Page 73 of A Bride for the Forbidden Duke
“I wanted to talk to you about something,” Veronica said, breaking the silence.
He glanced at her, nodding for her to continue.
She laughed. “Oh, Your Grace, you had plenty to say to me last night. Are you truly going to go back to being quiet now?”
“I have plenty to say in the bedroom,” he conceded. “But it is you who wishes to speak now, is it not?”
She glared playfully at him across the table as she spread jam over her toast. She sipped at her tea, and when she licked her lips of any stray droplets, he was reminded of how she had done that very same thing the night before with her wine.
It was the start of his unraveling. That, and seeing the attention of those young lords who did not know respect even if it should hit them in the face. He had been seconds away from warning her off them when Lord Forbes had made his announcement.
“What is it you wish to share?” he prompted.
“I wanted to thank you,” she said, surprising him. “For your… cooperation last night with my mama. I debated telling her about the investigation into Robert’s disappearance, and you provided me with the confidence to tell her.”
“I did nothing.”
“Exactly.” She let out a small laugh that he swore he did not find endearing in the slightest. “You were… more welcoming to her last night. And through that, I saw hope. I know, I know, you do not like false hope or people assigning you a caring man, but?—”
“You are welcome, Veronica.”
It was the first time he had used her Christian name outside of their activities the night before. It rolled off his tongue much more comfortably than he realized it would. The meaning scared him. It meant becoming more acquainted with her, but he had been the first to ask her to use his.
She blinked at him, clearly startled at his use.
“If it is still all right to call you that,” he was quick to amend. “I can call you?—”
“Veronica is very well,” she assured him. “Henry.”
He heard his name in her tone now, soft, when last night she had all but cried out his name in passion. He cleared his throat and began working on his piece of toast.
“So, you only wished to thank me for being pleasant to your mother? I am not a sociable man, as I have explained, but I am not utterly without manners.”
“Well, the first time you met her you were rather rude to her,” Veronica pointed out.
He spared her a scowl.
“I was notrude. I had hastened myself into a marriage I did not think I would need to arrange.”
It was immediately the wrong thing to say. He stilled.
Hastened myself into a marriage.
Why had he said that?
Veronica only cocked her head at him, rising to his challenge as he had seen her grow to do recently. Once, she’d have cried out, perhaps, questioned him. Now, his wife only smiled at him pleasantly.
“It is simply nice to see you to be nicer to her. You did save her life and prosperity, after all.”
“I was thinking mostly of you,” he admitted quietly.
She said nothing more, and he offered nothing else. The confession was quite enough.
“Today, we shall ride out to the village in our carriage.” He had the day’s agenda in his mind. “The village fair begins at noon ,so we must make haste if we are to be there in time for the water games.”
“Water games?”
“It is a village.” He smiled at her. “We are not in London anymore.”
