“Half?”
“We shall have a convincing betrothal. I do not care that you want a quiet duchess. I do not care that you want a hasty wedding. We shall have the banns read for three weeks, as is customary, and for these three weeks, we must convinceeveryone, especially my sister, that we are madly in love. You must properly court me. You must visit me at least once a week. We must be seen out together. You could give me gifts, I suppose, but I do not really care about those unless they are a puppy or something sweet.”
“I want no animals in my home.”
“No, I suppose you don’t.” She bit back a smile.
He saw it happen. The corner of her mouth did the thing it had done the night before, and she pressed it flat. He had to remind himself that grown men did not look at the corners of women’s mouths in the middle of marriage negotiations and find them interesting.
“But that does not change my rules,” she went on. “If we cannot convince everyone that we are in love, and that affects my sister somehow, we shall find a reason to break off our betrothal at the end of three weeks.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
“But if everything goes according to plan, you will be mine. And follow my rules afterwards.” He held out his hand.
She looked at his hand, then his eyes, then at his hand again. She put her hand in his and shook it once. “Agreed.”
The door opened.
Lord Westbury looked at the two of them, standing far enough apart for propriety’s sake and close enough that he had clearly noticed, and sighed. “Are we done?”
“Yes, My Lord.” Cassian did not let go of her hand at once. He let it drop a fraction of a second after he should have. “We shall have the banns read for the next three weeks. I shall take care of it this morning.”
“Excellent.”
“Now I would like to take my leave.”
“Should I expect to see you again soon, my beloved?” Alice batted her eyelashes at him with a perfectly straight face.
He held her gaze a beat longer than was civil. “Of course, My Lady. I would not dream of staying away from you for too long. In fact, how about a small dinner tonight to celebrate our betrothal? I shall invite a few friends.”
Alice gave him a brittle smile.
“Of course,” said Lady Westbury, who had appeared in the doorway behind her husband. “Of course, we shall come. What an excellent idea, Your Grace.”
Cassian turned back to Alice and bowed over her hand. “Until this evening, my beloved.”
“Until this evening, Your Grace.”
“You will wear blue, I hope.”
“It is improper to make requests of one’s betrothed regarding her dress, Your Grace.”
“You will be improper too in time, Lady Alice. You will get used to it.”
He turned and walked out of the study before she could reply.
In the corridor, he heard Joanna rushing toward Alice.
“I cannot wait to hear everything,” his sister hissed.
He did not, at any point during the long walk to his waiting carriage, allow himself to think about what he had just done. He thought about it the moment the carriage door closed.
He thought, with a quiet sense of dread, that he had never in his life looked forward to an evening so much. And that was bad.
CHAPTER 7