Chapter 11
“Are you enjoying your soup, my lady?”
Dorothy turned to the gentleman next to her. She thought he had introduced himself, but she couldn’t recall his name. “The soup is very nice,” she said politely. “The whole meal is lovely.”
“I quite agree. I’m having a marvelous time.” He beamed and looked at her expectantly.
Dorothy knew she ought to answer, to keep the conversation moving, but she couldn’t seem to focus. All she could think about was her interaction with Nathaniel and the way he had reacted to it.
What was the matter with him?
Didn’t he want this plan to work? Didn’t he realize that she had signaled him to move forward with Lady Isabelle?
She was a perfect match, Dorothy thought.
She was exactly the sort of lady he was looking for.
She was kind and even-tempered, she was lovely, she knew how to handle herself in social settings, she wasn’t one who would be looking for social advancement in making a match. She was, in other words, perfect.
And Nathaniel had hardly spoken to her.
She glanced up at him. His eyes were narrowed…was he angry at her? How could he possibly justify that? She was living up to what she had promised him and doing so flawlessly. He had no grounds to be angry.
The rest of dinner was spent in a sort of stand-off, the two of them taking it in turns to look at one another and then looking away quickly before they could be caught in the act.
Even so, they did catch one another several times.
Every time Dorothy’s eyes locked with Nathaniel’s, she felt heat rush into her face, until by the time the dessert plates were being cleared away she was sure that everyone must be able to see that something was going on between the two of them.
Nathaniel rose to his feet the moment decorum permitted him to do so, and now he did make forceful eye contact with Dorothy. A shudder ran through her, rooting her where she sat. She hadn’t imagined it. He was angry with her.
He jerked his head toward the hallway. His meaning couldn't have been clearer. He wanted her to excuse herself and go out there with him so that they could speak privately.
She was torn. She did want the private conversation—she wanted to know what his problem was. But at the same time, the idea of ignoring him and not giving him what he so clearly wanted was delicious. She would have very much liked to remain in her seat and let him grow more frustrated.
The part of her that wanted answers won out. She got to her feet and hurried after him out into the hall, hoping that nobody was looking her way.
He was waiting for her just outside the door. “The garden,” he said, his voice tight.
“What?”
“We should take this out into the garden. We don’t want to be overheard.”
Dorothy shook her head, folding her arms. “Keep your voice down if you’re concerned about being overheard,” she said firmly.
“We can pass it off as incidental if we’re discovered in a public hallway together, but if we’re found out in the garden, it will cause a scandal.
I’m trying to help you marry, but there are limits to how much I will do.
Especially when you seem utterly unwilling to make any attempt to further your own goals. ”
“And what is that supposed to mean?” He frowned at her.
“Are you jesting? I signaled you that Lady Isabelle was the right person for you to pursue. Did you fail to notice my signal?”
“I saw it,” he said.
“And yet you did nothing!”
He ground his teeth, his jaw clenching. “I don’t know who you think you are to speak to me in such a manner.”
“Nathaniel, why did you summon me out here?” she demanded. “I did everything you’ve asked of me. I helped you find the perfect lady. Do you have some problem with Lady Isabelle? Is she not up to your standards for some reason?”
“That isn’t it,” he said.
“Then what is it? I don’t know why you’ve dragged me out here. You seem as though you want to give me a scolding, but I can’t fathom why. I have done everything you could have expected of me.”
He sighed. “You never told me what to do once you had chosen a wife for me,” he said. “Am I just supposed to know?”
The question mystified her, so strongly that her anger dissipated. “What do you mean?” she asked. “I never told you what to do? You ought to speak to her. Let her know of your interest. Attempt to charm her.”
“So I should just…tell her that I’m interested in courtship with her?” Nathaniel asked. “I should ask her if she’s willing to consider being a mother to Colin?”
“No, of course not,” Dorothy replied, startled. “You wouldn’t want to drop it on her out of nowhere like that. You have to try to get to know her first, which you weren’t doing at all during that dinner. You barely spoke to her.”
Nathaniel threw up his hands. “Because I don’t know what to say!”
“Well, do I have to do everything for you?” she demanded. “Isn’t it enough that I’m choosing ladies for you without my having to put the words in your mouth? Surely you’re capable of managing some of this process by yourself.”
He turned his back on her.
Dorothy felt a rush of remorse. Had she been too hard on him?
No. He deserved that. He was the one who couldn’t manage anything on his own. He deserved to have it pointed out to him that he was being inordinately helpless.
He turned back around, and there was pain etched on his face.
“I’ve never done this before,” he said, his voice hoarse.
“I’ve never even wanted to do this before.
