Chapter 6 #3
She didn’t listen, her pace quickening as she tried to brush past his shoulder. Without thinking, driven entirely by an instinct he couldn’t name, Nathaniel reached out and grabbed her by the arm, stopping her dead in her tracks.
Euphemia stopped, her breathing shallow as she looked down at his hand wrapped around her forearm. She followed the line of his arm back up to his face, her gaze questioning, her posture still rigid with the urge to flee.
“Why?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “Why should I wait, Nathaniel? What else is there left for us to say?”
Slowly, Nathaniel released his grip. He took a single step back, giving her space but remaining directly in her path, his eyes locked onto hers.
Up close, he couldn’t help but notice just how remarkably pretty her blue eyes were.
They were wide, luminous, and filled with an intense light.
Looking at her now, it seemed entirely obvious why she was a woman who refused to hold her tongue or accept blind orders.
She possessed the kind of eyes that were born to ask questions, to seek truth, and to challenge the world around her.
The brief, unexpected thought brought a faint, almost imperceptible smile to his lips. But it vanished just as quickly as he lowered his head, the echo of Thaddeus’s blunt reprimand ringing loudly in his ears.
He took a slow, grounding breath and looked back up.
“My wife died ten years ago,” he began quietly, the admission sounding foreign even to his own ears.
“She passed away long before I was ever able to fully understand how a marriage is truly supposed to work. I know that I am rigid. I know that it might seem as though I am entirely uptight, or that I am a man who cannot be levelled with. But my rules... they do not come from a place of malice. I never intended to hurt you.”
Euphemia’s head tilted slightly to the side, her brow furrowing in genuine surprise. The defensiveness around her seemed to soften, her wide eyes blinking as if she couldn’t quite credit the fact that he was explaining himself to her.
“I am sorry for my behavior,” Nathaniel continued, forcing the words past the lingering pride in his throat. “I am sorry, Euphemia. It was never my intention to make you feel unwelcome in what is meant to be your own home. That is not what I want for you, nor is it what I was thinking.”
He paused, his gaze drifting momentarily toward the glass doors where Cordelia had vanished, before returning to Euphemia.
“When I walked into this room, I saw that Cordelia looked... remarkably happy to be with you. I will admit, I did not think that would be the outcome of any interaction between you. In truth, it surprised me.” He shifted his weight, his tone growing honest. “My fear... my only real fear was that a sudden change would make everyone awkward and miserable in this house. But Cordelia was laughing, and if she is capable of laughing like that with you, then I have no right to take that joy away from her. Perhaps I made the wrong call.”
Euphemia let out a soft, breathy sound, halfway between a startled laugh and a sigh of relief.
Nathaniel offered a small nod. “I will endeavor to be less irritable from this moment on. In fact, I shall make an effort to stay out of your way as much as possible so that we do not find ourselves constantly at odds. It appears you and I cannot speak for more than a single minute without finding something to argue about.”
At that, a genuine smile finally broke across Euphemia’s face, and she lowered her head, a faint blush warming her cheeks. She remained quiet for a brief moment, considering his words, before she looked back up.
“Very well. So long as you agree that I am permitted to interact with your daughters, I will stay.”
“Agreed,” Nathaniel murmured.
As the tension completely drained from the air, a sudden, sharp awareness settled over him.
He realized just how closely they were standing, close enough to catch the faint scent of orange blossoms clinging to her hair.
He quickly took another step back, clearing his throat as he reestablished a distance.
“I shall leave you to continue with your day, then,” Nathaniel said. “I am certain you have a great deal of managing and catching up to do within the estate. I will be in my study if I am required.”
With a final, polite nod, he turned and walked away. As he entered the sanctuary of his study and shut the door behind him, he let out a long, slow breath.
For the first time in weeks, the tight knot of anger in his chest had completely unraveled. He had spent so much energy bracing himself for a battle, trying with everything in him to maintain absolute control, yet the resolution they had just reached felt vastly better than any victory.
For once, they hadn’t fought. They had actually come to an understanding, and as he sat down at his desk and pulled his ledgers toward him, Nathaniel noted with strange satisfaction just how good it felt to finally agree on something.