Do you know what is nice about friendships as longstanding
as ours?” Hyacinth interrupted.
Felicity shook her head.
“You won’t take permanent offense when I turn my
back and walk away.”
And then Hyacinth did just that.
Don’t look so upset,” Hyacinth said, once it was just
the two of them again. “You’re quite a catch.”
He looked at her assessingly. “Is one meant to say such
things quite so directly?”
She shrugged. “Not to men one is trying to impress.”
“Touché, Miss Bridgerton.”
She sighed happily. “My three favorite words.”
Of that, he had no doubt.
You’re a bundle of questions
this afternoon, aren’t you?”
“I wouldn’t have to be,” she retorted, clearly regaining
her wits, “if you’d actually say something of substance.”
“Until next time, Miss Bridgerton,” he murmured, slipping
out into the hall.
“But when?” came her exasperated voice.
He laughed all the way out.
Children,” Lady Bridgerton said with a sigh as she retook
her seat. “I am never quite certain if I’m glad I had
them.
So he decided to stay out of it and instead turned back
to Lady Bridgerton, who was, as it happened, the closest
person to him, anyway. “And how are you this afternoon?”
he asked.
Lady Bridgerton gave him a very small smile as she
handed him his cup of tea. “Smart man,” she murmured.
“It’s self-preservation, really,” he said noncommittally.
“Don’t say that. They wouldn’t hurt you.”
“No, but I’m sure to be injured in the cross fire.
Gareth turned to Gregory. “Your sister will be safe
with me,” he said. “I give you my vow.”
“Oh, I have no worries on that score,” Gregory said
with a bland smile. “The real question is—will you be
safe with her?”
It was a good thing, Gareth later reflected, that Hyacinth
had already quit the room to fetch her coat and her
maid. She probably would have killed her brother on the
spot.
I cannot feel like a duchess in my
mother’s sitting room.”
“What do you feel like, then?”
“Hmmm.” She took a sip of her tea. “Just Daphne
Bridgerton, I suppose. It’s difficult to shed the surname in
this clan. In spirit, that is.”
“I hope that is a compliment,” Lady Bridgerton remarked.
Daphne just smiled at her mother. “I shall never escape
you, I’m afraid.” She turned to Gareth. “There is nothing like one’s family to make one feel like one has never
grown up.
I’ll talk to my mother,” she promised. “If I’m sufficiently
annoying, I’m sure I can get the engagement period
cut in half.”
“It makes me wonder,” he said. “As your future husband,
should I be concerned by your use of the phrase if
I’m sufficiently annoying?”
“Not if you accede to all of my wishes.”
“A sentence that concerns me even more,” he murmured.
She did nothing but smile.
Say whatever is in your heart,” Violet said. Her lips
twisted wryly. “And if that doesn’t work, I suggest that
you take a book and knock him over the head with it.”
Hyacinth blinked, then blinked again. “I beg your pardon.”
“I didn’t say that,” Violet said quickly.
Hyacinth felt herself smile. “I’m rather certain you
did.”
“Do you think?” Violet murmured, concealing her own
smile with her teacup.
“A large book,” Hyacinth queried, “or small?”
“Large, I think, don’t you?”
Hyacinth nodded. “Have we The Complete Works of
Shakespeare in the library?”
Violet’s lips twitched. “I believe that we do.”
Something began to bubble in Hyacinth’s chest. Something
very close to laughter. And it felt so good to feel it
again.
“I love you, Mother,” she said, suddenly consumed by
the need to say it aloud. “I just wanted you to know that.”
“I know, darling,” Violet said, and her eyes were shining
brightly. “I love you, too.
I love you, too,” she said.
He took her face in his hands and kissed her, once,
deeply, on the mouth. “I mean,” he said, “I really love
you.”
She quirked a brow. “Is this a contest?”
“It is anything you want,” he promised.
She grinned, that enchanting, perfect smile that was so
quintessentially hers. “I feel I must warn you, then,” she
said, cocking her head to the side. “When it comes to
contests and games, I always win.”
“Always?”
Her eyes grew sly. “Whenever it matters.”
He felt himself smile, felt his soul lighten and his worries
slip away. “And what, precisely, does that mean?”
“It means,” she said, reaching up and undoing the buttons
of her coat, “that I really really love you.
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