Page 42 of Duke of Moonstone
“She believes our marriage to be one born of affection.”
Frances’s foot nearly missed the next step.
“So, we must pretend in her presence,” she said.
“Yes.”
“You might have mentioned this sooner.”
“I am mentioning it now.”
“On the stairs. Thirty seconds before we arrive.”
“I thought it best to give you the information when it was most immediately relevant.”
Frances pressed her lips together. “That is not how preparation works.”
“It is how efficiency works.”
“Efficiency.” She shook her head. “You are asking me to convince your mother—a woman I have never met—that I am desperately in love with you, and your notion of preparation is to tell me on the stairs.”
“I did not saydesperately.”
“What would you call it, then? Mildly? Reluctantly? Shall I aim for a tepid sort of affection?”
His mouth moved. Just the corner. Just enough for her to see it and for him to know she saw it, and something warm sparked between them.
“Convincingly will suffice,” he said.
Frances drew a breath and held it for a moment. “Why does she believe it is a love match?”
“Because I allowed her to.”
“You lied to your mother.”
“I withheld a correction. There is a difference.”
“There really is not.”
He stopped walking. Frances stopped too, one step above him, which put them almost at eye level. His blue eyes were very close and very serious, and there was something behind them—not the usual careful blankness but something rawer. Something that looked, if she had to name it, like worry.
“Her health is fragile,” he said. “It has been declining for some time. Any shock, any distress... The physician has been clear. Nothing must upset her.”
The words were plain. Direct. And underneath them, Frances heard what he was not saying, what a man like Whitestone would never say aloud.
He is frightened of losing her.
The sharpness went out of her. She looked at him standing one step below her with that careful composure that cost him more than he would ever admit, and she felt something shift in her chest.
“I understand,” she said.
“You will need to appear comfortable. Natural. She will notice if we are stiff with one another.”
“I am never stiff.”
“You were stiff at breakfast yesterday.”
“You were not at breakfast yesterday.”
