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‘I didn’t get the chance to inform them that the invitation had been rescinded,’ Mariette cried. ‘Besides, it isn’t as if they are going to avail themselves of your house.’
‘But you have been told not to entertain anybody either here or at the Dowager House. I don’t care when you invited them. Get them out of here. Now. Today. No excuses,’ Morgan ordered.
With a disgusted snort and a petulant stomp of her foot, Mariette clutched her fists and stormed out of the house. Morgan watched her go and shook his head in disgust.
‘Your departure for Scotland cannot come too soon,’ he growled, thoroughly disgusted that he had, yet again, made plans to see Sissy only for something to stop him. Morgan began to wonder if he was going to have to just walk out of the house and go anyway.
There has to be a damned conspiracy going on.
‘Damn it, I miss her,’ he grumbled.
Sissy was always in his thoughts. She haunted his dreams. She had swiftly become his obsession since he had kissed her. The yearning to see her again grew a little bit worse each day. He had to do something, or he was going to go quietly out of his mind.
‘God, not again,’ Ralph growled in disgust when Morgan
wandered into his study.
‘What?’ Morgan turned and looked out of the window to check that Mariette’s friends weren’t already coming up the driveway.
‘You. For God’s sake, marry the chit,’ Ralph growled. ‘You are moping about like a love-struck puppy.’
Morgan slumped into the chair behind his desk and took a sip of his brandy. ‘What gives you the impression that I am thinking about Sissy?’
‘Because you always have that love-struck expression on your face. You look as if you are miles away. It’s not the look you usually have when you are pondering over a business problem, or an issue with the estate. Those kinds of problems come with a deep frown. Whenever you are thinking about Sissy you have that vague smile on your face, and that far away expression in your eyes as if you are with her but not physically so. God, it’s obscene.’
‘You sound bitter, my friend,’ Morgan teased. ‘Maybe one day you will understand what it is like when you are in love.’
‘I don’t intend to be in love if that is what happens to me,’ Ralph snorted. ‘I rather like me as I am, thank you.’
Morgan smiled. ‘Well, word is out that we are courting. People are gossiping.’
‘Speculation is rife that she is your mistress,’ Ralph corrected before Morgan could make the situation sound better than it truly was.
‘They will learn otherwise when we marry, won’t they?’ Morgan mused.
Ralph squinted at him over the top of his goblet. ‘Do you know something? If I didn’t know you better I would be inclined to think that you had planned for the gossips to do their worst just so you could exert a little pressure on the delightful Miss Sissy, and persuade her to marry you to stop them speculating.’
‘I wouldn’t be that calculating,’ Morgan murmured unconvincingly.
‘God, you old reprobate,’ Ralph growled. ‘I hope you know what you are doing.’
‘I am going to marry the woman I love,’ Morgan announced calmly yet firmly. It was then that his attention was drawn to movement in the doorway. ‘Now what?’
‘What do you expect me to do with my guests? Am I to send them to the inn with the promise that you will cover their bill?’ Mariette asked, clearly annoyed at being thwarted.
‘Guests?’ Morgan demanded.
‘Yes. I invited them before the ball. It is too late to cancel it now. Do you want me to send them to the tavern and send you the bill seeing as you are too churlish to entertain them here?’ Mariette snapped.
Morgan launched out of his chair. ‘No, I am not going to pay their bill at the damned tavern. Now, if you don’t mind, Ralph and I are having a private conversation. Kindly knock from now on rather than just stalking into my house as if you own it.’
‘Oh, so I have to knock on my brother’s front door like a guest myself now, do I?’
‘Well, you can always come in through the servant’s entrance,’ Morgan drawled.
‘What, like your mistress does?’ Mariette threw him a snide look before she whirled around to stalk toward the door, but Morgan caught her before she could close the door.
Yanking her back around, Morgan leaned forward until their noses were almost touching. When he spoke, his voice was no louder than a sinister hiss. ‘Don’t you dare ever speak about my future wife in that way. Your behaviour is so atrocious you are looking like a hypocrite, Mariette. Improve your own conduct before you question anybody else’s or you can use the servant’s entrance from now on.’
