“Yes, His Grace is in his study.”
“Right then. I suppose I will go see him there,” Charity said, knowing that she could not keep delaying things anymore.
Begrudgingly, she made her way over and knocked once.
“Come in,” Duncan said.
Charity stepped in with a small stack of folded papers in her hand, and she closed the door behind.
“I hope I am not bothering you, Your Grace,” she started. Her tone was polite to a fault, and she wanted to let him know that she was not here to start any arguments.
Duncan looked at the papers in her hands and then leaned back slightly in his chair.
“No, you’re not bothering me in the slightest,” he noted. Charity was relieved to see that there was no hostility in his tone. Did that mean that he had gotten over their little argument from the day before? “Is it something important?”
Charity chewed on her lip.
“Would you mind if I take a seat first?”
“Not at all. Make yourself comfortable,” Duncan nodded. “You seem a bit on edge.”
“I suppose I’m just a bit nervous,” she admitted, looking away from him. Suddenly, the furniture appeared very interesting in comparison. Anything to avoid his gaze.
“Yes, we’ve established that you tend to get that way in my presence,” he said, and there was a hint of teasing in his tone.
“If I may speak,” she steadied her, “I wasn’t sure if you were going to want to see me after.. well, our last conversation did not exactly go smoothly.”
“Hmm,” Duncan replied, smoothly. “I don’t have a tendency to hold onto grudges.”
“I shouldn’t have compared you to him,” she came clean. Her heart was beating fast now, and she hoped that he wouldn’t be able to tell that her hands had started to sweat. She neatly wiped them down on the front of her skirts and knotted them togetherin front of her. “That was very out of line for me, and I suppose I had said it in the heat of the moment.”
“I’m glad you’ve come to that realization,” his reply was curt and without emotion.
Charity frowned.
“You’re still cross with me, I can just tell,” she said. “Can we go back to how things were before?”
Duncan regarded her for a moment. “Words are of great significance to me, and you cannot be so reckless with yours. It reminds me… well, it reminds me of others who did the same. I tend to respect my word, and wish that you do the same.”
“You will not have to worry anymore,” she said, sighing. “The last thing I wish to do is to remind you of something that you don’t want to remember.”
Duncan was not a man made out of stone. Quite the opposite, though his outward appearance gave the impression of a stern man.
Early in his life, he had seen his parents sometimes speak words to him that they did not mean in the heat of the moment. He had always taken them to heart and learned that he would never utter something that he didn’t truly mean.
Charity was staring at him with a soft expression now. It was disarming just how beautiful she looked in these unguarded moments.
“What did you initially come to speak to me about?” he said, wanting to traverse back to safer topics. “Those papers that you brought in with you. What are they for?”
“Oh,” Charity glanced over at the papers, as though she had herself forgotten the purpose of her visit. “Those are… That’s a list I’ve made. I was hoping that we could speak a bit about wedding guests.”
Duncan had always appreciated good management skills, and knew that a future Duchess would require them. To him, this demonstrated that Charity had the capability to do so.
“I’d like to hear about it.”
“I have made a list of people I would like to invite, and I wanted to ask whether there are any from your side we should add before I send anything to the staff.”
Duncan did not have to think much about it.
