“Slippery slope, old friend. If you don’t delegateanything, then where draw the line? You don’t want to wake up one morning and find that life has passed you by, do you?”
Nathan flinched at that. He bit the inside of his cheek, looking away.
“That’s the sort of thing my mother would say,” he muttered, “as a way to convince me to marry Miss Davenport.”
Henry shrugged. “Perhaps you should listen to her. About not letting your life pass you by, that is not marrying Miss Davenport. I’m not sure you’d be a match.”
“No, nor I.”
“Let’s talk of happier things,” Henry said, after a while. “Have you made any new acquaintances tonight?”
Nathan perked up a little. “As a matter of fact, I have.”
“Oh, do tell?”
“She didn’t properly introduce herself.”
Henry grinned. “Ahh, ashe? How thrilling. Pray, continue.”
“I think she’s quite an original. Pippa Randall, I believe. That is, her mother is Lady Randall, so I assume…” he broke off as Henry gave a bark of laughter.
“Oh, what a coincidence!” he chuckled. “Nathan, Pippa Randall – she’s a plain miss – is my cousin.”
“What? You are jesting.”
“I am not. Lady Randall is Aunt Bridget, and they came up from the countryside only a few days ago. They stayed with William for a while, but of course Will and Lavinia aren’t socialising much, so they’ve come to Kat. We plan to spring her on Society for the rest of the Season.” Henry paused, tilting his head thoughtfully. “You like her, do you not?”
Nathan felt himself flushing like a schoolboy.
“I… I hardly know,” he confessed. “I enjoyed our conversation. Generally, I find idle conversation to be an ordeal – you know my disposition – yet she was… she was unlike any other. It is difficult to articulate the reason. I should not be reluctant to encounter her again.”
Henry shot him a shrewd glance. “Well, I can vouch for it, my cousin is a likeable sort of girl. I should warn you, before things go much further, that she has no money and nobody beside us to protect her. Her mother is widowed, and her father was not a rich man at the best of times. Aunt Bridget was cut off when she married him. You know what father was like.”
There was no mistaking the way Henry’s voice hardened when he saidfather, spitting out the word like a curse.
Nathan nodded slowly, placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“Indeed, I know.”
“Anyway,” Henry continued, “Will might settle something on her, but then again, he might not.”
“I don’t care about that,” Nathan continued honestly. “I… I just think I would like to see her again.”
“In that case, I shall have you two sitting together,” Henry announced, grinning.
“Is that allowed?”
He leaned closer, nudging Nathan’s shoulder. “The hostess is rather fond of me. I shall flutter my eyelashes and request it as a favour, and I bet she’ll oblige.”
Nathan rolled his eyes, chuckling. “The hostess is your sister. If anything, that would make herlesslikely to oblige you, not more so.”
“Wretch. Just wait and see, eh? Wait and see.”
Chapter Seven
Pippa twisted around, looking back over her shoulder at Lord Whitmore. He was watchingher, a realisation which sent shivers down her spine.
She’d seen a good many handsome men in her time, and many of them were here tonight. But there was somethingdifferentabout Lord Whitmore. He had an ordinary enough face, to be sure, but something lit him up from within. There was an animation in his eyes which she hadn’t seen in the others, something that drew her gaze like a magnet.
