Chapter Seven
“What in God’s name just happened?” James asked as soon as they were inside the carriage.
Nathaniel had walked Lady Rochefort to hers, where she’d informed him she would be calling on Lady Wiltshire.
She also gave him an approving nod, but there was nothing about the day’s events that he felt the least bit approvingly about.
“Language,” Nathaniel reproached, mentally making lists while also trying to arrange his thoughts and accept the fate he’d just dealt himself.
“Rebecca doesn’t count,” James argued. “Not with us,” he amended when she gave him a pointed look.
“And today’s events would warrant it regardless,” she chimed in.
Rebecca wasn’t wrong. Nathaniel would be cursing if there were any that encompassed the torment and disarray in his mind.
“Miss Plimpton looked so distraught.” Rebecca gave him an opening to explain what happened, but he also saw genuine concern for the girl.
“She was found in the gardens, unchaperoned, with a gentleman of ill repute.”
“You found them?”
“I was the gentleman.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes at his dramatics, but he’d spoken the truth.
“Mr. Plimpton tried to strongarm you into marrying her?” James stated, angry, but not the least bit surprised.
“He did,” Nathaniel agreed. “Orchestrated the whole thing.”
Rebecca gasped, and Nathaniel realized he probably shouldn’t have shared that detail with her, or anyone.
Becca wasn’t na?ve and innocent like some debutantes, she knew there were dark characters that they’d done their best to teach her, Lizzie, and Grace to protect themselves from.
But Becca still believed the best of everyone.
“Thankfully Lady Rochefort came to your defense and shot down his ruse,” Rebecca pointed out, to which he nodded. “Oh, poor Miss Plimpton.”
“Her reputation won’t suffer. Lady Rochefort will see to it,” James assured her.
“I’m more concerned that she has parents who would do that to her. She was literally shaking when you led her to dance. I didn’t think she’d ever stop until you held her,” she shared.
“Yes, brother, why did you dance with her?”
Rebecca was looking at him with a sad smile, like she knew exactly what transpired. James clearly did as well – Nathaniel assumed everyone in the parlour suspected it now – but while Rebecca sympathized, James thought him a fool.
“I didn’t want to force her hand, so it was my only option to ascertain which unfortunate circumstance she preferred.”
“And?” James pressed.
Nathaniel sighed. “I will make it clear to them that my brothers are my heirs—”
“Oh, bollocks, Nate. None of us want the title. Your handing it over was just something we let you believe was an option while we waited for you to come to your senses.”
“This is not me coming to my senses. I had no intention—”
“Of proposing to a young lady you hardly know and have no obligation to but feel responsible for because while you didn’t let her father back you into a corner, she’ll never escape being a pawn to his aspirations?”
“Rebecca!” Nathaniel reproached, though those were the exact thoughts he’d had in mind when he hatched the ridiculous plan to go through with the betrothal.
“We’re among family.” James waved it off. “And I take it Miss Plimpton will soon be as well?”
“I assume her father will accept my offer.” Nathaniel gritted his teeth. That man still made his blood boil, even from a distance.
“When are you asking?”
“Tomorrow. I told her to let her parents know to expect me.”
“That’s good.” Rebecca looked relieved. “Her father’s anger was directed at you and Lady Rochefort this afternoon, but I shudder to think of how he would have taken it out on Frances tonight.”
“You’ve gone from shock to believing the absolute worst of him.” James raised an eyebrow.
Rebecca shrugged. “Once someone shows you their true colors, it’s best to believe them.” She pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders and turned to Nathaniel. “I like what little I know of her.”
“It’s not that kind of marriage,” he argued. “I just want her to be safe.”
“How gallant of you,” James said dryly.
He glared at his brother.
“It is very honorable. Even with Lady Rochefort, there would always have been whispers. And we are quite the prize, family-wise.”
“I’m hoping she’ll accept in spite of her new relations.”
“She will,” Rebecca assured him. “But we’ll be on our best behavior, just in case.” She nudged James until he nodded.
Nathaniel’s didn’t know if he’d made everyone’s lives unbearably worse with this decision, but at least he could always count on his family to tease, support, and love him through it all. Miss Plimpton deserved that kind of family, at the very least.
“I’m sorry you didn’t get to enjoy the dancing today, Becca. Though I fear there will be more opportunities in the coming weeks,” Nathaniel said as they arrived at Wiltshire Manor.
