Page 22 of The Duke’s Matchmaker

“I can assure you, I don’t. I have no desire to glory in the misfortunes of others,” she said. “It would suit me best if this whole matter was resolved quickly, with as little trouble as possible. But that isn’t going to happen if you think any attempts to help you speak to a lady are nothing more than attempts at sabotage. Do you think you shouldn’t speak to her? Is that why you mistrust my guidance?”

“Well, everyone knows that you shouldn’t speak to a lady you wish to court as you would a friend.” He was clearly frustrated.

“In some circumstances, you should,” she corrected. “The two things really aren’t that different, Nathaniel.”

“How would you know about it? You have no experience in courting a lady.”

“I have experience in being a lady,” she retorted. “I know how I like to be spoken to.”

“And how can you be so sure that other ladies share your perspective on the subject?”

She lifted her chin. “I know it the same way I know everything else you’ve asked me about and trusted me to answer,” she said. “I know it because I pay attention when I go out in society. I see the way the most charming men speak to the ladies they wish to pursue. It’s the same way they speak to gentlemen they wish to befriend. You want her to take an interest in the things you say, and you want her to feel as if you’re listening to her when she speaks. That’s really all there is to it.”

He shook his head. “There must be more to it than that,” he argued. “There’s some element to all this that I don’t understand, something I’m not putting together. I need to be able to experience flirtation in a setting with no consequences. I need to test myself and discover whether I possess the ability, and to hone it if I do.”

“You’re asking me how to be flirtatious,” Dorothy realized.

“I suppose I’m asking you to…help me practice the skill.”

A thrill ran down her spine at the idea, but she maintained her calm. “And if I do that…are you going to trust me?” She asked him. “Or if you hear something you don’t like, are you just going to accuse me of sabotaging you again? Tell me that I couldn’t possibly know what I’m talking about?”

“I shouldn’t have said that.” Nathaniel met her eyes for the first time since they had come out into the hall. “I’m prepared to trust you moving forward, even if it is difficult sometimes. I know that you know better than I do when it comes to matters of the heart, and I asked you for your help for a reason. I’m going to take your advice, whatever it might be.”

His tone was gruff, and she could tell it had been difficult for him to say all that. And yet, he had said it. He had managed to do something that put him in a difficult and vulnerable position.

There’s hope for him yet, maybe.

She sighed. “I do want to help you,” she told him.

“I need your help. I need to know how to talk to a lady.”

“We can’t play out a flirtation here in this hallway,” she told him. “Anyone might see us. We’ll have to reconvene and do this another time. Which is unfortunate, because you’re going to miss your chance with Lady Isabelle today.”

“I think we can agree that’s been pretty well bungled already,” Nathaniel said, letting out a chuckle.

Dorothy couldn’t help it. She laughed too. “I doubt she has any memory of you at all, you made so little impression,” she said. “But at least you didn’t frighten her off! If you see her at a future event, you may be able to try again. I’ll put some thought into how you should approach her. It’s difficult to put it into words off the top of my head like this, but if I spend some time pondering it, I’m sure I can give you instructions.”

He let out a sigh. “Thank you,” he said. “I know this is quite a lot to ask.”

She was about to tell him no. It wouldn’t have been true. He was entirely right that his request was more than she had anticipated it being. And yet, she found, she didn’t want him to feel as if he was imposing on her. Somewhere along the way, she’d found that she actually wanted to help.

She never got to say it.

A man in a footman’s livery came running up to them. “Your Grace,” he said, barely sparing a glance for Dorothy. “I’ve just come from the house—it’s about young master Colin.”

“Colin?” Nathaniel snapped to attention, his focus turning to the footman as though Dorothy wasn’t even there. “What about him?”

“He’s ill, Your Grace. He has a fever of some kind. We don’t know what it is. One of the other footmen has gone to fetch the physician. But I thought it best if you came home right away.”

“Thank you,” Nathaniel said, his face white with sudden fear. “I’m on my way.”

And his hand shot out to grab Dorothy’s.

CHAPTER 12

Nathaniel’s heart pounded madly as he ran toward the carriage. Colin.

He wasn’t equipped to care for a child. Of course he wasn’t. How many times had he told himself this? How many nights had he lain awake, sure that something like this would inevitably happen and that he wouldn’t know what to do about it? And to think that it finally had happened, and he hadn’t even been home…that Colin had been left in the hands of the staff at the time he had needed Nathaniel most of all…