“I’ll get it from her,” Penelope declared.
“Not before me!”
The two appeared in the doorway, each trying to elbow one another out of the way in order to get to Margaret first.
“No, she won, fair and square,” Evelina insisted, holding a finger up in warning toward their sisters. It didn’t stop Penelope trying to jump and take the ornament from Margaret’s hand as she held it high over her head.
“It’s been too long since we did anything like this,” Louisa’s voice joined them as she appeared through another doorway. She must have been outside, for she brushed some snow from her cheeks and shoulders as she moved toward Evelina and dropped down onto another settee. “Why do we not do things like this more?”
“Because life has been serious for too long,” Evelina pointed out with a sigh.
Margaret shifted the ornament to her other hand as Penelope continued to persist in trying to grab it. In the end, Alexandra took hold of her waist and dragged her away.
“Was your husband not playing?” Louisa asked, looking around.
“Oh, he was.” Margaret couldn’t stop the big smile that spread across her face.
“Look at that smile.” Evelina giggled. “I know this marriage was one of convenience, but you seem so happy. I suspect… the Duke of Thornfield is having an effect on you, sister, an effect you were not expecting.”
Margaret held herself very still, startled that Evelina had glimpsed this much into her heart.
Penelope stood on a stool and snatched the ornament, then held it up in victory, though Margaret no longer minded. Her cheeks heated so much, she was sure eggs could have been cooked on her skin.
“She’s blushing,” Louisa remarked in thought.
“Well? What is he truly like?” Alexandra asked with interest, sitting down with their other sisters. “When it is just you two, what is life like together?”
“He…” Margaret hesitated, uncertain how to describe Theo. To tell her sisters about how sure she had just been that Theo was about to kiss her felt like a confession too far.
That is my secret, my indulgence…
She also didn’t want to tell them, just in case she had been wrong, and it was all in her head.
“He seemed heartless at first,” she said, sitting down heavily into an armchair nearby as Penelope sat on the footstool, resting the ornament in her lap. “Perhaps at first, I did believe all the rumors, the scandal sheets. He seemed so cold. Even the manner of his proposal was cold.”
“It was business to him, was it not?” Louisa said knowingly.
“Yes, it was.” Margaret nodded. “Yet, that is not all he is. Yes, his business matters to him. He clearly is ambitious in that regard. It’s an impressive side to him, but there is much more to him.” She chewed her lip in thought. “He cares, he has a big heart. I just think that sometimes, he chooses not to listen to it.”
Theodore froze outside of the sitting room door, listening intently.
She’s talking of me.
“He can be protective, he can be sweet. He can be very amusing too when he lets down his guard.” She giggled softly.
“It sounds to me, sister, as if you care for him. A great deal,” Evelina observed.
Theodore held his breath.
Say no.
The thought struck him suddenly. He didn’t want Maggie to care for him. That had never been a part of the plan. It was a marriage of convenience, always. Anything deeper than that, if emotions were to get involved, then he could repeat the mistakes of the past. To make sure there was never any darkness in these walls again, he was determined it should be a marriage in name only.
“I do care for him,” Maggie whispered, her voice so soft that Theodore nearly missed it.
He took a step back from the door, as soundlessly as possible, not wanting any of them to know that he was there and listening to their conversation.
She can’t care for me.