“I am sure there will be many,” she agreed. “Aren’t you coming?” She asked when neither man followed her out the carriage.
“I have other lodgings in the city,” James argued.
“And I live at Sutton House.”
“I know both those things, but if you think Grandmama will forgive you after she hears about this from tomorrow’s society papers instead of from you…”
“I expect you will tell everyone before that.”
He wasn’t afraid of his grandparents. It wasn’t like his grandfather had any control over him, given Nathaniel was the head of the Sutton family, not the Wiltshire heir.
But while he was certain this was the right decision, he wasn’t ready to face them.
They wouldn’t try to stop him, but his grandparents, parents, aunt, and uncle had all married for love, so his grandmother would have her piece to say about a marriage of convenience.
Warnings, sympathies, the inevitable reminders of Jo…
And while he wasn’t necessarily at fault this afternoon, he usually ensured he was never alone with a respectable young woman. It wasn’t exactly shame that he felt, but it definitely wasn’t pride.
“I’ll return tomorrow after I call on Miss Plimpton,” he assured Rebecca.
“Coward.” James smiled.
“I don’t see you getting out.”
“Ah, but tomorrow will be so much more exciting, as all the pressure will be off me.”
“What pressure? You attend a handful of balls and soirées at the beginning of the season, then decide none of them interest you and retreat to the country.”
“I like the country.”
“Shall I go in and pretend we merely left because of the rain?” Rebecca asked.
“Tell them I’m making arrangements. Grandmama will be happy I’m taking things seriously.”
“And Grandpapa will understand why you were afraid to face her,” James added, getting a glare in return.
“Make sure you change your clothes and have some tea. We can’t have you catching cold,” Rebecca told him.
“Yes, Mother,” Nathaniel teased, getting a reproachful look in return.
“And Nathaniel?” she said seriously. “That was very honorable, and kind, and I think it means the world that you did it after you were free, not because you didn’t have a choice.
It’s a tragedy that you’ve given up on love, but I truly believe that other than a love match, Miss Plimpton could not have found a better husband. ”
Becca meant well, and he appreciated it, but he also knew Miss Plimpton’s parents were thinking the same thing.
Though he doubted they cared whether she loved him, or was happy about it.
“Are we killing your father-in-law before or after the wedding?” James asked once it was just the two of them.
“You jest, but the part of this plan I am least certain about is whether I will be able to refrain myself from doing just that.”
“That’s a big one, but if that’s your main concern, I’d say you’ve done pretty well for yourself.”
“For her,” Nathaniel argued.
“Yes, knight-in-shining-armor proposing to save the damsel in distress from her evil father. But you’re still doing it by marrying the damsel.”
“This isn’t a fairy tale,” Nathaniel shot back.
“For Miss Plimpton, it might be,” James pointed out.
He did his best to dismiss the renewed ache in his chest at his brother’s words, and the realization that he hadn’t once considered Miss Plimpton’s emotions, merely her safety.
“I wasn’t thinking much more than this man would murder his own child if it improved his circumstances, and even if I don’t love her, I would never be cruel to her.
She can run a household, enjoy some hobbies, and not live in constant fear of what her parents will demand of her next. ”
“That’s very honorable—”
“You keep saying that.”
“But it also sounds miserable.”
“She’ll be safe.”
“Of course.” James gave him a look like there were many holes in his plan he needed to work out before digging a hole too deep for him to climb out of. “I look forward to hearing all about it at dinner tomorrow night.”
After dropping James off, the carriage continued to Sutton House, and though Nathaniel wanted to be anywhere else, he wasn’t foolish enough to go somewhere he might be seen, or encounter anyone he knew.
Even Lydia was out of the question, though he should call on her before the news became public.
This marriage had to be seen as two people who had fallen in love or, at the very least, decided to get married without external factors.
He would not shame his new bride by making it public knowledge that she’d mostly been forced upon him.
His new bride.
The words brought an involuntary shudder through his body.
It had been a ploy to be alone when he told Rebecca he had things to prepare, but the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach told him he had a visit to make, or at the very least a letter to write.
It was a task he would rather relive this current nightmare of a day a thousand times than face.
Nathaniel went inside and reluctantly did exactly as Rebecca had instructed. He would announce it to the staff once it was official, though he assumed they would know long before he returned from Wiltshire Manor.