Chapter 4
Nathanial
Leaning back in his chair, Nathanial could not help but watch the ladies leave. The sway of Miss Little’s pink skirts was almost seductive as she joined the throng, Tiffany coming up to link arms with her. Miss Little turned her head and said something to Tiffany that made her laugh.
“If you keep watching after her with such longing, people are going to talk,” Christian said in a low voice.
“After who?” The attempt at ignorance was instinctual; it was also completely useless. Christian was hardly slow-witted, and he gave Nathanial a look of amused patience.
“You know who.” Christian slanted his glance across the table to where Miss Little’s younger brother and Lady Astrid’s younger brother were whispering conspiratorially.
Before the last of the ladies left the room, the two striplings got up, excusing themselves from the table, and exited the room just behind the ladies, leaving the gentlemen to themselves.
“Would anyone like some brandy?” Lord Blackstone asked, gesturing to one of the footmen who came forward with a tray of glasses and a crystal decanter full of amber liquid. “I have a particularly fine barrel recently delivered from France.”
All the gentlemen chose to partake, and cigars were passed around as well.
“How was your evening?” Gregory asked, turning to Nathanial with a gleam in his eye.
“He had a very enjoyable conversation with Miss Little,” Christian replied before Nathanial could, making Nathanial growl. Thankfully, the others at the table were attending to conversations closer to themselves and did not appear to have heard Gregory’s question or Christian’s answer.
“It was a tolerable conversation.” More than, but he was not going to encourage his friends in that line of thought.
“It must have been mightily tolerable as she was so engaged that she forgot I was on her other side.”
“Forgot she was seated next to the ton’s Adonis?” Gregory put his hand on his heart to further punctuate his shock. “I did not know such a thing was possible. What were you talking about that was so engaging?”
“Nothing important. It was just normal conversation.” Nathanial scowled, hunching his shoulders in.
He did not like all the scrutiny from his friends, and he liked even less having to face the fact that Miss Little was more than physically attractive; she was…
interesting. Easy to converse with. Far easier than any other lady he’d been seated beside this Season.
“I do not understand why you are so insistent on pretending disinterest in her, when you are clearly attracted,” Christian twitted.
“I have far more considerations than personal preference when it comes to a bride.”
Frowning, Christian made a little hand gesture, as if telling Nathanial to lower his voice. Christian’s gaze flitted past him for a moment, and Nathanial half-turned to see where the other duke was looking.
Ah. He’d forgotten that Mr. Little was seated not too far away.
Though he did appear to be listening attentively to Lord Emeryn’s advice about hunting hounds.
Hopefully, he was not paying any attention to Nathanial’s conversation with the others, but he would have to remember to keep his tone lower.
“She has a dowry,” Gregory pointed out, keeping his voice lower as well.
“One of the largest this Season. Other than the hostesses hoping for some of the drama surrounding the family to add excitement to their events, their wealth is a large part of what opened doors to them prior to my mother deciding to champion their cause.”
The Dowager Duchess of Clarence had been the first of the haut ton to acknowledge the family, leading the way for her son and daughter-in-law and followed swiftly by Lady Astrid and the rest of Gregory’s ducal cohort. Which was how Nathanial had been introduced to her.
Taking a deep breath to try to ease the constriction around his chest, Nathanial let it out slowly.
“Yes, she has the dowry, but not the social connections nor the experience with the ton. I have barely begun to right the damage my father did to our family’s reputation, and I have three sisters to settle.
” The bands around his chest were tightening again.
Now he was having no difficulty keeping his voice down, so only Christian and Gregory could hear him, and he was grateful the others were so engrossed in their own conversations.
Christian frowned.
“Juliette… she should have made her come-out this year.”
Count on Christian to remember something so insignificant. Gregory frowned as well.
“That cannot be right,” Gregory started to say, but his voice trailed off.
“Time does fly, does it not?” Nathanial asked wryly. He reached up to scrub his hand across his face. “Yes, under other circumstances, Juliette would have made her debut this year.”
“Why did you not let her? I understand the cost, but the merchants would not have expected to be paid immediately.” Gregory’s frown deepened. “Or would they?”
“To me? I expect they would have made an allowance with both Juliette and me on the marriage market, but I could not do that to her. My sisters will be able to marry whoever they want, using whatever criteria they want.”
Both of his friends stared at him in silence for a long moment. Nathanial looked away, focusing on the glass of brandy in his hand, the heaviness of the cut crystal, the sharp edges pressing against his fingers as he lifted it and swirled the liquid inside.
“You mean, you will not have Juliette put in the same position as you,” Gregory said softly, his voice full of sympathy and understanding.
“What if she was willing?” Christian asked, frowning. “Why does it have to be you?”
Nathanial’s grip on the glass tightened, the discomfort of the crystal digging into his skin turning to slight pain as he forced himself to relax his jaw so he could answer.
“It is my responsibility. My father, as the duke, ran… everything into the ground. As the duke, it is up to me to repair it. I will not sacrifice any of my sisters upon the altar of marriage in order to fix a problem they had nothing to do with creating.”
“You will only sacrifice yourself.” Christian’s voice was soft, almost as though he was speaking more to himself than to Nathanial. He sounded confused, like he could not understand why Nathanial would not look for a solution by any means necessary.
