How to Turn a Frog into a Prince - Bree Wolf Page 0,52
to her. “What did you do?” he asked, marked tension in his shoulders. “They do know that you invited me, do they not?” He glanced down the corridor as though fearing that Pierce and Caroline might appear at any moment, demanding to know what he was doing in their home.
Charlaine reached for his hands, tense and cold. “Of course, they know. Are you truly worried they would not want you here?”
He huffed out a breath. “I do not want to intrude where I’m not wanted. I—”
Charlaine reached out and cupped a hand to the side of his face. He immediately stilled, and his blue eyes dropped to meet hers. “You are wanted,” she told him gently. “You are wanted very much.”
Holding her gaze, Nathanial inhaled a slow breath. “Then what is it that you’re not telling me?”
Charlaine sighed. “Pierce made me promise not to lure you here under false pretenses,” she admitted, dropping her gaze. “He insisted I ask instead of…demand.” A bit of a contrite smile teased her lips as she realized that she had done exactly as Pierce had feared. “I think he was afraid for you, afraid that you might feel trapped. You might have noticed that, at times, I can be a bit…forceful.”
With her head lowered, Charlaine could not see Nathanial’s face. She all but sensed a small smile dance across his features a moment before his hand settled under her chin, urging her to look at him. “A bit forceful?” he asked, a teasing note in his voice now. “You’re a menace.”
Charlaine frowned. “I’m not certain how to take this.”
“As a compliment,” Nathanial replied, warmth in his blue eyes. “Thank you for demanding I join you here. Indeed, you might be a bit forceful at times, but I…I cannot say that I mind.”
“Oh, yes, you do.” Charlaine laughed. “I do remember a moment or two when you looked utterly scandalized, as though you wished the ground would open and swallow you whole.”
“Very well,” he admitted good-naturedly. “While that might be true, I’ve come to realize that being the man I am, it is only to my benefit to surround myself with a friend of…your forceful nature.”
“Is that so?” Charlaine asked, delighted to hear that he had come to see that she only meant to help.
“It is,” he assured her.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Charlaine exclaimed as she once more slipped her arm through his and they proceeded down the corridor toward the terrace.
Beside her, Nathanial frowned. “Your mind is already at work on new, outrageous ideas, is it not?”
“They do take time and diligence,” she told him with a wink. “But I promise you’ll come to love them.”
As they stepped out onto the terrace, Pierce and Caroline rose from their seats and came over to welcome their visitor. “Mr. Caswell, it’s good to see you again,” Pierce exclaimed. “I hope your journey was pleasant enough.”
“It was. Thank you, my lord.”
Charlaine rolled her eyes. “I do believe we should all address each other by our first names,” she stated, looking from Nathanial’s somewhat shocked face to Pierce and Caroline. “This strict formality sounds ludicrous.”
“I quite agree,” Caroline immediately said. She smiled at Charlaine before meeting Pierce’s gaze.
“I do not mind at all,” Pierce stated, giving her a look that said he could not believe she would doubt him. Then he turned back to Nathanial. “We’re all quite informal here. So, if you have no objection?”
Nathanial shook his head. “Not at all.” Still, he looked more than a bit uncomfortable and, as expected, the moment they left Pierce’s and Caroline’s presence behind, he voiced his discomfort. “You shouldn’t have urged them to—”
“I didn’t,” Charlaine was quick to reply as they strolled down into the extensive gardens. “It was merely a suggestion, and as Pierce said, we’re all very informal here. You’ll see.”
Again, he huffed out a breath.
“You call your brother’s wife by her first name, do you not?”
He eyed her curiously. “How do you know?”
“Am I wrong?”
“No, but—”
“Then where is the problem?”
His mouth opened and closed, then opened again. “She is now my sister-in-law, that’s the difference.” His free hand gestured around wildly, suggesting he was making up this reasoning as he went. “She’s family and, therefore, it is not unreasonable for me to—”
“Well, if that is the case, then it is also not unreasonable for you to call Pierce and Caroline by their first names because Caroline is your brother’s wife’s cousin which, in turn, makes them family as well.” She grinned up at him.