Page 32 of The Duchess' Ultimatum
“Not at all.” He rose from the bed. “In fact, I am sure Penelope will be delighted that you wish to join us. I will tell her at once.”
“You… you will…” Barbara’s face paled, the determination fading quickly. But then she strengthened it and glared. “Good. I am looking forward to it.”
“No more than I, I promise you that.”
Dorian couldn’t say exactly what he expected from supper, but it certainly wasn’t this. Not that ‘this’ was a bad thing.Not even a little bit.
“I will have to come and visit,” Barbara said excitedly to Penelope, who had just explained to her that she would be an aunt soon… assuming everything went as planned. “I have always suspected I would be good with children.”
“I am sure you will be,” Penelope laughed. “And I am certain that I will need all the help I can get. Truthfully, I don’t know the first thing about children.”
“That makes two of us,” Barbara agreed. “But between us, the smart and capable women that we are, I am sure we can figure it out.”
“I’ll be sure to have a room ready.”
Dorian eyed his sister, knowing well enough that there was little chance she meant to visit Penelope once she left – that would require her leaving this house, which she had not done in years. But the fact that she was even willing to joke about it was significant.
“And I will be sure not to bring my brother.” Barbara stuck her tongue out at Dorian. “He will only kill the mood.”
“And there it is,” Dorian sighed. “I was wondering when you would turn your rancor on me.”
“Is that what I am doing?”
“I make an easy target,” he said simply. “Even if I have said or done nothing to warrant your attacks.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Penelope grinned down the table at him. “If she did not say it, I was about to.”
“Women only,” Barbara agreed as she took a sip of wine. She had already had a glass, well into her second, which might have explained why she was speaking so freely and with such comfort. But Dorian didn’t let that bother him, just glad to see his sister getting along so well with Penelope.
And Penelope also, getting along so well with his sister.
And it doesn’t feel forced, either. To look at them speaking, one might assume they have been friends their entire life.
Despite himself, a smile came to Dorian’s lips, and it grew as he watched his sister and Penelope chatter merrily as they ate supper.
He had been worried about extending the invitation to Penelope to join himself and Barbara. Not because he feared for his sister’s comfort, but he was concerned how such an invitation might appear to his estranged wife.
He could not help but think back to earlier, when Penelope had come to him in his office, telling him that the arrangements for the party were complete, while also confirming their deal was still intact. It was a fair question to ask, but the way she hadasked him… how awkward she had become… the look in her eyes and the flush to her skin…
And Dorian was not so innocent himself.
Just two weeks ago he was certain that when the time came that Penelope would change her mind because she had not considered the implications of what having a child together meant. But now, he wondered if that was part of the reason that she was so determined for it. Just as he wondered if he was suddenly not so against the idea as he should have been.
Sitting at the head of the table, he attempted to be subtle as he studied and even admired his wife in ways he had tried so hard not to do these past weeks.
That he found her so attractive had no changed. If anything, he found her even more so. Never mind the full lips and the petite features and the fair skin and those big green eyes that were a little too intelligent for their own good. Never mind that!
It was how fierce she was. How independent and confident. A woman who did not need someone to look after her or care for her, and how much he wanted to do just that. She was so different to all the other women in his life and that as much as anything was what brought the most attraction.
“Brother? Brother…” Barbara was saying.
Dorian tore his eyes free, realized he had been staring, and grimaced as he took a hasty sip of wine. “Yes?”
Barbara rolled her eyes. “We were just saying, is there desert? Both of us are still rather peckish.”
“Oh…” Dorian blinked, his cheeks flushing slights because Penelope was smirking at him and he got the distinct impression he knew why. “I am not –”
“One thousand apologies…” one of the footmen apologized as he hurried back into the dining room, having come from the kitchen.
