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“Goodbye, Mum,” he said, kissing her cheek and completely ignoring her last sentence.
“Mm,” she replied, turning to me and opening her arms for an embrace. “It was so lovely to meet you, Grace.”
“And you,” I said, hugging her back.
“I look forward to getting to know you better.” She squeezed me a little bit before releasing me, and the uneasy feeling in my stomach returned.
There was an underlying something in her words—a shade of, not a threat or a warning, but almost an acknowledgement.
Maybe she knew I’d recognised her.
If she had, it wasn’t something she was going to mention in front of William, and I supposed I should be grateful for that.
Either way, I had a feeling that she and I would end up having a one-on-one chat sooner rather than later, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it.
Like there was anything I could do.
William took my hand as we headed away from her and Charlie at the door, and we both waved over our shoulders and set to walk up the hill I’d almost slipped on earlier.
“Well, that went well,” I said brightly.
“Yeah,” he replied. “Except you two get on a little too well, and now I’m quite scared.”
I laughed, bumping him with my elbow. “Don’t be so dramatic. At least you know this week will be easy now.”
He peered down at me, lips twisted into a wry smile. “I think this week will be anything but easy.”
CHAPTER TEN – GRACE
Viscount Kinkirk
We managed to leave the castle before William’s dad and sister got back. It was either the longest suit fitting in the history of the world, or his dad was making an active effort to keep his sister away from the castle and the preparations that were going on there.
I hadn’t been able to see as much of the castle I would have liked due to the set up going on today. I was also tired and I wanted to be as awake as possible to experience it, and honestly, as gruff as the duke had seemed to be, I kind of wanted him to give me the tour.
If Katie was right and Angus was a fountain of information, I wanted it from him. The little history lover inside me demanded it, actually. Even William had admitted he wouldn’t be the best one to give me a tour, but he would happily tag along if I was more comfortable with it.
That wasn’t happening this evening, though.
We were currently on our way to dinner. Together. Alone. With nobody else. And I was wearing one of the four dresses I’d brought with me as wedding options and William was wearing a shirt.
But this wasn’t a date. Because we weren’t dating.
“You know, I thought you were joking when you told your mum you’d booked us a table for dinner,” I said, looking at him across the car.
He bobbed his head in acknowledgement. “I thought you did.”
“Whydidyou book us a table for dinner? You’re not trying to seduce me for real, are you?”
“Don’t you think highly of yourself?”
I swatted his arm, and he chuckled lightly.
“Honestly, I thought you’d end up meeting my entire family today, so it was a get-out-of-jail-free card for you.”
“Just for me, huh?”
“Fine, us. For us,” he corrected himself. “I knew my parents would want to have dinner with us all together, so it was designed to be a, ‘Hey, haven’t seen my girlfriend in a week or so, want some privacy,’ kind of situation.”
