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I blinked. “That—that’s your response?”
“You complain a lot when you’re cold, and I’d rather you not get so cold you almost set yourself on fire like you did earlier. Especially with the power out,” he explained. “Well?”
“As long as no table legs get in my way,” I muttered.
He stepped forwards and grabbed my hand, wrapping his cold, large fingers around mine, and pulled me after him towards the fire and the seating area. The fire was desperately trying to hold onto the last bits of its fuel worth burning, and the flames licked up sporadically when it found a remnant of the wood to catch on.
“Sit down,” he instructed, releasing my hand to drop to his knees in front of the fire.
Unwilling to argue, I did as I was told and sat down.
He reached to the fire tools at the side and stoked what was left, then added some kindling from the bucket, followed by another, larger log. The fire was hot enough that it didn’t need too much persuasion to get going, and within seconds, the room was filled with the satisfying sounds of crackling and popping as the flames took over.
“Lady Grace Montgomery-Brown, huh?” William asked, looking into the fire. “Which means your dad is…”
“The Earl of Loxford,” I replied softly.
“And that’s how we’ve met before.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “We were really young, weren’t we?”
“You have to believe me when I say I didn’t recognise you at the coffee shop. I wouldn’t have known until your mum told me earlier.”
“No, I believe you—wait, Mum told you?” He looked up at me, his brows furrowed. “She knows?”
“She recognised me.” I twisted my hands in my lap. “Apparently, she was best friends with my mum before she died, and I look a lot like her, so…” I shrugged. “She said we spent a lot of time together when we were kids, then you all moved away, and we lost contact.”
“I vaguely remember that. Well, I remember moving, and never seeing a friend again. We were what… ten?”
“Eight, I think.” I linked my fingers together before I scrubbed off my own skin with all the handwringing I was doing. “So, twenty years ago.”
“That’s so strange. Freya said she recognised you, too, but I never put all that together.”
“Neither did I. I knew you were familiar to me, and I recognised your mum when you introduced us, but I couldn’t place any of you. Then that phone call came in this morning, and I spoke to my dad, and I was already panicking when your mum came in and was like, “hey, I already know you,” and she wasn’t exactly straight to the point about it, either. She kind of beat around several bushes.”
“And breathe.”
I buried my face in my hands again, leaning forward. “Oh, this is the worst.”
“Well, no. We spent a lot of time together when we were kids. It’s a very strange way to get back in touch, but it could be worse.”
“How could it possibly be worse? My grandmother is apparentlyyourgrandmother’s best friend and is in Duncree right now, and my stepmother and brother are on their way here! And your grandparents think I’m just a random girlfriend, but I’m exactly the kind of person your grandpa wants you to marry, and I’ve lied to absolutely everyone about who I am.”
Thanks to the fire, I could see realisation dawning as his eyes widened and his jaw went slightly slack. “Yes,” he said slowly. “That’s a bit of a problem. Although we could also blame me as far as my grandparents are concerned. I don’t mind taking the heat for lying about who you are.”
“No, no more lies. This is a mess, William. This entire thing is so screwed up, and it’s all your fault.”
“My fault? You didn’t tell me who you were and it’s my fault?”
“Yes! If you’d told me whoyouwere to begin with, I’d never have agreed to this… this… shenanigan.”
His lips tugged to one side. “Shenanigan. Just the singular.”
“I’d already said ‘this’ and I didn’t want to change it,” I grumbled. “Fine. We both have terrible communication, and a bit of honesty wouldn’t have gone amiss on both our parts.”
“You’re right. Although this does explain pretty much everything. How you know so much and none of it phased you when we got here.”
“Is that what you thought? Oh, good. I was freaking the heck out inside, so good to know you didn’t notice that.”
“You were?”
