“I’ll be sure to tell Cecily about it,” he assured him. “My wife has no more clue about being a duchess than I have about being the Queen of Sheba, and I don’t think I care to teach her.”
His turn of phrase set the elderly baronet off into fresh peals of laughter.
“Damned right, young man. When you find a good woman, you love her just as she is, don’t you?”
“Quite,” Nathaniel agreed uncomfortably, suddenly taken back to that awkward moment in the kitchens the other evening when Lilian had asked Cecily if she loved him.
Cecily had completely changed the subject without any apparent reaction, saving them both from awkwardness. Yes, she was a good woman indeed.
“Euphemia?” Sir Charles called out merrily as they walked in through the front door. “Are you there, Euphemia? The Duke of Greyhaven has come to call. Bring out the best sherry!”
A small, well-rounded woman, just as jolly as her husband, bustled out of the parlor and threw up her hands with an expression of surprised delight.
“Why, Your Grace, what have you been up to? As if we couldn’t guess, but we haven’t heard a peep from Greyhaven Park since Mrs. Barnes sent over that generous slice of wedding cake. Now, there was a surprise! You must tell me everything about the new Duchess of Greyhaven, for I hear that she is already esteemed in the neighborhood and supporting all kinds of good causes.”
With a laugh at the old lady’s energy and volubility, Nathaniel bowed his head. The couple had known him since he was a boy and never complained when he trespassed on their land or even helped himself to fruit from their orchards.
“I would be delighted to tell you everything you wish to know, Lady Bath, if you would tell me which question I should start answering.”
Two hours later, Nathaniel was sprawled on the couch in Sir Charles’s old-fashioned but comfortable drawing room, full of sherry, roast chicken, buttered vegetables, and a supposedly“light” white wine that had gone to his head even more than the sherry.
While much of the conversation was carried by Lady Bath, who required only occasional grunts, yeses, and nos from her husband or guest, they had managed to cover the recent history of both families to her satisfaction. Now she returned to the subject of the new Duchess.
“An orphan herself,” she clucked sympathetically. “No wonder she is keen to support the orphanage. Well, they’re very lucky to have her patronage.”
“Cecily has great sympathy and understanding for children,” Nathaniel remarked. “I wish I did!”
Both of his hosts appeared to find his remark hilarious, to the point where he laughed himself, almost convinced that he had said something unintentionally funny. Then, the carriage clock on the mantelpiece struck three, and something stirred in his brain.
“Three o’clock,” he said aloud, knowing that this was significant but not quite understanding why.
“Yes, Your Grace. That is the time,” Sir Charles chortled. “Well, this has been a merry few hours.”
Nathaniel nodded absently and rose to his feet, a sense of urgency and foreboding lurking at the back of his mind.
I feel like I am forgetting something important.
“Oh, you have to excuse me. I was meant to listen to Lilian’s piano recital at three!” he suddenly exclaimed, striking himself on the forehead.
“Dear me!” Lady Bath gasped, also rising to her feet. “Shall we get you the carriage? You ought not to be riding too quickly after such a luncheon.”
“No, thank you. I must go home,” Nathaniel replied, already hurrying to the front door with Sir Charles close beside him. “It’s quicker to ride, and my horse knows the way.”
Befuddled, he tried to recall how far the distance was from here to Greyhaven Park. It was not a journey he had ever tried to make at speed. It was surely less than half an hour, but even that was too long.
It seemed to take forever for the groom to fetch his horse from the stables and check the saddle. Then, with the carefulness of a man who knew he had had too much sherry and did not want to make a fool of himself, he slowly swung himself up into the saddle.
After calling a last brief thank you and farewell to Sir Charles and Lady Bath, he set off for home as fast as was realistic after such a generous meal.
* * *
“Where have you been?” Cecily demanded furiously, rushing out of the drawing room to catch him in the hallway as soon as he came bounding up the front steps.
“Where’s Lilian?” he answered, too focused on his main objective to properly hear her question. “I came back to hear her recital. Is she still in the music room?”
“It’s almost four o’clock, Nathaniel!” she shouted at him. “We waited for you until half past three. You said you would be here. I promised Lilian you would be here, and you disappointed us again!”
Her words struck him hard. He might have protested, but there was no arguing against this.
