Page 76 of How to Cross a Marquess (The Way to a Lord's Heart 3)

“I beg your pardon?”

“Didn’t mean to say that,” said Roger. “That’s something else about me, you may as well know. If I’m describing myself. Sometimes words just…won’t do what I wish them to. They pop out, or stay in, at the least opportune moments.”

Fenella’s grandmother looked amused for the first time. “Do they?”

He nodded glumly. “Bane of my existence.”

The old lady hid a smile. “Bane?”

“Phrase I spotted in a newspaper once. It seemed apt.”

“I see. So what was it you wanted to ask me?”

“Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, I’m interested to know.”

Roger hesitated as if determined to get this right. “I just want to be certain my mother is all right. They claim to be friends, and allseemswell. Macklin said that as people grow older, they understand the importance of friendship.”

“And since I amolder, I must know the truth of this?” asked Fenella’s grandmother.

Roger blanched. “I didn’t mean—”

“As it happens, I agree,” she added. “This Macklin sounds like a sensible man. Is your mother a sensible woman?”

“Yes.”

“Then I don’t imagine you have anything to worry about.” She waved a dismissive hand. “You may go now.”

Roger hesitated, then bowed out of the room.

“All right,” said Fenella’s grandmother when he was gone. “I’m inclined to stand with you on this marriage.”

“You like him?” She hadn’t acknowledged how very much she valued her grandmother’s opinion until this moment, Fenella realized.

“I think I do. I want Rob’s opinion.”

“What can my cousin tell you? He isn’t acquainted with Roger.”

“He has the male perspective. And he might have heard things. Men gossip like washerwomen among themselves, you know. They put a bluff face on it, but they indulge just the same.”

“There is nothing disreputable to hear.”

“Splendid. We will simply have a pleasant family dinner together.”

“Do you promise?”

“Go along with you, impudent girl.”

Fenella gave her a hug, then hurried after her husband. She found him in the corridor outside. “That felt like an interrogation,” he said.

Fenella wondered if she should apologize. It wouldn’t be honest. She wasn’t sorry. His answers had been fascinating. “Grandmamma is extremely forthright.”

He smiled at her. “An understatement. But answering her was interesting. I hadn’t thought about some of that before. And I’m determined to prove myself to her.”

“For my sake.”

Roger nodded. “And for my own. Clearly, her respect is a thing worth having.”