Page 28 of The Duke I Wished For
Said so simply and easily, as if Blake’s whole world and future happiness wasn’t at stake. Blake pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to calm this storm inside him that made him tense with this urge to run out into the rain until he reached that finishing school.
He’d knock on the door and demand to see her and?—
“Did you tell her she’s pretty?” Clarissa’s voice cut into his thoughts like a knife.
His head lifted. “Er…”
No. The answer was no.
“Did you tell her she’s nice?” Clarissa’s eyes were wide, and her expression hopeful.
Blake had no doubt Clarissa knew they were talking about Daffodil, and his heart ached.
“No,” he admitted. He hadn’t told Daffodil anything of the sort. He hadn’t told her that her smile made him feel alive inside, or that the way she handled his daughter made him want to worship the ground her slippered feet tread. He hadn’t told her she was stunningly beautiful, and delightfully outgoing, or that she never ceased to surprise him when she spoke, or?—
“Did you tell her you love her?” Clarissa asked.
Blake stared at his daughter, and when he tried to speak, his jaw went slack. He didn’t have to look in a mirror to know that he looked as foolish as he felt.
He loved her.
Blake sank back in his seat, feeling for all the world like he’d just been struck by a blow to the chest as he realized the truth of it.
“No, sweetheart,” he said to Clarissa, who was waiting for a response. “I didn’t tell her that.”
“Well you should,” she said.
He nodded, rubbing at his chest. But he couldn’t think of words to respond, just as he couldn’t bring himself to get angry when his brother had the nerve to tip his head back and laugh at what a fool he was.
9
The butterflies in Daffodil’s belly wouldn’t stop no matter how many deep breaths she took as she waited for her father’s carriage to pick her up for the Borelands’ dinner party.
“He’d be a fool not to take one look at you and demand that you marry,” Jocelyn said with a firm nod as she took in Daffodil’s blue gown and upswept hair.
“You do look like a duchess,” Isabelle said, smiling as she gave her hand a squeeze.
“No, you look like a princess,” Delilah amended.
“Oh no, not this again,” Jane groaned good-naturedly. “Not all of us want a Prince Charming to sweep us off our feet, Lila.”
“No,” Jocelyn said with a sly smile for Daffodil. “Some of us are holding out for a duke.”
Daffodil blushed, laughing despite her nerves.
“Don’t forget,” Delilah said softly. “He wouldn’t have asked you to marry if he didn’t truly care for you.”
Delilah nodded, her heart in her throat. Oh how she hoped that was true. “Thank you.” She turned her gaze to encompass all her friends. “All of you. I don’t know what I’d do without friends like you.”
Madame Bellafonte’s voice reached them from the front hall. “Daffodil, dear, your parents are here to collect you.”
With her friends’ shouts of encouragement following her, she smiled at Madame Bellafonte and greeted her waiting father. “Are you ready, my dear?”
She smiled even as her heart raced with anticipation. “I am.”
They joined her mother who’d remained in the carriage, and it wasn’t long before her mother started to find fault with…well, everything.
Daffodil was vaguely aware of criticisms regarding her hair and her gown, her gloves, and even her slippers, but she couldn’t bring herself to pay her mother any mind as her thoughts were solely focused on one man and the conversation to come.
