Daphne couldn’t help but smile slowly at Lorcan’s obvious discomfort.
“You’ll have to imagine what went on in between, my dear, because you won’t be getting the story out of me. I’m quite domesticated now,” he told Delacorte.
“Ofcourseyou are.” Delacorte not-so-subtly winked. “I think the two of you will be very happy here for however long you decide to stay,” he added confidently. “Butyou’llwant to have a care with the Epithet Jar, St. Leger.” He elbowed Lorcan in the ribs and gestured to the jar standing sentry over the room. “It could bankrupt a man.”
“Oh, I shouldn’t worry about me, anymore, Delacorte. I’m as tame as a kitten. Mywife, on the other hand... you should hear how she goes on. I’ll need to carry about a pocket full of pennies for her sake.” He winked.
Daphne’s mouth dropped open.
“I jest of course. She only curses a blue streak when she’s excited. Or thoroughly enjoying something.”
“Oh my,” Mrs. Pariseau said faintly.
Delilah and Angelique had gone very still and wide-eyed.
“Noone knows how to enjoy something like my wife,” he added wickedly.
Mrs. Pariseau surreptitiously fanned her bodice with her hand.
“Scones, for instance,” Lorcan continued, innocently. “She enjoys them a good deal.”
Daphne locked gazes with him. Hers was scathingly amazed.
His glinted wickedly.
There was a little silence.
She ought to disapprove. She hated to admit it, but she found it both very funny and exhilarating. Seldom had anyone bothered to tease her, noteven Henry. Her earnestness and brisk efficiency hardly invited it, she supposed.
“Lorcan enjoys saying things like that because he likes to be scolded like a little boy.” She managed to say it fondly. She suspected this was also true.
There flashed in his eyes a blend of surprise, warning, and amused approval. As though he was unaccustomed to being challenged and yet she continued to surprise him. And as long as she did, he was going to try to find ways to test her.
She found this disconcerted her less than it ought. It felt peculiarly like a relief.
“Nay, in truth sometimes I say things just to make her blush,” he said softly. “For do you see how pretty it is when she does?”
And now she was certain she was scarlet, judging from the heat of her cheeks, and everyone was looking at the two of them meltingly, charmed by the unpredictable menace that was her fake husband.
“She does have a gift for appreciating things,” he added more gently. Sounding conciliatory. Apologizing, just a little, for teasing her.
She stared at him, surprised. He had robbed her of words. Primarily because it was something she secretly appreciated about herself that no one had ever before thought to point out.
“We... both do," she told the little group around them. Her voice was faint Because it was the fair thing to say. And because she realized it was true. For different reasons, but they did.
She suddenly wanted a moment alone to ponder this realization.
“Daphne and I knew each other when we were younger,” Delilah told the little group nearest them. “I remember the picnic with garlands and little lanterns in the trees for her father’s fortieth birthday. It was magical. There was a picnic nearly every year for his birthday,” Delilah told Lorcan.
“Sounds enchanting.” Lorcan only sounded a little ironic. “Were there picnics for your birthday, too, Daphne?” He turned an expression of cheerful expectation toward her.
She felt her face heating again. She wasn’t quite certain how to reply. “My birthdays were quieter affairs.” Mainly because they were seldom remembered until long after the fact.
“Ah,” he said pleasantly, after a little beat of silence. There remained a little puzzled dent between his formidable brows.
Daphne was tense now. She didn’t want to discuss the home she’d all but lost. It would only lead to questions about whether Lorcan had ever visited there, and what her family thought of him, and the lies would need to fly as thick and fast as... gnats at a picnic.
Lorcan was studying her with that thoughtful furrow between his eyes. Suddenly he turned away. “Delacorte, are you still traveling about with your case of magic powders and whatnot? It was how the two of us managed to meet,” Lorcan explained to the group. “He travels a fair bit selling medicines and remedies and the like up and down the coast.”
