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“Excellent. Well, take care, inkpot. I’ll be there posthaste should you need me.”
After saying the necessary goodbyes, Finch ended the call and tucked the phone into his
pocket. A part of him had known that Hugh was courting him, but it’d been silenced by the
much larger part of him that was in denial. When he’d first come to Hugh Drake’s estate, he’d
overcome his emotions by telling himself that Hugh would never want a man like him. It had
helped to keep him sane when his heart had cried out for its dragon. Now that he didn’t have
that excuse, old pain dredged its way to the surface. It was a cruel world when two people who
desired each other could never make it work. But all Finch could offer Hugh was
disappointment and heartbreak. He would rather stand by and comfort Hugh when another
Disgrace failed to give him what he wanted than be the one Hugh chose to mate with to no
result. Or worse, to conceive and bring shame to the Drake name by bearing Hugh a Disgrace.
The thought chilled Finch, and to stop himself from lingering on it, he fed the girls their breakfast
and doted on them in all the ways he’d never been doted on as a child. No matter how badly
he wanted Hugh, he would not succumb to his advances. Finch had already shamed a Drake
once by virtue of his birth. He would not do so again.
* * *
The day of the ball arrived, and on it, Finch woke up swimming in pearls. Some loose, some
strung, some set in precious metal and accented with other gemstones. Scooping them all up
without losing any had put him more behind than usual for his morning routine, which was
particularly distressing, since Hugh had requested his presence for the surprise. Whatever it
was. To be honest, the stress of not being available to oversee preparations was eating at him,
but telling sweet Hugh that he was too preoccupied to spend time with him was an impossibility.
He’d simply have to hope that the event planner had everything under control.
Pearls collected and safely stowed, Finch went to give his girls some attention. To his
astonishment, he discovered their ceramic food bowl had been replaced with something that
looked like it was hammered from gold. In addition, two new hammocks that had been spun
with gold thread were strung up in the cage. Elizabeth was in one of them. She gravely
accepted the small chunk of strawberry he handed her and stayed put. Eleanor, on the other
hand, grabbed her fruit, dropped it, then came back for more. He fished out the fruit from where
she’d dropped it and presented it to her again. This time she started to eat it, thinking she’d
