Chapter 13
“What do you mean, you’re not getting married?” Reeves Langford, Duke of Greystone, asked. “You are getting married. Everyone knows it. It’s the talk of London society. Are you trying to play some kind of trick on me now, Heathmare?”
“No, it’s no trick,” Norman sighed. “And I do wish you wouldn’t call me by that name, Reeves.”
“It’s who you are,” Reeves pointed out. “You’ve got to get used to it.”
“I know I do, but not from you,” Norman said.
“You and I were friends—real friends, in a way that never had anything to do with titles. I always valued the fact that you didn’t need me to have a title in order to consider me a friend.
So when you refer to me that way, it truly does make me feel as though something was lost.”
Reeves laughed. “Norman, you are the only man I know who could inherit a dukedom and come away feeling as though you had lost something.”
“But I have lost something,” Norman countered. “My freedom. The ability to live my life the way I want to. There are so many expectations on me now. This marriage is just one of many.”
“All right,” Reeves allowed. “But to hear you tell it, it doesn’t sound as if you’ve sacrificed any freedom at all. Didn’t I just hear you say that you aren’t going to be getting married?”
“That’s right,” Norman said. “But not for lack of everyone around me trying to force the issue. Tell me, why is it that a gentleman can’t be judged on his own merits, instead of for the company he keeps?
When I was a commoner, I never had this problem.
People might have judged me unfairly at times—”
“They most certainly did,” Reeves said. “How many members of society did you count among your friends in those days? As I recall, I was the only one.”
“You were,” Norman said. “But you were very genuinely my friend. That’s my point. You would never have required me to prove anything about my quality to you by marriage or by any other means.”
“And that’s what you feel others are doing? Forcing your hand?”
“It’s impossible to see it any other way. Oh, nobody has actually confronted me and told me that I must marry if I want the trust of the ton. But I am an outsider, and the quickest and surest way to convince everyone that I am one of them—one of you—is to marry a lady.”
“And yet, you don’t intend to.”
“I don’t. I don’t have any intention of shackling myself to another person just to make a point. No, the whole thing is artifice, Reeves. It’s all been for show.”
Reeves’ eyes widened. “And what about the young lady?” he asked. “Lady Susan? What will she say when she realizes you’ve led her on?”
“I’ve done no such thing. She’s been in on it the whole time.”
“Oh, now I know you’re jesting. A lady willing to damage her own prospects with a broken engagement?”
“It makes little difference to her,” Norman said, his voice suddenly tight. “She doesn’t wish to marry at all, so she isn’t worried about her prospects.”
“At all?” Reeves shook his head. “You must mean she doesn’t want to marry you.”
“That’s what I thought the first time she said it,” Norman said.
“I assumed she was just trying to be cordial, and to avoid the awkwardness of telling me outright that she didn’t want a marriage to me.
But she reinforced it later. She really doesn’t want to marry, so she doesn’t care how this affects her reputation. ”
“Well, that’s very strange,” Reeves mused.”
“I thought so too!” Norman sat forward. “What kind of lady is so cavalier about the idea of marriage? Doesn’t she understand how important her reputation is? Doesn’t she care?”
“What difference does that make to you?” Reeves asked. “If you aren’t going to marry her, then she’ll be out of your life very soon, so why does it matter what her reputation is?”
It was a question Norman had been asking himself, to be honest. “I just don’t like the idea of people being unwise,” he said. “I don’t like to see bad judgment.”
“Well, if you’re going to be a part of London society, bad judgment is a thing you’ll have to get used to,” Reeves laughed.
“But tell me honestly, Norman—is it such a terrible thing to have a lady who doesn’t want to marry in your life?
You don’t want to marry her either, so I would have thought you would like that about her.
I would have thought that would make everything easier for you. ”
“Yes, well…” Norman trailed off, unsure of what he wanted to say.
“She’s really gotten under your skin, hasn't she?” Reeves asked.
Norman bristled. “I don’t know what you mean by that.”
“Why should it bother you what she wants to do with her life? It has nothing to do with you if the two of you aren’t going to marry—and yet, you’re sitting here, allowing it to bother you.
I don’t know. She’s taking up a lot of room in your thoughts, that’s all.
And if I were in your shoes, I don’t think I would allow myself to fixate on a lady who was going to be out of my life very soon.
I would simply turn my thoughts in a different direction. ”
“It’s not always that easy to put things from your mind,” Norman said. “Sometimes they capture your attention.”
“Sometimes, yes. A particularly attractive young lady can easily capture a man’s focus, for instance… and Lady Susan is lovely.”
“Oh, stop,” Norman groaned.
“What? You disagree?”
