Chapter 18
“Dorothy, you must come downstairs at once!”
Dorothy set down the book she had been reading and frowned at Abigail, who had just poked her head into the upstairs sitting room. “Why?” she asked. “It’s not yet time for dinner.”
“No, but you have a visitor,” Abigail said.
Dorothy’s stomach flipped. Of course she had a visitor. The thought had not been far from her mind these past few days, though she had tried to forget it. Nathaniel had told her he would come to speak to her once Colin had recovered from his illness.
I’m excited because his presence here means that Colin is well, she told herself firmly. That’s the only reason it’s so thrilling to know he’s arrived.
In case she had it wrong, she asked her sister. “Is it the Duke of Henshaw?”
“It is!” Abigail’s excitement was more difficult to explain since she couldn’t have known of Colin’s illness. “I told you that he had taken an interest in you, didn’t I?”
Ah, there it was. Somehow, Dorothy had allowed herself to hope that her sisters might actually have believed her claim that there was nothing romantic between herself and the duke. It seemed that Abigail, at least, remained unconvinced, and this visit wasn’t going to help with that.
“I’d better go and see him,” Dorothy agreed. She could set her sister straight later.
She found Nathaniel in the downstairs sitting room waiting for her. He had been perched in an armchair, but he rose to his feet when she arrived. “Dorothy. How good to see you again.”
“Nathaniel,” she countered. “I trust…all is well?” Honora was also in the room, so she couldn’t clearly reference Colin’s illness without giving away that she knew more than she should.
He gave her a smile. “Everything is just fine,” he assured her.
The way her heart warmed at that smile—that was just because she was pleased to hear Colin was all right.
It couldn’t be anything more than that. He was handsome when he smiled, though.
She couldn’t help imagining a world in which her sisters’ ideas were correct and someone like this really had come to court her.
Wouldn’t it be something to know that such a good looking man found me worthy of his time?
She pushed that aside. It wasn’t the right thing to focus on. He had come here for a different reason, and they needed to find a way to have the discussion they required without her sisters listening in.
Abigail came into the room. “Your Grace, it’s so kind of you to pay a visit to Dorothy,” she said. “I know the two of you didn’t get to spend as much time together as you might have liked at the dinner party the other night.”
“Abigail, do stop that,” Dorothy sighed, but her heart fluttered with nerves.
What if her sisters realized that Nathaniel hadn’t been seen at the party after she had disappeared from it?
They didn’t seem to have made that connection thus far, but if they did, would they suspect that the two of them had left together?
And if that was discovered…well, what might it lead to?
She couldn’t be sure. She only knew that she wouldn’t like the outcome.
Nathaniel managed to laugh it off. “You’re quite right,” he told her. “I did rather hope that Dorothy and I would be able to spend more time together. You may have noticed that I changed my seat at dinner to be nearer to her.”
“I did notice that,” Honora spoke up, her eyes narrowing shrewdly. “I would have thought you’d want to keep the seat you were assigned, as it was near some very lovely young ladies who I know to be seeking courtship. But perhaps that wasn’t one of your priorities that evening?”
“I can’t say that it was,” Nathaniel agreed carefully.
“But that makes it sound as if perhaps you have someone you’re already interested in, Your Grace.
” Abigail’s eyes cut briefly to Dorothy, who felt as if she might sink into the floor in embarrassment.
“Is it true?” Abigail went on. “Are you engaged in a courtship? Because I haven’t heard anything about such a thing. ”
“Abigail,” Dorothy said. “If the duke is courting someone and hasn’t announced it publicly, he’s hardly likely to declare it to us privately.”
“Unless there’s some reason he ought to tell us,” Honora chimed in. “Perhaps there’s someone you’re interested in, Your Grace, and you’d like to tell us about it? I can assure you we are a willing audience.”
Dorothy wanted to let out a groan, but she kept it in. “Will the two of you please excuse yourselves so that the duke and I can have a moment to speak?” she asked.
“Dorothy, we want to get to know him better, too,” Honora said imperiously. “Your perception of things isn’t always the most astute, you know. It’s to your benefit to rely on us, because we have more experience in these matters.”
“In what matters?” Nathaniel asked.
Dorothy panicked. “That’s enough,” she said firmly. “Honora, Abigail, step out of the room now, please, or I will be the one to leave, even if it is rude to my guest.”
She meant it, and she could see that her sisters knew it wasn’t an empty threat. The smiles dropped from their faces. After only a moment’s hesitation, they both moved toward the door, leaving it open just long enough to admit a couple of chamber maids to join Nathaniel and Dorothy in the room.
Nathaniel was looking at Dorothy with some admiration. “I guess you really don’t let anyone tell you what to do,” he said. “I didn’t realize you were so stubborn.”
