My father stood leaning heavily on my ebony walking stick, which I never used anymore. The silver wolf’s head…displeased me. “Delicia…”
“Ah, the lovely Miss Corbyn. Would she be interested in having tea with me one afternoon, Father?” I might as well give the gifts I’d bought for Eira to her.
His jaw dropped. “You…you actually want to see her?”
“Certainly.” I observed him dispassionately “And perhaps I’ll even consider marrying her. It shouldn’t matter to the girl that there’s no love between us. She’ll become Lady Synclaire eventually, and that will keep her happy.”
“And you, Warrick?”
“Are you asking if I’ll be happy? It’s rather late in the day to be concerned with that, don’t you think?”
He flinched, then cleared his throat. “I…er…I hear that Thomas will be returning home shortly.”
I bared my teeth in a parody of a grin. “Yes. Isn’t that grand?” I pushed my chair back and rose easily to my feet. The closer it came to the full moon, I found, the less my leg pained me.