Page 32 of To Steal a Kiss

“Will Nate be there?”

Matilda shook her head. “He stayed at the club last night and sent a note saying not to expect him until this evening.”

Alice nodded. No doubt he was counting his blessings. No, that was unfair. He’d feel wretched, she knew that. He was a good man and wanted to do the right thing. She just wanted to explain to him that it wasn’t necessary.

Matilda moved closer to her and laid a hand on her arm. “Have you changed your mind, Alice?” she asked in an undertone.

Alice shook her hand, tugging on her gloves and wriggling her fingers until each one was snug. “No.”

She heard a sigh and looked up to find Matilda staring at her in frustration.

“But why, love? He’s a good man and we would be sisters. Don’t you like him at all?”

That made her laugh a little. She didn’t think there was a woman with a pulse who wouldn’t like Nathaniel Hunt; he was inherently likable.

“I do like him,” she admitted, turning to smile at Matilda. “Too much to trap him into marriage.”

Matilda gaped at her. “Oh, Alice! Is that what you think? You goose. The poor man was in pieces last night. I don’t know what you’ve done, but he said meeting you was like being hit by the mail coach.”

Alice stared at her, uncomprehending.

In pieces? Nate? Hit by the mail coach?

“What are you talking about?” Alice asked, blinking in confusion. “You make it sound like I broke your brother.”

Matilda threw up her hands. “You did, Alice. His heart at least.” She lowered her voice to a whisper and tugged Alice closer. “He’s in love with you. He was going to ask you to marry him last night, before Bindley came into the room.”

Alice opened her mouth and closed it again. “That’s… that’s not—”

“Don’t you tell me it’s not possible or true, or whatever words were about to come out of your mouth,” Matilda warned, sounding rather stern. “I know my brother. I saw him when he got home. He means it, Alice. He loves you, and the way you turned him down made him think you don’t care a straw for him.”

“Oh!” Alice said, feeling a little giddy as her heartbeat gathered speed. “But that’s not true, I do care a straw. Lots of straws. Stacks of them, or is it stooks?” she said, knowing she was gibbering but not entirely certain how to stop.

Matilda took her hands and squeezed them. “I’m so relieved, Alice. I felt certain it was a misunderstanding.”

Alice nodded and then frowned a little. “Only—”

“Only?” Matilda repeated, her smile reassuring.

“Only he doesn’t know me at all, not really. It’s all very sudden, isn’t it? Two meetings, Matilda?” she added, knowing this was nothing short of folly. The man must be deranged, or at least… ill. Perhaps he’d hallucinated her into something more… well, more. Did he have a temperature? She should at least check. “Maybe, when he knows me….”

She trailed off, anxiety plucking at her heart with sharp little claws.

“When he does, he’ll love you all the more, I’m certain.”

Matilda did sound as if she was certain, which was reassuring, but….

“He needs to be sure. We both do,” Alice said, feeling breathless. “But we have three weeks, don’t we? We can meet and take that time… to be certain.”

Matilda took her arm as they headed for the front door, pausing a moment to say goodbye to Ruth and the other ladies.

“Nate is already certain, Alice,” she said, tugging Alice out onto the street. “And you must marry. There is no choice in the matter, but I don’t think spending time with him is a bad idea if it reassures you.”

Alice was still feeling rather dazed, and suspected it would take a good deal longer than three weeks to convince her that a man like Nathaniel Hunt loved her and wasn’t either experiencing some manner of fevered phantasm, or simply an excess of chivalrous sentiments. Still, she kept such opinions to herself.

“Mr Bindley was right about one thing,” she said, lowering her voice and feeling wretched about having to say it at all, but she had to warn Matilda. “My parents….” she said, mortified and not knowing how to say that they would never consent to a marriage between her and Nate. “They really are the most dreadful snobs,” she said, wanting to curl up and die.

How did you tell your friend that your parents though her brother was beneath contempt?