Page 8 of Tattle Tail
Her ears went flat. “No.”
“Is there another?”
She wanted to say yes, to spare the male’s pride. Instead, she chose to be truthful. “There is not,” she said.
Unfortunately. Joseph’s bare chest sprang to mind, which was not what she needed. Attractive and arrogant, he was wrong for her in every way possible.
Her comm vibrated with an incoming message. Without looking, she slipped the device into her bag.
“You smile. Who has been messaging you?” Lord Resolve asked.
“A nuisance.”
He did not look convinced.
“A co-worker. He is…what he is.” She was desperate, but not that desperate. She said, “If I had a suitor, aboyfriendas the humans called it, Mother would get off my tail.”
She had experimented with the Celestial Mates dating app, but the results had been less than spectacular.
Lord Resolve blinked at her salty tone, then snorted with laughter. “She is persistent.”
“She should change her name to Tenacious,” Peaceable said, earning another laugh. The awkward tension at the table vanished, and she rather enjoyed her meal.
“Are you interested in, ah, companionship?” Lord Resolve asked in a curious tone. “Not with me. In general, I mean. You were a rather solitary kit, I recall.”
Peaceable folded the linen napkin and set it down next to her now-empty plate. When her parents grilled her about her romantic life, she’d grown defensive. All Tolerance and Worth, her father, saw was one unsuccessful relationship after another. She wasn’t even sure if her courtships lasted long enough to count as relationships. She had plenty of first dates, but they lacked a vital spark.
Sharing that with her parents felt like a failure, especially when they compared Peaceable to her brother. Somehow, it felt safe to confide in Lord Resolve.
“My attempts to find a mate have not been successful, but I remain…” Her voice trailed off. She remained what? Optimistic? Tired? She was tired of the endless first dates and ill-suited matches. “I see little reason to waste time with someone who is not…for me.”
“Discernment is an admirable quality, but one can be too finicky,” he said. “No one is perfect.”
“I am aware, and I am not waiting for the perfect male,” she said. She wanted someone interesting, who did not speak down to her and challenged her. So far, all the males she encountered had been dull, condescending, or just plain bizarre. “One male took me to his grandmother’s funeral on the first date.”
Lord Resolve leaned forward. “He did not.”
“Another refused to call me by my name,” she said. “I do not know if he had a memory condition or if he was too stubborn to admit a mistake.”
He laughed again, then flagged the waiter to order wine for the table. “After my mate passed, every one of my acquaintances seemed to know a widow who just so happened to be joining us for dinner.”
“The ambush. A classic hunting technique.” Peaceable accepted the glass of wine. She needed to build up her courage before speaking with her mother; Tolerance would grill her about every detail of her lunch with Lord Resolve.
“One female, perfectly lovely, was an avid bird enthusiast. It’s all she talked about and insisted on showing pictures of her collection.” He paused, taking a sip. “All stuffed. Not a single living bird to be seen. Absolutely morbid.”
They traded bad date stories over wine and dessert. This male she liked far more than the male who made an all-business, produce-an-heir proposal. Still, her mother had some explaining to do.
Joseph
No response. Typical.
Joseph buttoned up the green shirt, then checked his reflection in the compact mirror Peaceable pretended not to have from her top right desk drawer. The contents of the drawer were a jumbled mess, in stark contrast to the tidiness of the office. He grinned, charmed at Peaceable’s attempts to hide her inner chaos.
The compact emitted a fruity, powdery smell that barely hinted at apricots. It was a scent he associated with Peaceable, not that he’d ever admit to sniffing her hair. Or his powder-covered fingers.
Because he wasn’t weird, and he didnothave a thing for her.
The desk drawer rattled closed when he returned the compact. His hand hovered over the drawer. It would be wrong to snoop but how he’d love to get a bit of dirt on Peaceable. For two years, they’d verbally sparred. His best efforts never seemed to crack her icy exterior, and she knew exactly how to cut his ego down to size.
