Duncan looked at Charity once, then back at Temperance, and Charity could already tell he did not know whether this was an ally, a threat, or some third category he had not yet encountered.
“Duncan,” he said, then corrected himself with formal restraint. “Your Grace, if we are introducing ourselves properly. And you are Miss Temperance…”
“Temperance Hale, and if you call me Miss Hale after I just threw myself on your future wife in front of you, I shall assume you dislike me,” Temperance said, offering him her hand as if nothing about the last five minutes had been unusual. “I have decided already that I like you, which is inconveniently fast, but there it is.”
Duncan looked at her hand, then shook it, and to Charity’s surprise, he looked more comfortable than he had looked with many perfectly respectable guests.
“That is a very quick judgment,” Duncan said, and there was the faintest suggestion of dry amusement in his tone.
“It is, but I stand by it,” Temperance replied. “Any man who lets a woman shout at him on a blanket while her friends and sisters pile on top of her and does not immediately demand order has at least some sense, and I am told you have also been kind to these girls, which matters more to me than titles.”
Duncan glanced toward Augusta and Matilda, who were both watching with shameless interest.
“They make it difficult to remain severe all the time,” Duncan said.
“That is the correct answer,” Temperance said, entirely satisfied.
Then she stepped closer to Charity as if to adjust her sleeve, leaned in, and whispered in a voice that was not nearly as quiet as she believed, “He looks exactly like the sort of man writers pretend is impossible and then put in books anyway, and if you blush any harder I will know for certain that this marriage is not nearly as practical as your invitation tried to make it sound.”
Charity’s face went hot at once.
“Temperance,” Charity hissed, horrified.
Temperance pulled back, looking delighted.
Duncan, who had definitely heard enough to understand the tone if not every word, looked at Charity with a calm expression that made her blush worse.
Augusta saw it and immediately looked far too interested.
“I like her,” Augusta announced, as if this were now the main matter under discussion.
“Of course, you do,” Charity muttered, still trying to recover.
Temperance turned to Augusta at once. “I like you too, and before the day ends, you may tell me every detail your sister has failed to put in her letters.”
Charity gave her a warning look. “Be careful what bargains you make. She remembers everything and edits nothing.”
“Excellent,” Temperance said. “That is exactly the kind of witness I need.”
Matilda tugged at Temperance’s sleeve. “Are you staying?”
Temperance looked down at her and softened immediately. “Yes, I am staying, if your sister will have me after that welcome.”
“You can stay with me,” Matilda said at once. “Unless they say no, but they should say yes, and more people are coming too, aren’t they, since you said in your letter that maybe others would come.”
Temperance looked up at Charity and then Duncan, more serious again. “The others should arrive in a couple of days, assuming roads stay clear and nobody loses a wheel. I came ahead as soon as I could once the invitation reached us, and the rest are following behind with less urgency and, I hope, better packing.”
“You’re all going to make it?”
“Did you think we would let you marry without appearing in person to judge the groom?”
Charity laughed. “That does sound like all of you.”
Duncan looked between them, and Charity could see him adjusting to the force of Temperance’s presence in real time, yet he did not look irritated. If anything, he looked curious.
“You are welcome to stay here until the wedding,” Duncan said, speaking to Temperance with the same steadiness he used in the house, though his tone held more ease than usual. “If your mother’s house is nearer York, that may have been enough for the journey, but there is no need to go back and forth now.”
Temperance nodded as if she had expected nothing less. “That is very generous, and I accept at once, which you may regret once you discover I speak constantly and ask rude questions.”
