“At the house, why?”
She says it so casually, so noncommittal, that it punches my ego, and I’m slightly offended. I know she still has her other band on, but I haven’t taken mine off since the wedding. It slipped up my finger earlier and had already left an indentation.
“Why aren’t you wearing it?”
She’s about to answer when Claudia brings over our breakfast. Ruby slips her hand from mine and hides it under the table.
“Enjoy, you two lovebirds.” Claudia smiles down at us. It’s saccharine and nauseating, and I wonder how many people she’s already told.
Not that Ruby notices, she’s too busy eating already.
“Because I can’t ride in it. How will you return it if I lose it? I’m not being on the hook for whatever it cost,” she says, and forks in a mouthful of scrambled egg. It’s followed by a moan so indecent that I don’t register what she’s said until she takes a sip of her coffee. I also don’t understand what she means.
“Why would I return it?”
She leans forward, gesturing her fork between us, and whispers, “You know, when this is over?—”
“Yeah, but I’m still not clear on why I’m returning something I gave to you.”
“Oh,” she says, with another mouthful. “Is it not real? I wasn’t sure.”
I pick up my knife and fork, only to put them down again. Is she suggesting that I’d give my wife a . . . I don’t even know what to call it? Fake, I presume.
It’s beyond insulting.
“It’s a real stone, Ruby. I don’t do fake.” My eyes skate over her freckles, the strands of auburn hair falling over her face, the rounded tip of her nose, and the delicate outline of her mouth I’m quickly becoming obsessed with. My gaze meets hers. “I don’t do fakeanything.”
Her eyes flare as she catches my meaning, and I take a huge amount of enjoyment in the way her cheeks redden.
“I thought you’d want your money back.”
I shake my head. “The ring is yours. If you choose to sell it when we get our annulment, that’s up to you, but I have no intention of taking it back. It wasn’t a loan.”
She looks down at where my hand’s resting on the table, palm up. Reaching out, she runs her fingertip along the gold band I’m wearing next to my signet ring. Back and forth. I don’t know what she’s thinking, and I wait in silence until she speaks.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She bites into a piece of toast. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but did you also just throw your brother under the bus? Lando?”
“Possibly.” I wince slightly and let out a chuckle. Maybe Ruby will think it was a shitty thing to do, but to my relief, she laughs.
“Cold. Does he even have a girlfriend?”
“Yes, they’ve been together about a year. He’s definitely going to ask her soon, and that wedding will be a whole spectacle. It’ll shut the village down. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the rest of us would want something private.”
Ruby’s eyes widen. “Shut the whole village down?Why?” she adds, like it’s the most bizarre thing she’s ever heard.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a more valid answer than, “Because he’s the duke. And everyone loves a wedding.” It’s no surprise that her frown deepens even more. “You’ll understand when you meet him. He’s so pompous, unlike me.”
I don’t expect Ruby to laugh quite so hard. Hard enough that I get the impression she doesn’t agree.
“I’mnotpompous.”
“Okay.”
“Hey. I’mnot,” I protest again, only to be hit by a sudden bout of insecurity, which seems to be happening more and more where Ruby is concerned. “Am I?”
