Chapter 9

“I can’t believe they said no,” William said, sighing for the umpteenth time.

Benjamin rolled his eyes again.

“A good wake-up call, wasn’t it, dad?” Benjamin asked sarcastically.

“Cut the sarcasm, Ben.”

“It was expected,” Elizabeth said.

“I actually liked them,” William said, and Benjamin raised an eyebrow at that.

William Lockwood was a man pretty hard to please. To know that he liked the family after a half an hour visit was quite surprising.

“What? Don’t look at me like that. I’m actually a pretty good judge of character. And they all seem very humble and honest people.”

“Well. It was not meant to be,” Elizabeth said.

“The girl is really very pretty. She would have looked perfect with Ben,” William said wistfully.

Benjamin closed his eyes and leaned back on the couch with a sigh.

The picture his father just painted was actually quite beautiful.

He knew he was a good-looking man. He had been told that many tim