Charlie jumped to her feet. “Not at all. Please come in.”
Ainsley closed the door. “I ran into your maid out in the hall and told her that I would help you finish dressing.”
Charlie eyed the lovely young matron, fashionably garbed in a periwinkle blue gown with enormous sleeves and wide skirts and trimmed with spectacular Brussels lace. Ainsley also managed to carry off her elaborate coiffure, feathers and all, without looking like she’d been attacked by a flock of extremely annoyed peacocks.
“Really?” Then she winced, realizing how rude that sounded. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it to come out like that. It’s just that—”
“That I look completely overdressed for a quiet country dinner with family?” Ainsley humorously replied. “Very true, but I thought it would impress your mother.”
“She’ll be impressed. Even I’m impressed, and as you have obviously realized, I’m not exactly one for the latest fashions.”
Ainsley waved her back down. “Nonsense. You’re a lovely young woman, and you clearly have your own sense of style. One that is quite striking, I might add.”
“‘Highland hoyden,’ Mamma calls it,” Charlie ruefully said. “I’m afraid you have your work cut out for you, Lady Ainsley.”
“It’s Ainsley, my dear. I very much intend for us to become good friends.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Argh.
Was she going to spend the next two weeks sounding like a booby every time a Kendrick crossed her path?
Ainsley inspected Charlie’s coiffure. “I like what you’ve done to your hair. It’s elegant.”
Charlie raised her eyebrows. “Really? You’re not just being nice, are you?”
“You’ll find that I’m considered the not-nice Kendrick, although I do share that title with Angus. We always speak our minds.”
“Who’s the nice Kendrick?”
“That would be Kade, although I suspect you already know that.”
Annoyingly, Charlie found herself blushing.
Stop thinking about him.
“So, you don’t think I need to do anything different with my hair?” she asked.
Ainsley cocked her head. “No, why would you?”
“Mamma thinks it’s old-fashioned and plain.” She turned on the stool and gazed up at Ainsley. “Unlike yours, which is very au courant.”
“Very ridiculous, if you ask me.” Ainsley plopped down on the bed, managing to look graceful as she did so. “Whoever came up with these absurd styles should be smothered in pomade and staked out in the hot sun.”
“Don’t let my mother hear you say that. She’s depending on you to bring me up to scratch. It’s an impossible task, I’m afraid.”
“That’s because you don’t wish to be brought up to scratch.” Ainsley tilted her head. “Why is that?”
Charlie carefully retied the bow on her wrapper, wondering just how much she could—
“You’re wondering just how much you can trust me, aren’t you?” asked Ainsley.
She sighed. “So you’re a mind reader, too.”
Ainsley grinned. “No, I’m just that good.”
Charlie couldn’t help smiling back. Ainsley’s wry self-confidence was very appealing and reassuring. Other than the chance to meet Kade, she’d been dreading this week and what Ainsley would expect of her.