“I’m stubborn when I’m right.” She walked over to the chaise and sat down gingerly. “They were causing trouble that we didn’t need.”
“So what were they after?” Nathaniel sat down too. “Asking all those questions about me, and about my prospects?”
She stared at him. “You truly don’t know what that was about?”
He shook his head. “Should I?”
This was difficult to believe. How could it have escaped him, when Honora and Abigail were being so blunt? Surely he was smart enough to understand what they’d been getting at?
But then again…maybe he wasn’t. She didn’t think Nathaniel was a foolish man by any stretch, but she had seen for herself how unaware he was when it came to matters of courtship and of the heart. Perhaps he truly didn’t realize what Honora and Abigail had been suggesting.
And he did ask me to help him with this sort of thing. As embarrassing as it is, I suppose I have to tell him.
She sighed. “My sisters believe that you and I are engaged in a courtship.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Truly?”
“Well, we have been spending a fair amount of time together,” she pointed out. “Of course, you and I know that it’s a ridiculous notion, but my sisters…you can see how they might get the wrong idea.”
“Why is it a ridiculous notion?” He frowned. “Do you find me so ill-suited for courtship?”
“Of course I do,” she returned. “You and I have no interest in one another. I don’t even have an interest in marriage, and as for you, you’ve said yourself that you’re only marrying out of a desire to find a mother for Colin.
A worthy aim, of course, but my sisters are completely wrong about their perception of what’s happening here. ”
“Wrong, yes,” Nathaniel agreed. “I wouldn’t have said ridiculous, though. You make it seem as though the idea of a courtship between the two of us is laughable in your eyes.”
“Not only my eyes,” she told him. “Can you imagine what the ton would have to say about it?”
“They do always seem to have something to say,” he agreed. “No matter what couples form, comments arise. Why would you and I be any different, though?”
“We’re very different,” she assured him. “You know the way I’m advising you on which ladies you ought to court and which you ought to disregard?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Well, if I could give you advice about myself, it would be to turn the other way,” she told him firmly. “I would never encourage you to get involved with me.”
“But why? You’re friendly enough.” He shook his head. “Not that I’m considering it, of course. I just don’t understand why you find it such a foolish notion.”
“My reputation would make things difficult for you,” she told him. “You’re aware that people know me as a wallflower, and that no one has taken an interest in a courtship with me.”
“I’m aware of that, yes.”
“So people would ask questions,” she told him.
“They would want to know what was suddenly different. Why you were interested when no one else had been. And they’d come up with reasons.
There would be theories about what I might have done to engage your interest. It wouldn’t make either one of us look very good. ”
“But you don’t care about things like that,” Nathaniel said. “You don’t worry about how you appear to others.”
“Not very much,” Dorothy agreed. “I just think it would attract notice, that’s all.
To be honest, I think I would find it interesting to see what people had to say on the subject.
My point is simply that there would be commentary.
There would be discussion about it. It’s not the sort of thing that would stand any chance of passing unnoticed. ”
Nathaniel nodded. “I understand,” he said. “And I think you’re probably right. If you and I were courting, people would talk.” He hesitated. “Perhaps your sisters speculate that that’s why we’ve kept it a secret.”
“We haven’t kept it a secret!” Dorothy sputtered. “This is all fabrication!”
“I know.” Nathaniel chuckled. “I find it amusing. That’s all. The fact that they would come to such a conclusion. The fact that they are so certain of it. You seem irritated, but isn’t it funny, if you think about it?”
“It’s not at all funny to me,” Dorothy said firmly. “I don’t want them believing that you and I are interested in one another in that way. We’re not.”
The smile faded from Nathaniel’s face. “I know we’re not,” he said. “I didn’t suggest that it was real between the two of us. I said the opposite. It’s not real, but it’s amusing.”
“Well, it doesn’t amuse me,” Dorothy said. “I’ve tried to tell them there’s nothing between us, but they don’t listen to me, and I don’t find it enjoyable to be disregarded in that way.”
He crossed his arms. He looked rather displeased, which made Dorothy wonder what the matter was. He agreed with her. He thought they would make a foolish couple. What did he have to look so unhappy about?
“Very well,” he said, his voice clipped. “In that case, perhaps we should get down to the business we’re here to see to. I wouldn’t want to give your sisters any more false ideas.”
He really did sound unhappy. Angry, almost. She wanted to ask him what was bothering him, to insist that he explain himself, but there was an awkward sort of tension in the air and she found herself unable to say the words.
“All right,” she agreed. “Let’s do it, then.”
After all, whether he was behaving angrily or not, he was right in what he was saying. They would be better served by getting this done quickly, making sure they gave Honora and Abigail as little as possible to feed their gossip.
The only thing Dorothy didn’t understand was how Nathaniel could justify looking at her that way, as if she had done something wrong.
Doesn’t he understand that I’m doing all this to protect us both?