Looking up, Nathanial met Gregory’s eyes. Christian had no other siblings, but Gregory had three half-sisters, who he doted on. Though they were far younger than him, arranging for their futures was something he already considered his responsibility. He nodded, his gaze full of understanding.
Gregory knew what it was to bear the burden, as well as the responsibility, of a dukedom and family. Christian had no dependents, other than two grandmothers who got on famously and were perfectly able to take care of themselves—and each other.
Perhaps one day, if he had daughters, he would understand then.
Kalina
The parlor was quieter without the gentlemen, the energy a little softer, less frenetic.
The other ladies were no longer posing or artlessly flirting with their admirers but had fallen to chatting among themselves.
Lady Blackstone’s set made their way to the most comfortable couches by the unlit fireplace.
Kalina allowed herself to be led by Tiffany toward the window seat where Lady Johanna and Miss Belle were already sitting, slightly apart from the other young ladies who occupied a nearby grouping of chairs.
Lady Johanna appeared wan, perhaps a trifle overwhelmed after being the center of the Duke of Montagu’s attentions over dinner.
She managed a smile, though her eyes widened at Tiffany’s approach.
Immediately, she jumped to her feet, Miss Belle hot on her heels, and spread her pearly grey skirts wide as she dipped into a curtsy of the appropriate degree.
“Your Grace.” Both Lady Johanna and Miss Belle spoke the title almost simultaneously.
“Please, let us not stand on ceremony,” Tiffany said, smiling broadly. “May Miss Little and I join you?”
“Of course,” Lady Johanna said hastily, moving to the side to make room for them. “I could stand—”
“No, no, there is room for all four of us, even with our skirts,” Tiffany said, laughing lightly.
She waved her hand, gesturing for Lady Johanna and Miss Belle to sit.
They could hardly refuse her command. Kalina sat down as well on Tiffany’s other side.
“Lady Astrid suggested we all get to know each other better. As both Bolton’s sister and Clarence’s wife, I have rather extensive knowledge of the peccadillos of their friends.
Ah, and here is another who also knows the dukes quite well. ”
“The tragic dukes, you mean?” Delilah, the Baroness Ashfield, said as she walked up to join them.
A footman obligingly appeared to pull a chair closer for her to sit in, and she thanked him before gracefully sitting down.
Today, she wore pale yellow with a gold Grecian pattern edging the bottom hem of her skirts, a gold and cream fichu modestly covering the decolletage revealed by the gown’s low neckline.
A single yellow gem on a gold chain hung between the delicate fichu’s lacy drapes.
With her dark hair piled high on her head to contrast with the lighter colors of her dress and showing off earbobs to match her necklace, she was quite striking in appearance.
“The tragic dukes?” Miss Belle asked, the corners of her mouth turning down and making Kalina blink in surprise. Perhaps she was a new companion to Lady Johanna? But the blonde debutante was frowning in confusion as well.
Kalina had not seen either of them before, that she could recall, but she assumed they had been attending different events than her. There were certainly enough to go around.
But how could they have been among the ton for any length of time without hearing about the tragic dukes?
“Those gathered here,” Delilah said, gesturing broadly back toward the parlor door, and therefore back to the dining room where they’d left the gentlemen. “And the Duke of Grafton as well.”
To her credit, she mentioned her former lover with nary a change of expression.
Kalina’s heart ached for her. She’d been Grafton’s long-time lover, but now that he needed to marry, he’d separated himself from her and was looking among the debutantes for a bride.
Kalina did not understand because it was obvious there were strong feelings between the two.
As much as her father had explained about English society and customs, there were some things that were so illogical, they went beyond her comprehension.
“Our fathers were killed in a hunting lodge… accident,” Tiffany said, a slight pause between two of the words that made Kalina blink, then wonder if she’d heard correctly. “All at once.”
“My goodness! I am so sorry … please accept my condolences and apologies for the unthinking question.” Lady Johanna gripped the pale fabric of her skirt. “I also lost my father, not so long ago. It is… very difficult.”
“It is. My condolences on your loss as well.” Tiffany smiled sympathetically with feeling. “I still miss him, but I do believe he would be proud of the duchess I have become.”
Thinking of her own father, Kalina’s heart ached. She could not imagine losing him. Either of her parents.
Pressing her lips together, Lady Johanna nodded, her gaze dropping.
“That is why they are called the tragic dukes,” Delilah finished.
“Though, of course, Society finds the tragedy utterly romantic as it resulted in a bevy of young, handsome dukes in need of wives all at once—and the first one was brash enough to have a love match.” She shot a speaking glance at Tiffany, who blushed prettily.
“We did not mean to fall in love,” Tiffany retorted. “It just… happened.”
“And every debutante in Society wishes it would ‘just happen’ to her,” Delilah teased, though there was a bit of an edge to her tone.
It was not just the debutantes who wished a duke would fall in love with and marry them, Kalina suspected.
She herself did not need love, though she did hope for companionship. Kindness. Desire. Someone who made her heart beat a little faster, yet with who she could speak easily, while the rest of the world faded away around them.
Someone like the Duke of Hereford.
Except she also wanted someone who would not pull away and close themselves off afterward. She wanted a husband who could, at least, be a true partner to her.
And he must be a duke. She was lucky enough to still have her father, and all he wanted was to be acknowledged by his family. The dukes, Tiffany, Lady Johanna… they had all lost their fathers. Life was never guaranteed.
Kalina would marry a duke and see her father have his dream of being received again by his family if it was the last thing she did.