Just to Have You (Blackwood & Friends #3)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ben: "You know I am always right. You are going to fall out that tree."

Griff: "No, you are not and I am- uh oh."

(B & G conversation 14 years prior)

"This is unconventional. I am not sure how to feel about it," Nicola mumbled sometime later while they gathered at the Gravewood dinner table.

"Simply making a point," Oliver explained graciously. "No need to take offense."

"We have just been served, Hollingsworth," Jason protested, gesturing to the plate of food before him- a veritable feast of vegetables and meats that ensured every guest's mouth was watering.

"I would like to point out," Oliver returned, raising his brow at both Nathaniel Southill and Jason Blackwood who sat on either side of the long table, "that I was more than accommodating when it came to assisting you both during your respective courtships."

Nate grumbled something disparaging but pushed his chair back and stood up, then hauled his wife to her feet as well. Blanche mewled in protest, shoving a spoonful of potatoes into her already stuffed cheeks.

"Ben, really," Amy protested and he turned to her, mildly noting the way she was valiantly biting back her grin, "I desire them to remain and dine with us."

"You are taking after your father, Oliver," Arianna Hollingsworth reprimanded across the other end of the table. "What has brought about this madness? Only Lionel would insist his guests leave halfway through their dinner meal."

Lionel Hollingsworth raised his ostensibly wiry brows at his wife with an incredulous look on his mien. "Madness? I say, if I do not care for a halfwit's company, I shall tell them so! You will never let me live that one time down, will you?"

"That halfwit was my mother, Lionel."

Lord Hollingsworth made a moue of dismissal, as if it were all the same to him, before burying his nose in the feast before him.

Amy snorted indelicately and then covered her unintentional display of amusement by slapping her hand to her mouth and concealing her smile.

"Amy has concerns about her suitability of her role as the future countess of Gravewood," Oliver explained in a bored voice. "I am simply proving to her that if she does not wish to entertain guests at the dining table, she can dismiss them as efficiently as she wants. Alternatively, she can invite whoever she wants." He reached under the table and clasped the hand that she was clenching about her skirts resting atop her thighs and squeezed meaningfully, drawing her attention to him once more. "Our life together need not follow the strictures and decorum dictated by any society but our own."

Her fingers lowered from her lips and she shook her head at him. "Is that what this is about then? Please, I insist your friends stay for the entirety. No need to cause such a fuss."

"Thank goodness," Blanche breathed, breaking free of Nate and dropping to her seat again. "I shouldn't like to have missed dessert!"

"They are our friends," Oliver told her implacably. "And are you certain? I am not convinced they are able to comport themselves in a manner to prove to you that dinner could be a civilised affair at Gravewood, which would be just the opposite to what you would expect, and then I would be stuck convincing you that their heathenish mannerisms would only improve- hopefully."

"Hollingsworth, before you spout controversies about heathenish mannerisms," Jason said archly, "perhaps you had better consider such mannerisms both Southill and I have witnessed from you in the past that Miss Griffiths may not yet be aware of."