, really? Or were her feelings for Rory just the result of the crazy situation they’d been thrown into?
Focus on Duncan. Get to know him.
“What’s your family like?” she asked him. “Any brothers or sisters?”
“No, it’s just me. My parents had nearly given up on having children when I finally came along. My dad was nearly fifty. We lived in a big manor house in Scotland, and I felt quite alone most of my childhood.” His wistful tone touched her.
“That sounds pretty lonely,” she said softly. Maybe that could be a connection point for them. She too had felt alone as a kid, mostly because she spent so much time in her head, entertaining herself with her own imagination.
“Yes, quite lonely. That’s why from an early age I knew I wanted a family.”
“Right, you said that in your letter. It’s funny because when I used to babysit as a teenager, I would bribe Jamie to come with me. He was always much better with kids than I was. I’d curl up with a book and read while he played games with them.” She caught Duncan’s reaction, a subtle flinch away from her. “Don’t worry, I like kids now. But at that age I couldn’t be bothered. Lucky for me, Jamie was a good sport.”
She kicked her brother under the table. He roused himself and plastered on a smile. “Still am. I’ll be an awesome uncle. Whenever they want to play video games, I’m there. But you’ll probably have your kids chasing birds across the Arctic or something.”
“No thanks, I’m a tropical girl.” She turned back to Duncan, who’d been following their conversation with an unreadable expression “Anyway, back to you and your wish for a family. I can see why it’s important to you, as an only child, and not just for well, dynastic reasons.”
“And yet the Aberdeen dynasty must live on,” he said dramatically, raising his glass in the air. “Our ancestors have decreed it so. Do you ever think about the sadness embedded in this legacy? At its heart it’s about two people who couldn’t be together in their own lifetimes.”
“Well…to be honest, I haven’t given the whole thing much thought,” she admitted. “I guess it was different for you, growing up as an Aberdeen. Your parents must have talked about it with you.”
“Endlessly,” he admitted. “Especially because our family line came close to dying out. If I hadn’t been born, there would be no more direct descendants of that original Marquess of Aberdeen, just a few distant cousins.”
Wow. The pressure on him must be even greater because of that. “I’m sorry your parents couldn’t be here with us.”
“They send their best regards. They don’t travel anymore. It’s them and their basset hounds and a household staff that’s just as old as they are. They keep having funerals for yet another footman or driver. Whenever I suggest hiring someone new, they launch into a litany of complaints about the younger generation. When I point out that I’m part of that generation, they say I’m a fluke and that I belong in some past bygone era.”
“I can see that,” Mathilda said thoughtfully, tilting her head to study him. “There’s something very…courtly about you.” He was gentle, that was what it was. She enjoyed listening to him talk, that flow of British-accented wit, with never a pause for an “um” or an “er.” He would be amusing, as a husband. But distant, she thought. Never truly revealing himself, hiding behind well-told anecdotes and witty observations.
“Well, if this all goes according to plan, we should consider traveling to Scotland for a second wedding,” Charlotte said brightly.
“A second one?” Mathilda was aghast. She still hadn’t wrapped her head around one, let alone two.
“I was hoping someone would suggest that.” Duncan smiled broadly at her mother. “I didn’t want to ask, since it’s such a long trip.”
“I always love going home to England. We all love it. Jamie even considered studying at Cambridge.”
“Oh?” Duncan turned his sunglass-masked gaze toward her brother. “What made you decide against it?”
Jamie gave a vague wave of his hand. “It was never a serious plan. I would have been running away, and I decided I had to face my problems head-on.”
This was the first Mathilda had ever heard about some crisis in Jamie’s life. That familiar sad pang twisted in her heart. Why hadn’t he confided in her? Was she such a bad sister that he didn’t think he could trust her?
“A breakup?” Duncan asked.
