Page 109 of Waiting for Love

The door flung open.

“Stop! Olivia, don’t! What did you say?” Jasper demanded. He looked horribly frightened. Benjamin looked worse, wild-eyed, and panicked.

“He offered me Cassieopia.”

“Mercury!” Jasper practically shouted. “You can have Mercury. Crispin will give him to you.”

The duke leaped to his feet and puffed himself up. “What is the meaning of this?”

Olivia tried not to laugh at Jasper’s discomfiture. Or the duke’s. Relief made her giddy. She tapped her chin, pretending to consider. “Mercury is less of a snob.”

Ashen, Benjamin groaned, “Don’t throw your life away. I’ll do anything, Olivia. Anything.”

“How dare you address her like that!” the duke shouted, glowering at Benjamin. “She is going to be a duchess!”

“No, she is not,” Benjamin said, clenching his fists.

Jasper said, “Mr. Carroll is correct. She is not. I rescind my permission. She is underage and cannot give her own pledge.”

“You—you wouldn’t dare!” Lythe glared. “The Iversley name will mean nothing if I tell men your word cannot be trusted. You are a disgrace. A disgrace! Your father—”

“My father would have your bollocks on a platter, Lythe. No one will fault me for refusing you my sister.”

“You are less secure than you think! Playing fast and loose with your position.” Lythe flung a hand toward Benjamin. “What will the others say when they hear you allowed her to throw me over for your steward?”

“Your Grace,” Olivia said, “I did not. I threw you over for my brother’s horse.”

Lythe sucked in his breath. Jasper gaped, then bit his cheek. And Benjamin let out a long, slow breath. The duke yanked on the lapels of his jacket and marched out of the room, snarling. Jasper closed the door and turned the latch, then slouched against it.

“Good God, Olivia. You gave me a scare. What on earth were you thinking!”

The door rattled. Then shook harder.

“Olivia!” Vanessa called. “Let me in at once!”

Olivia sighed with relief. It was not Lythe returning. Jasper twisted the lock and pulled the door open, to demonstrate Olivia alone on the sofa, and the two men standing sentry at the door.

“What happened? Peters said Lythe had come.”

“Olivia dispatched him,” Jasper said. “Now we only need worry about Crispin.”

Olivia stifled a giggle. Crispin would have a kitten! But she wasn’t going to hold them to giving her Mercury.

“Though truly,” Jasper went on smugly, “it is his own fault. If he had come home when he should have, he’d have had us sorted out months ago.”

Vanessa said, “You are not making sense.”

“None of this is.” He turned back to Olivia. “Livvy-pet, how could you even consider accepting that old goat?”

Livvy-pet? He was already halfway to dismissing her answer. So she stood and gave him a long look before speaking to be certain he would listen.

“He is the highest-ranking peer to court me. And you’ve made it clear that titles are all-important.”

He frowned. “Olivia—”

“He is an influential Tory, and you need his support. Even more so, I dare say, than you need Ebersom’s.”

Jasper’s head snapped back. His expression turned almost sick. And Vanessa looked appalled. Olivia hated to make her last point, but she did.