“Yes, but you are living at such a pace, Your Grace,” Ajax said, “that we fear you won’t be able to stay around to keep Cymbeline, let alone make her happy.”
A surprising shaft of pain dug at his heart.
These two were far savvier than most. But he’d long ago chosen this path, and he wasn’t about to alter it.
“No one knows when they’re going to die,” Callum pointed out cooly.
“I might live until ninety, but I promise you this, I shall have a contract drawn up so that she and any children we might have are completely taken care of. There will be no concerns upon that score. She won’t need me after I die. ”
“Need you after you die?” echoed the Duke of Westleigh, aghast.
“You see, this is our concern, Your Grace,” Ajax sighed, beleaguered. “You are not thinking of your family or ahead. You are thinking only of what you need to do .”
Callum blinked. “I’m a duke. Of course, I need to think about what I need to do and the people that I must take care of. My family, of course, will be important, but I have been born to this earth for a greater purpose than just a family.”
“Yes, there it is,” the Duke of Westleigh said sharply, shaking his head rather dramatically, as if he found the whole thing terribly disappointing. “What we’re so afraid of.”
The idea that these two men were afraid of things was absurd.
Still, he’d play along with this strange game they’d chosen.
“Afraid? Of what?” Callum demanded. “I’m a good man, don’t you think?”
Suddenly, he felt on quite strange ground. Usually, dukes were sought after and daughters all but thrown at them with little argument. There was actually often something akin to begging.
He’d been approached by scores of mamas.
This was something entirely different.
“Yes,” Ajax said. “You are a good man, but not for my daughter, I don’t think.”
“Papa,” a voice called.
“Good God,” Callum blurted. “Is this a family meeting?”
“Of course it is,” the Duke of Westleigh said brightly, his eyes dancing. “Generally, that’s how our family does things. A few more people might pop in at any given moment. One never knows.”
Ajax let out a loud note of disapproval. “You weren’t supposed to join us, Cymbeline.”
“It’s about my life,” she pointed out, bustling in, her apricot skirts rustling about her beautiful form. “How could I not join you?” she insisted.
Callum couldn’t breathe at the sight of her! She looked like the pert young man he’d met, but she didn’t… Now, in her silk gown that skimmed her curvaceous body, with her soft hair curled atop her head and tendrils teasing her face, he feared he would not be able to speak.
She was stunning. A goddess divine. And she crackled with life.
And her voice? Her rich, lovely voice felt like a balm to his soul.
His mind seemed to dim for a moment, and he longed to take her in his arms, her family be damned.
After all, he’d all but claimed her. She’d all but said she wanted him.
Why were they performing this mad charade?
“We don’t think he’s a good match for you,” Ajax said firmly to his daughter.
“You are not the one who has to go and live with him,” she said.
Ajax frowned. “You are bloody right about that. I’d kill him within a day. He’s absolutely outrageous. Showing up after—”
“Yes, he is,” Cymbeline said, soothing her father, “but do you think that there’s anyone else in the ton who might be good enough for me?”
Callum stood rather tall at that. He liked the fact that she believed he was so singular and saw him so well, but his mother was right.
Cymbeline would have her pick of anyone, and if he was not careful, he’d lose her.
“I’ve come here,” he said, “after doing some thinking last night. I’ve realized that I have regrettably made an error.”
She turned to him, shocked. “An error? Are you retracting your wish to call upon me?”
“Yes,” he said.
Her uncle and father exchanged another quick glance. The pistol in its case upon the long table was like another member of the conversation.
Ajax cleared his throat. “You know we have a rather large field outside. We could have a duel and then bury your body in the back. A few people might say something, as you are a duke after all, but…”
“No.” He lifted his hand. “A duel will not be necessary,” he said to Ajax before turning his full attention upon her. “And the real reason I’m here is this. I don’t need to find out if you can keep up with me.”
“Did he say that?” her father ground out.
“Yes,” she said, her mischievous lips twitching. “He did.”
“The very idea that my daughter couldn’t keep up with you,” Ajax said, taking a step around the table.
Callum winced. “Yes. I realize now it was a rather ridiculous thing to say. It was pointed out to me. Occasionally, I do say ridiculous things, but I would assume that being in this company means that you all say ridiculous things every now and then. True?”
“It is true,” the Duke of Westleigh agreed, folding his arms across his broad chest, causing the jewel in his cravat pin to wink in the morning light. “Now out with it. Why are you here if not to call upon her? Or…to find out if she can keep up with you?”
Those last words caused the good duke to quake with either disgust or amusement. It was hard to discern.
“I’m here to ask for her hand before someone else tries to take it from me.” He crossed to her and gazed down into Cymbeline’s eyes. “Because I think it’s mine, isn’t it, Cymbeline?”
She turned to him and sucked in a breath.
And for the first time in his life, it was him who had to wait for a reply.