“The second,” Nick said across the wall. “I left after I finished school and swore I would never return.”
“Must be nice to be able to run off like that.” Nell propped her chin in her hand and sighed. “I think Mama would just find me; she’s better than a bloodhound like that.”
Nick chuckled, “Mamas are like that. I didn’t tell anyone where I was going, and yet I still received letters from my mama.”
“Eleanor,” her mother’s voice was slightly frantic. “What are you doing out in the garden? It’s freezing and you—”
“Coming, Mama,” Nell rose, shaking her skirts down and sighing. “Back to the nonsense.” She looked at the wall. “We should talk again.”
“I’m certain we will.” She could hear the smile in Nick’s voice. “Good night, Nell.”
“Good night, Nick.” She grinned at the wall and headed back towards the light spilling out of the windows of the house.
She’d gotten chilled, but she wasn’t a fainting lady, and all it would take was a cup of warm cider, and she would be fine.
* * *
The nonsense eventually broke up, with the partygoers shrugging back into their coats and fetching their umbrellas and sticks before leaving into the rising light.
Nell was so tired it was stupid, wanting nothing more than to go to bed and rest. But her mama was going to want to rehash her success over breakfast and then try to dragoon Nell into lady lessons that she’d gotten out of a book she’d found in one of the public libraries.
The book was twenty years old, and there was absolutely no chance that any of the lessons were right anymore. If she took those lessons to heart, she was going to come off spectacularly old-fashioned and would probably embarrass herself and her parents.
So rather than go to breakfast, she found their housekeeper and let Greta know that she was going to go and sleep.
“Yes, Miss,” Greta nodded. “I will inform my Lord and my Lady.”
“Thank you, Greta.” Nell shut her eyes briefly. “Please let them know I will see them for supper.”
Greta nodded again and left Nell standing in the middle of the hallway. Left her to walk to her bedroom and wrestle with her party gown until she could kick the pile of it into the corner and crawl into her bed.
She lay there for a while, even though she was exhausted. Her conversation with Nick played through her head. It had been beyond improper, but Nell didn’t care a single drop.
He sounded lonely, and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she was lonely too. She’d left all of her friends behind when her parents had been elevated. So maybe while he was here, and she was trapped, maybe they would become friends.
And when he left, maybe they could write.
Nell sighed before rolling over in her little bed. She would worry about him and everything else when she woke up.
Chapter Three
Nick grinned at the wall. He’d come out here for a little bit of peace but had found the very last thing that he’d ever expected to find. A kindred spirit. Someone as tired and frustrated with the formality and nonsense as he was.
He’d been utterly improper with her, introducing himself to her directly, rather than to her mother, and asking to be permitted an introduction to her daughter. But Nell hadn’t cared, and he had to admit to himself that their brief conversation had actually made him feel quite a bit better.
He settled his heavy coat around his shoulders and headed back inside. Only to be immediately confronted with his mother, who had an elaborately ribboned envelope in her hands.
“Oh no,” he shook his head and tried to step around her. “I absolutely will not be seeing the king.”
“You will.” His Grace appeared behind his mother. “You have been summoned, and you will not disgrace your family.”
Nick shook his head. “I have disgraced no one.” He shot back. “His Majesty shouldn’t even know I’m here, unless one of you told him.” He fixed his now-pale mother with a glare before turning it to his Grace. “I have done all I came here to do. So, I will begin arranging passage back to the subcontinent.”
Even though he knew that there would be no ships this time of year. He knew that there was no ship’s captain who would risk his ship and the lives of his crew sailing the crossing in the teeth of winter.
Nick was stuck here until spring.
He sighed, shook his head and reached for the letter. He denied the urge to tear it in half and stuff it in his Grace’s mouth before he turned and walked away from them without another word.