I never learned how to do it because I never had any interest in it.
And now…well, now I need to convince a lady to marry me, and I have no idea how to go about it.
I don’t even know how to speak to a lady. ”
“Yes you do,” she pointed out. “You’re speaking to me right now.”
He shook his head. “You know that’s different. You aren’t going to marry me. I speak to you the same way I would to any friend of mine.”
“Which is what you should do with Lady Isabelle!” Dorothy said.
He scowled at her. “Now I know you’re sabotaging me.”
“You can’t really think that. What on Earth would I stand to gain by sabotaging you in this?” she demanded. “It does me no good.”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Perhaps you think it’s funny to see me struggle.”
“I can assure you, I don’t. I have no desire to glory in the misfortunes of others,” she said.
“It would suit me best if this whole matter was resolved quickly, with as little trouble as possible. But that isn’t going to happen if you think any attempts to help you speak to a lady are nothing more than attempts at sabotage.
Do you think you shouldn’t speak to her? Is that why you mistrust my guidance?”
“Well, everyone knows that you shouldn’t speak to a lady you wish to court as you would a friend.” He was clearly frustrated.
“In some circumstances, you should,” she corrected. “The two things really aren’t that different, Nathaniel.”
“How would you know about it? You have no experience in courting a lady.”
“I have experience in being a lady,” she retorted. “I know how I like to be spoken to.”
“And how can you be so sure that other ladies share your perspective on the subject?”
She lifted her chin. “I know it the same way I know everything else you’ve asked me about and trusted me to answer,” she said.
“I know it because I pay attention when I go out in society. I see the way the most charming men speak to the ladies they wish to pursue. It’s the same way they speak to gentlemen they wish to befriend.
You want her to take an interest in the things you say, and you want her to feel as if you’re listening to her when she speaks. That’s really all there is to it.”
He shook his head. “There must be more to it than that,” he argued.
“There’s some element to all this that I don’t understand, something I’m not putting together.
I need to be able to experience flirtation in a setting with no consequences.
I need to test myself and discover whether I possess the ability, and to hone it if I do. ”
“You’re asking me how to be flirtatious,” Dorothy realized.
“I suppose I’m asking you to…help me practice the skill.”
A thrill ran down her spine at the idea, but she maintained her calm. “And if I do that…are you going to trust me?” She asked him. “Or if you hear something you don’t like, are you just going to accuse me of sabotaging you again? Tell me that I couldn’t possibly know what I’m talking about?”
“I shouldn’t have said that.” Nathaniel met her eyes for the first time since they had come out into the hall.
“I’m prepared to trust you moving forward, even if it is difficult sometimes.
I know that you know better than I do when it comes to matters of the heart, and I asked you for your help for a reason.
I’m going to take your advice, whatever it might be. ”
His tone was gruff, and she could tell it had been difficult for him to say all that. And yet, he had said it. He had managed to do something that put him in a difficult and vulnerable position.
There’s hope for him yet, maybe.
She sighed. “I do want to help you,” she told him.
“I need your help. I need to know how to talk to a lady.”
“We can’t play out a flirtation here in this hallway,” she told him. “Anyone might see us. We’ll have to reconvene and do this another time. Which is unfortunate, because you’re going to miss your chance with Lady Isabelle today.”
“I think we can agree that’s been pretty well bungled already,” Nathaniel said, letting out a chuckle.
Dorothy couldn’t help it. She laughed too.
“I doubt she has any memory of you at all, you made so little impression,” she said.
“But at least you didn’t frighten her off!
If you see her at a future event, you may be able to try again.
I’ll put some thought into how you should approach her.
It’s difficult to put it into words off the top of my head like this, but if I spend some time pondering it, I’m sure I can give you instructions. ”
He let out a sigh. “Thank you,” he said. “I know this is quite a lot to ask.”
She was about to tell him no. It wouldn’t have been true. He was entirely right that his request was more than she had anticipated it being. And yet, she found, she didn’t want him to feel as if he was imposing on her. Somewhere along the way, she’d found that she actually wanted to help.
She never got to say it.
A man in a footman’s livery came running up to them. “Your Grace,” he said, barely sparing a glance for Dorothy. “I’ve just come from the house—it’s about young master Colin.”
“Colin?” Nathaniel snapped to attention, his focus turning to the footman as though Dorothy wasn’t even there. “What about him?”
“He’s ill, Your Grace. He has a fever of some kind. We don’t know what it is. One of the other footmen has gone to fetch the physician. But I thought it best if you came home right away.”
“Thank you,” Nathaniel said, his face white with sudden fear. “I’m on my way.”
And his hand shot out to grab Dorothy’s.