“Stop it this instant!” Pamela protested, swatting at her arm with a rolled-up piece of paper. “I would rather marry a toad than have you teasing me about it for the rest of my life. He is dreadfully arrogant and rude.”
Their bickering faded into a pleasant background hum as Camelia leaned closer to Iris, lowering her voice so only the two of them could hear.
“You seem quite invested in helping him now,” Camelia observed quietly, studying her sister’s face with gentle concern. “Does that mean you have come to trust him, Iris?”
Iris froze, her quill hovering above a half-written card. She set it down carefully, and her fingers traced the edge of the paper as she searched for the right words.
“I… am not entirely sure yet,” she admitted softly.
“Then why are we here, Iris?” Camelia looked at her concernedly.
“I do not know! All I know is that he has been arrogant in my house. He took over without hesitation and could have turned me out onto the street at any moment without caring what became of me. But he has shown surprising patience with all my small acts of defiance. He has not forced me out, even when I made things deliberately difficult for him.”
“Oh, Iris.” Her sister looked at her compassionately.
Iris exhaled loudly before she continued. “And now that I know he is trying so hard to help his nephew secure a stable future… I must admit he is not the worst man on the planet as I first believed him to be.”
Camellia did not reply right away this time. She just looked at Iris with a skeptical, knowing look, one eyebrow slightly raised in that familiar way that always made Iris feel understood.
The silence stretched comfortably between them for a few moments before Iris continued, her voice barely above a whisper. “He is a complicated man, Camelia. There is darkness in him, shadows he carries from his past, but there is also something honorable underneath it all. I see it when he speaks of Marcus. He carries heavy burdens, yet he refuses to let them crush the boy. It makes me wonder if I have misjudged him more than I realized.”
Camelia reached over and gently squeezed her hand; her touch was warm and reassuring.
“Just be careful, sister. Trust is a dangerous gift to give to a man. Especially when you are living under the same roof.”
“I know.”
“And remember, you have no obligation to him. You can leave anytime you want.”
Iris felt her cheeks warm as she remembered the promise she made to Blaise, but she said nothing more. The talk with her sister had given her a lot to think about. As the sun disappeared below the horizon, she wondered how much longer she could keep pretending that her feelings for Blaise were purely strategic.
The invitations kept piling up neatly on the table, each bringing them a small step closer to the end of their month. Iris’s heart felt both strangely full and uncertain.
“Have you chosen the décor yet?” Camelia asked.
“No, I believe the duke will have that sorted out as it will take place at Knoxford House.” Iris did not need the added stress of making more decisions with him or even being in close proximity to him.
“The party will be a success, I am sure of it,” Camelia reassured her as Margaret’s and Pamela’s laughter rang out again.
Their laughter and voices pulled Iris momentarily back into the warmth of her family.
For now, this is enough.
CHAPTER 20
Alistair had been silent for a full minute, and that alone was alarming. He stood in the middle of Hentley House’s study, hands clasped behind his back, turning slowly as though inspecting a battlefield after the smoke had cleared. His gaze moved from the newly arranged furnishings to the desk, to the papers Blaise had spread across it, then back again to the room itself. His expression was grave enough for Parliament or a funeral.
Blaise watched him over the top of the estimates. “If you are about to say something unkind, do try to make it original.”
“I am deciding whether cruelty would be sufficient.”
“Alistair…” Blaise’s tone held a warning.
Alistair smirked at him.
Blaise lowered the papers. “You have been in the room five minutes.”
“Four, and I have suffered for all of them.”