“She’s perfectly decent to look at,” Norman said. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”
“Because I did see you looking at her, you know, at the Sutherland Ball,” Reeves said, a broad smile spreading across his face. He was obviously teasing now, and Norman was beginning to grow frustrated with his friend’s antics.
So he was relieved when the door opened, and Mr. Billings came in with a letter in his hand.
“What’s this?” he asked, rising to his feet.
“It just arrived for you, Your Grace,” Mr. Billings said. “I don’t know who sent it, though—the fellow who delivered it didn’t say where it had come from.”
“Ah,” Reeves mused. “A not-so secret admirer!”
Norman made a face at his friend and turned his back to him to open the letter. The truth was that he had a guess who had sent this letter, and as he opened it, he saw that he was right.
Norman—
Please meet me tomorrow at dawn at the park near your townhome.
Sincerely,
Susan.
He frowned at the simplicity of the note. Was she not even going to explain why she wanted to meet him? Just this cryptic letter asking him to come out at dawn?
Was he going to do it?
He had to, he realized, little though he liked the idea.
She was expecting to meet him in the park at dawn, which meant that she was going to be there.
If he didn’t go, she would be there utterly alone.
It would be unsafe. He was frustrated with her at the moment—actually, she drove him mad most of the time—but he couldn’t allow her to be alone in a dangerous situation.
No gentleman—no man with any decency—would do such a thing to a lady.
He sighed and tucked the paper into his pocket.
“What was that?” Reeves asked him.
“It’s nothing,” Norman said.
“No, it was something,” Reeves pressed. “Let me guess—a love letter from the lady you aren’t going to marry?”
“Not a love letter. Merely a request for a meeting,” Norman said. “A perfectly sensible thing for her to want.”
“Yes, especially if she has feelings for you she has yet to confide!”
“You haven’t listened to a word I’ve said,” Norman glowered. “She doesn’t want to marry me. There isn’t going to be any wedding.”
“All right, all right,” Reeves said, raising his hands in submission. “I do wonder why she’s so eager to meet with you, though, if not for that reason.”
“I’m sure she just has something she needs to tell me that she doesn’t want to say in front of her father,” Norman replied.
“It might even be something about her father. I’ve been trying to convince the man to go into business with me.
Maybe Susan is going to tell me that he’s decided it’s worth his while to do so. ”
“Well, you can hope, I suppose.” Reeves smirked and got to his feet. “I must say, Norman, I feel as though this is all heading somewhere you haven’t anticipated, and it certainly will be enjoyable for me to watch it all play out.”
“You need to find something else to do with your time,” Norman said.
“Thank you for the drinks and conversation, at any rate,” Reeves said, rising to his feet. “I really do have to get home now. My wife will be waiting for me—and, as you’re beginning to realize, it doesn’t do to keep a lady waiting!” He smirked. “You enjoy your meeting tomorrow.”
“I am a duke now, you know,” Norman told his friend. “You do have to show me the respect that’s due my title.”
“And here I thought you didn’t want me to treat you any differently.
” Reeves laughed. “I’m sorry, old friend.
I know I’ve been giving you a bit of a hard time here.
I don’t mean any harm by it, truly. In fact, I’m pleased to see you finding joy with a young lady.
Even if you don’t marry her… I don’t know.
When I came over here today, it was with the understanding that you were planning to marry but that your heart wasn’t in it.
Now I believe it to be the opposite—that you don’t intend to marry, but that your heart is very much involved.
And that makes me much happier. You deserve to experience that kind of emotion.
It changed my life when it happened for me.
I just hope that you can find a way to let it in. ”
Norman paced over to the window, pulled back the curtain, and stared out at the yard.
After a moment, Reeves seemed to accept the hint. Norman heard his friend’s footsteps, the door opening, and then clicking shut in its frame.
His body relaxed as he let out a sigh.
He’s wrong. He’s always been a bit sentimental, but he’s definitely wrong this time.
I don’t have feelings for Susan. Not like that.
All right, I like her well enough—but at the same time, she drives me mad!
That’s the only reason I’m thinking about her as often as I am—it’s just hard to put something so irritating out of your mind.
She’s like a splinter or a toothache. Why would she tell me that she doesn’t ever want to get married? How can that be true of a young lady?
Perhaps he would learn something more when he saw her tomorrow morning. Perhaps then he would come to understand her a little bit better.
It was odd and disconcerting to realize that understanding her better was something he wanted. Was it possible that Reeves had been pointing out something real?
No.
It couldn’t be. Norman was interested in Susan because she was an interesting person. That was all it was.
Still, as his fingers grazed the edge of the note in his pocket, he couldn’t deny that he was looking forward to seeing her tomorrow.