Chapter 22 #2
“Strange. I always thought it was the matchmaking mamas you would have to be wary of,” she said dryly. After another short silence, she gave herself a little shake. “So, then. I suppose we will have to make the best of it. If she’s awful, at least she came with the funds to balance that.”
“Well… she’s not entirely awful,” Nathanial said, finding himself in the reluctant position of having to defend her.
“Awful enough that she had to trap a duke into marriage in order to get one.”
When Nathanial did not immediately agree with her statement, Julianna turned back to him, frowning.
“What? What are you not telling me?”
“Montagu had shown interest. Though he had not come to point non plus. ” Eventually, Julianna would hear the truth anyway, most likely. She had a knack for wringing information out of people.
“Then why did she need to trap you?”
“That is the question, is it not?” Nathanial murmured.
They both stared at the house. Nathanial wondered if, like him, Julianna was remembering what it had looked like before neglect had overtaken it.
If she was picturing what it could look like again.
Would look like again. He was not sure how much Emma remembered, and Fiona had never known anything but a home that was crumbling into obscurity… but he knew Julianna did.
“Before you left, you told me that you were going to do whatever you had to in order to marry a woman whose fortune could turn ours around,” Julianna murmured. “Because you were determined that the task not fall to me.”
“Yes.”
“From what you have now said, she… um, your new wife, is not awful. Montagu was pursuing her. Her father is as rich as Croesus.”
“Yes.” He frowned, wondering where Julianna was going with this line of query.
“Was there another young lady you were enamored of whose dowry could not provide what we needed?”
“No.” Nathanial immediately shook his head. Granted, the other young ladies he’d been considering for the position of his duchess would have been palatable. “I had not formed an attachment to anyone. I did not dare.”
The closest he had come, in fact, was Miss Little, and her dowry had never been the issue.
“Was there an heiress with an even larger dowry that you had your eye on?”
“No.”
Though he was not entirely sure of Julianna’s direction, Nathanial was becoming increasingly uncomfortable at the questions being leveled at him.
He shifted his weight on his feet, wondering if he dared start walking forward to end the conversation.
Knowing his sister, she would follow after him, screeching her questions loudly enough for the entire household to hear if he did.
Best not to risk it.
He’d rather an audience of one for his discomfiture if he had to bear it.
Crossing her arms, Julianna turned to face him, putting her back to the house. The expression on her face was one of utter exasperation.
“Then, considering her wealth and the fact that she was ‘not awful’ enough to have another duke courting her, why on earth were you not trying to trap her into marriage?”
Nathanial opened his mouth. Closed it. Tried to marshal the arguments, the reasons why.
“Her family is scandalous. I am trying to restore our reputation along with our coffers. Because of Stilton’s displeasure, half the ton did not welcome her family into their households.
If she is going to sponsor you, Emma, and Fiona…
well, I wanted a wife with an unblemished reputation and who had been brought up within the ton to guide you through your Seasons. ”
Huffing, Julianna closed her eyes. She was not as experienced in the ways of the ton, though their mother had taught Julianna as much as she could before she’d passed away not long after Fiona’s first birthday.
Nathanial knew how important their reputations were, how the ton worked in regard to scandal and gossip, and he’d done his best to impress that on Julianna.
Especially since she had argued to come with him this year, to try to catch a husband.
But they had not been able to afford a new wardrobe, and her current state of dress would immediately catch the sharp eyes of the dowagers and matrons.
Nathanial had been able to get away with wearing some of his father’s old clothing simply because his father had been far more portly than himself, and tailoring the clothing to fit both him and the current fashions had not been difficult.
The same had not been possible for Julianna.
Now, he was even more glad that Julianna had not debuted this year.
Her belief that he should have trapped Miss Little into marriage rather than the other way round gave him some insight as to how she might have handled her own Season.
Both of them were determined to save their family, but Julianna was more focused on the financial aspect than the social.
Only because she did not understand the social ramifications.
Taking a deep breath, Julianna huffed again.
“I can see you are upset that she trapped you, despite the fact that her fortune is literally going to restore our home and provide for our futures and even though you did not have another woman in mind for your bride.” Julianna arched one delicate brow at him.
“Of course, I am. Do you not want to choose your own husband?” he asked irritably. Julianna desired control as much as he did.
“Of course, I do,” she replied, echoing his first statement. “That is the only reason I let you delay my Season, to give you the chance to make that possible for me.”
As if she could have forced the issue. But Nathanial did not say that. He’d rather let her think she’d been able to make the decision on her own, rather than being backed into the corner the way he had been.
“Well. I suppose we shall see how she settles in.” Julianna made a face. “I do not know whether to be furious at her for trapping you or grateful.”
“That makes two of us.”
Nathanial hefted a sigh. It was time to go inside and face his new life.
With his new wife.