Page 24 of The Duke’s Matchmaker

“I see.” Dorothy frowned. “And he has no other family?”

“None that I’m aware of,” Nathaniel said. “I wasn’t aware of Colin himself until after our mother’s passing. She left my father years ago, you see. She and I had no relationship to speak of. I didn’t realize she had entered into another relationship, or that she had another child. But a solicitor contacted me and told me of my mother’s death, and he also let me know she had left a child behind. Colin would have gone to the Foundling Hospital if I hadn’t stepped in, and of course I couldn’t allow that to happen. No matter what might have passed between my mother and myself, he is still my brother.”

“It was kind of you to take him in,” Dorothy said. “And…forgive me if I’m speaking out of turn, Nathaniel, but I don’t think it was only duty that led you to do so. It seems clear to me that you care deeply for Colin. To worry so much upon hearing of his illness…it tells me that you have a deep affection for him.”

“In spite of everything, he is my brother,” Nathaniel agreed. “I can’t help but care for him. When I look at him, it’s as if I’m looking at a younger version of myself, and I want to offer him safety and security. I want him to have a father he can trust, and I suppose that’s what I have to be, since his own father was never in his life.”

“How old did you say he was?”

“He’s five years old. Young enough to feel more like a son to me than a brother,” Nathaniel said. “Young enough that even though he knows in a sense that he and I are brothers, I don’t believe he actually looks at me that way. He’s never had a father or a brother, so he has no way to compare what the two ought to be. But he certainly views me as an authority figure, someone he ought to defer to, even if he has a hard time doing it.”

“Do you mean that he’s disobedient?”

“No, not that. Misbehavior isn’t an issue. Or rather…he does disobey, but it’s not because he wishes to thwart me.” Nathaniel sighed. “I think he just finds it so difficult to settle into the patterns of the new life I am trying to establish for him. He has been so uprooted. Our mother was the only person he knew, the only person he loved or trusted. Now she’s gone, and he has to figure out how to live and find happiness in a world without her. Of course it’s very difficult, and he doesn’t know what to do. No matter what I tell him, no matter how I try to guide him, he resists me…and that’s why I worry so much about his health.”

“You think he’s done something to bring this illness upon himself?”

“He doesn’t eat enough,” Nathaniel explained. “He risks making himself ill by avoiding proper nutrition. I worry about it all the time. I check his plates after they’re sent back to the kitchen, and he has never finished anything. And I know how difficult it is to eat a good meal when you’re feeling nothing but sadness. I want better for him. I just don’t know what I can do about it.”

Dorothy didn’t know either. She ached for Nathaniel, who was clearly working so hard to provide a good life for this brother he had only just recently realized he had. And her heart went out to little Colin, too, who had lost his mother and was struggling to find a way to get through the new structure of his life. He must be in so much pain, day in and day out, trying to cope with his grief.

He must feel so alone.

Nathaniel was clearly a good man. He was doing his best. She believed that. But it was also apparent to her that he was struggling, and that he didn’t know quite how to make a child feel at home. That was the reason he was so desperate for someone to take on the role of mother. He didn’t think he was capable of raising Colin by himself, and he was probably right.

That child needs a mother. And I’m going to make sure he gets one, if it’s the last thing I do.

For now, though, she would stay with Nathaniel as long as she was able. No one was expecting her back. That was one of the few benefits of living on one’s own—there would be nobody who would notice that she was staying out later than she had planned, and nobody who would say anything about it when she arrived home late in the evening. Her indiscretion would go unnoticed. And though spending time alone with a gentleman at his home was certainly the sort of thing that could cause a scandal, she was confident that no one would discover she had done it.

Nathaniel needed a friend today.

Though he hadn’t put it into words, he had asked her to be that friend. First when he had taken her hand and pulled her to the carriage, and again when he had opened up to her about Colin, about their relationship and how they had found one another.

Maybe he hadn’t even realized that he was doing it. But he needed someone by his side, and there was trust in the way he had approached her. She wouldn’t reject him. She couldn’t.

The carriage pulled to a halt in front of a large estate that must have been Nathaniel’s. Dorothy had never seen it before. It was both larger and more run-down than the homes in which her two best friends lived with their husbands. It had a haunted sort of look about it, and it left her feeling startled and uneasy.

But she summoned her courage. She had already made the decision to be here by his side. She wasn’t about to turn back now.

The carriage door was opened, and a footman held out a hand to Dorothy. She took a deep breath, summoned her courage, and allowed herself to be helped down.

CHAPTER 13

Nathaniel was running the moment his feet hit the ground.

He was aware of the fact that he had left Dorothy behind, and a part of him felt ashamed of that fact, but he couldn’t restrain himself. He had to be by Colin’s side. The conversation on the ride home had provided just enough distraction to keep him from going out of his mind, but he couldn’t think of anything else now except his younger brother. The child for whom he had taken responsibility.

I’ve failed him. He wouldn’t be ill if I hadn’t failed him.

He took the stairs two at a time, sprinted down the hallway, and skidded to a halt outside Colin’s bedroom door. It was closed. He wanted to burst in, but he didn’t want to be disruptive. If Colin had managed to fall asleep, it would be better to let him rest. How was he to know what was going on in that room?

The door opened and Helen stepped out. She smiled wearily at the sight of him, but her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Your Grace,” she said. “I’m glad you’re back. I hope you aren’t upset with us for sending for you.”

“Of course not,” Nathaniel said at once. “That was the right thing to do. I always want to know what’s happening with Colin. How long has he been ill?”

“It started in the early evening, but at first I thought he was just having another of his moods,” Helen said. “You know how he can be when he’s not feeling cooperative. I thought perhaps he just needed to be left alone for a few hours…” She sighed. “I regret to say that I went out of the room. I didn’t stay with him. It’s something that has worked in the past; if I show him that I’m not willing to entertain a tantrum, he’ll often straighten up a bit.”

Nathaniel gritted his teeth. Helen knew best, of course, and he didn’t doubt her, but at the same time, it aggravated him to think of his little brother alone and ill. “He shouldn’t have been left to himself.”