Annie had brought up their father on purpose to irritate him, Morgan was sure. She could not have had any actual inclination to go and rat him out to their father. Mother was one thing — still a very bad thing, in the grand scheme of things, because of how this looked — but their mother at least was generally forgiving once she knew there was no way she could change matters. Their father, on the other hand, held grudges. Or — maybe grudge was the wrong word, but he certainly didn't forget anything.
"I adore you," he echoed back dryly; his tone didn't imply this was the truth, though he was generally fond of Annie in any situation where she wasn't casually threatening to derail his life. (No wonder her husband had died in a duel, if she made such a stink about scandal without anything having even happened). "And undoubtedly my favorite of all your many wonderful qualities is your discretion." Annie could shoot him icy looks all she wanted, but his message was clear: if she mentioned this to their parents, there was going to be bad blood between them. Or there would be whenever his parents finished raking him over the coals about it.
He was going to leave it at that — he had even started to close the door behind the young woman — but glancing at the debutante at the last minute he felt obligated to add, "Be nice to her. It wasn't her fault."
"I adore you," he echoed back dryly; his tone didn't imply this was the truth, though he was generally fond of Annie in any situation where she wasn't casually threatening to derail his life. (No wonder her husband had died in a duel, if she made such a stink about scandal without anything having even happened). "And undoubtedly my favorite of all your many wonderful qualities is your discretion." Annie could shoot him icy looks all she wanted, but his message was clear: if she mentioned this to their parents, there was going to be bad blood between them. Or there would be whenever his parents finished raking him over the coals about it.
He was going to leave it at that — he had even started to close the door behind the young woman — but glancing at the debutante at the last minute he felt obligated to add, "Be nice to her. It wasn't her fault."
