And what was wrong with that? It wasn’t his fault the estate was vulnerable. “He’s more than a steward, Father,” she said.
“Fine. Have him as your friend,” he blustered. “I knew you two were too close. Never could get you a proper governess to curb your ways.”
“He’s more,” she enunciated. Forget easing her father into this or having one argument and not the other. Her jests were only good because she went full-on. She’d do that here as well. She’d make her father see him for what he was. He may be foolish for coming in here without her, but he was a good man, nonetheless.
Color rose to her father’s cheeks, and he looked from Drystan to her, to the door they entered. “What’s going on here? You’ve always been familiar, but this is more.”
“We met in the kitchens,” she said.
“Last night,” Drystan said. “And there was no one else.”
Galoncryf abruptly sat. “Oh, dear God.”
“We only talked of the chest and what it could mean,” she said.
Her father leaned against his desk as if he needed the support though he was already sitting down. “You want the heir and the estate. And you meant to compromise her…compromise me to get it? I knew not to trust you!”
Elizabeth thrust her arms in the air. “Apparently, I need to be more clear.”
Her father held his hand out. “No, no, no more words please, a father can only take so much.”
“Elizabeth—” Drystan said.
She lifted her chin. “No, this is on me. This is because I was too quiet all these years and never said what I should have long ago.”
“How long has this been going on!” Galoncryf sputtered.
“I can’t believe you came in here on your own,” she said.
“I can’t either,” Drystan agreed.
It was the fact he didn’t hesitate that erased her concerns about their future. “Good then.”
“I know. I would have missed all of this,” her future husband quipped.
Elizabeth giggled.
“It’s worse than I thought.” Her father groaned into his hands. “Far, far worse, and to think I was worried of repercussions from the Evanses! When your mother knows you’ve been compromised and me bullied into some new way of running the estate, she will ensure I never receive a syllabub again!”
“Father, it’s not what you think,” Elizabeth said.
“Not what I think, not what I think!” He lifted his head. “You’re saying your mother does know? Of course she does. She was always too soft on that boy.”
She almost felt sorry for teasing him so. Almost. What she mostly felt was happy bordering on gleeful. “Mother doesn’t know I simply want to be married to—”
“You do?” Drystan blurted.
Honestly, these men were hopeless. “Isn’t that what we talked about last night?”
“We didn’t actually talk about that last night,” Drystan said softly. “I don’t think we’re talking about it now.”
“You noticed that, too?” She couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “I think we need to give him a bit more time.”
“At the very least until he wants to listen,” Drystan agreed.
Groaning, her father said, “How bad is it? I can listen now.”
“It’s very bad,” she said. “It’s been going on for years and years.”
