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“No.” For pride’s sake, she didn’t want him to know how badly she’d been hurt by their latest confrontation.
“You look like you’re about to burst into tears.”
Steffie squared her shoulders and met her sister’s worried eyes. “I’m not going to give him the satisfaction.”
“Attagirl,” Norah said approvingly.
Changing into jeans and a sweatshirt, Steffie went down the back stairs into the kitchen. She didn’t expect to find Charles sitting at the table chatting with her father. What unsettled her most was that he gave no outward sign of their quarrel. Steffie slowed her pace as she entered the room.
Charles stopped talking and his eyes narrowed briefly. “Hello, Stephanie.”
“I’ll leave you two alone,” her father said before Steffie could answer Charles’s greeting. He rose, a bit stiffly, and made his way to the door. “I guess you’ve got plenty to discuss.”
Steffie wanted to argue, but knew there wasn’t any point. She merely shrugged and remained where she was, standing a few steps from the back stairs. She didn’t look at Charles. The silence between them lengthened, until she couldn’t endure it any longer.
“I didn’t expect you to come,” she said in a harsh voice. “It certainly wasn’t necessary.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“I’m not in the mood to go riding and I don’t imagine you are, either.” In other words, she wasn’t in the mood to go riding with him.
“I’m not here to ride.”
“Then why are you here?”
Apparently Charles didn’t have the answer because he got to his feet and walked over to the window. Whatever he saw must have fascinated him because he stood there for several minutes without speaking.
“Why are you here?” she asked a second time, on the verge of requesting him to leave.
He finally turned around to face her. “I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t sleep last night.”
Steffie refused to admit that she’d fared no better, so she made no response.
“I kept going over the things your father said and the things you told me,” Charles went on.
“Did you come to any conclusions?” Pride demanded that she not look at him, or reveal how much his answer meant to her.
“One.”
Steffie tensed. “What’s that?” She had to look at him now.
His eyes finally met hers. Although nearly the entire kitchen separated them, Steffie felt as though he was close enough to touch.
“It seems to me,” he began, “that since your father’s so anxious to marry you off, and you seem to be just as eager, then fine.”
“Fine?” she repeated, wondering if this was some joke and she’d missed the punch line.
“In other words,” Charles returned shortly, “I’m willing to take you off his hands.”
CHAPTER TEN
“What? Take me off Dad’s hands?” Steffie echoed. Surely he wasn’t serious. No woman in her right mind would accept such an insulting proposal.
“You heard me.”
“Tell me you’re kidding.”
Charles shook his head. “I’ve never been more serious in my life. You want to marry me, then so be it. I’m willing to go along with this, provided we understand each other….”
