“Don’t be silly,” he said at the exact same moment that the two other women in the room made their opinion known.
The duchess snorted. “Of course it’s significant.”
“Don’t be embarrassing,” Eleanor said as she tugged her own gloves further up her arms.
Trevor did his best to ignore them as he captured Mellie’s hand. He tried to draw her apart from the others, but she didn’t move beyond allowing him to raise her arm.
“Mellie, look at me please,” he said.
Her gaze leapt to his, and he watched the color deepen in her cheeks.
“You should be wearing the signet ring of the Duke of Timby,” he said. “All the Timby brides wear it for their first presentation. Usually for the whole of the engagement, before it goes back to my grandfather.”
Her eyes widened, and she looked slightly horrified. “Oh Trevor, I couldn’t,” she whispered. By which he took it to mean she couldn’t wear it when they weren’t truly engaged. But he shook his head.
“My grandfather didn’t respond to my request for the ring. And he wasn’t at home to me when I visited.”
He watched as her lips formed a perfectOof understanding. It was exactly as they’d predicted: his grandfather was opposed to the match. That was, after all, the plan, so that it would be easier when she cried off. But it still infuriated Trevor that he hadn’t been able to get the signet ring for his fake bride.
“It’s better this way.”
“The hell it is. I’ll not have you slighted, Mellie. I…” Damnation, he was doing this wrong. He fumbled to remove the jewelers pouch from his pocket. Then he held up her hand and pressed it into her palm.
“Trevor—”
“Wait. Please.” He covered her hand with his, preventing her from looking at the contents of the pouch. “Before you look, understand that I meant it as a bit of whimsy. Once I realized that my grandfather wouldn’t give me the ring, I thought…I thought this would be funny. But now I realize how silly the idea was.” This was her engagement ring, after all. People would judge her by the ring she wore. “There are two rings in there. One for me and one for you. To let you know that you are not in this alone.”
She looked at him, wariness in her expression. Except when he looked closer, he realized she did not seem worried. More…well, there was a misty kind of smile on her lips. Far from reassuring him, that made him feel all the more anxious.
“Mellie, I swear, I wasn’t making fun of you. I’d never make—”
“Oh, for God’s sake, man, let her look.” That came from the duke who was standing close enough to overhear every word. Along with the duchess and Eleanor.
Trevor shot them an annoyed look. This was meant to be a moment between him and Mellie. But there was no help for it, especially as a gong sounded, no doubt to signal their supper was ready.
“Mellie—”
“Trevor. Let me see them.”
He had no choice, did he? Not only Mellie, but everyone else in thetonwould see it tonight. Might as well get it over with. So he withdrew his hand and waited with his belly knotted as she carefully opened the pouch and let two rings fall into her palm.
She looked at hers first. It was an emerald set in gold, but fashioned to look like a cricket. Sweeping antennae flowed over the stone, then back and around to encircle her finger.
His ring was equally fanciful. It bore two round diamonds, fashioned to look like enormous fly eyes. In this case, the wings of the fly became the circle of the ring.
“It’s the Cricket Princess and the Bug-Eyed Duke,” he said, worried when she hadn’t spoken. “I thought—”
She laughed. A musical chuckle that became a full trill of laughter. It was much like he’d imagined she’d react when reading his letters, and yet it was so much prettier than he’d pictured. The sound flowed strong and happy, and he could not believe his eyes when she held both rings up to the light.
“These are wonderful, Trevor!”
She started to put hers on, but the duchess stopped her with a loud, “Tut tut!”
And when Mellie paused to look at their audience, Eleanor explained.
“He’s supposed to put it on your finger.”
Normally, he hated such silly formality. What did it matter who put the ring on her finger so long as she wore it? But in this, he agreed with tradition. With as much gravity as he could manage, he took the ring from her, then lifted up her hand and slipped it onto her finger. She looked down at it while he looked at her.