Page 28 of The Duke’s Matchmaker

Dorothy looked at him for a moment, and Nathaniel’s own words registered in his ears. When we give him breakfast. It made it sound as though he was assuming Dorothy would still be here at breakfast time, but of course he didn’t think that. It was kind enough of her to have stayed as long as she had. He knew he would need to see to it, very soon, that he made the arrangements to get her back home.

He led her to his study and left the door open, wondering whether she might feel awkward about being alone in there with him. It seemed as though far too much had already happened to start worrying about propriety now, but it was still her decision.

“I’m awfully sorry to have you here so late,” he said. “If you’d like, I’ll arrange for a carriage to take you home at once.”

“I’m not in any particular hurry,” she told him. “It’s already dark outside, so it’s not as if I have to beat the sunset. I’ll just go home whenever you and I feel as if we’re finished talking.”

“Will anyone at home be worrying about you?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I live on my own. Or rather, my staff lives with me, and they’re accustomed to me keeping odd hours from time to time. They’ll no doubt assume I’ve gone to one of my sisters’ homes. I’ll even say something to that effect when I get home, though I won’t specify which sister, so no one will ever be able to clarify the truth or falsehood of what I’ve said.”

Nathaniel smirked. “I didn’t realize you were in the habit of carrying out such subterfuge.”

Dorothy laughed as well. “I wouldn’t say that,” she said. “But I knew when I came back here with you that I would need to come up with a story. A way to explain where I had been, and why. My staff never ask too many questions about what I’m doing or why. They’re loyal to me, and they know that it doesn’t show much loyalty to question me.”

“You’re lucky, in that,” Nathaniel said. “I suppose you must have a lot more freedom than most young ladies do.”

Her gaze became distant. “Yes,” she agreed. “In…some ways, I suppose, I am lucky.”

He didn’t know how to respond to that. She had made no secret of the fact that she preferred her life as a spinster and a wallflower, and that she wasn’t making any attempt to marry. Was it so bad that he’d suggested she was lucky to have that life, given that it was the one she wanted for herself?

And yet, he could see that he had hurt her with what he’d said. He turned away to give her a moment to compose herself and pulled out a bottle of scotch.

Maybe what they both really needed right now was something to drink.

CHAPTER 15

Dorothy watched in open surprise as Nathaniel handed her a glass of liquor. She’d assumed, she realized, that he was pouring the drink only for himself. After a moment’s hesitation, she accepted it.

“Go slowly,” he said, possibly noticing the hesitation on her face. “If you’re not used to the drink, it will go to your head quickly, and you don’t want that. Little sips.”

She nodded and raised it to her lips.

She was no stranger to liquor, but he was right to have warned her. This was stronger than anything she’d tasted before. She lowered the glass quickly, feeling the warm rush of it pass through her and knowing that if she had much more she would lose control of herself. She sank into a chair and set the glass on the table beside her. “Thank you for your hospitality,” she said.

“I’m the one who should be thanking you,” Nathaniel countered. “Sitting with Colin all that time while I spoke to the physician. I can’t tell you how worried I was for him. Even now, having heard that he’s going to be all right…even now, I still worry.”

“You’re a good brother,” Dorothy said gently. “Bringing him into your life like you did.”

“Well, I had no choice,” Nathaniel murmured. He took a long swallow of his drink and then set it down.

“No choice?” Dorothy repeated. “Did your mother leave some sort of stipulation that he was to go to you after her death? Because that seems awfully unfair, given the fact that you didn’t even know he existed. You would think if she wanted you to be in each other’s lives, she would have made the arrangements for that before her passing.”

“My mother wasn’t really in my life either,” Nathaniel said. “I mentioned to you that she left my father. Well, that happened when I was quite young. Not much older than Colin is now, as a matter of fact.”

“Oh.” Dorothy’s stomach clenched at the thought. “That’s awful. How could any mother leave a child so small?”

“It’s all right. It really wasn’t her fault,” Nathaniel said, looking away for a moment. A muscle in his cheek twitched with emotion, and Dorothy thought perhaps he was trying to compose himself before they continued the conversation.

He cleared his throat. “My father was a brutal man,” he said. “I would never have expected my mother to stay with him. I know he was violent with her. Of course, I didn’t understand all this as a child, but when I got older and thought back on the things I had witnessed in my youth, I knew it to be true. He was awful to her. And as I got older, he was very rough with me as well, though I quickly became big enough to avoid the worst of his wrath. Acting that way toward a woman, toward his wife, was much worse. Much less forgivable. So, I never blamed my mother for leaving, though of course I wished she had stayed. In the end, she did what she had to do.”

Dorothy nodded slowly, trying to imagine it. It was so selfless of him to think of things in that way, and she hadn’t realized that was who he was. He had forgiven his mother completely. She could hear no anger in his voice, no betrayal.

“She didn’t plan for you to take Colin in, then?” Dorothy asked.

“I don’t know what arrangements she would have made if she’d had the time,” Nathaniel said. “Perhaps she would have reached out to me. I never knew much of her as a mother, of course, but I find it hard to believe that any woman could be happy with her child going to a charity institution, and she knew I was out there somewhere. Maybe she would have sent Colin elsewhere if given the chance, but I’m not aware that he had any other family.”

“Yes, you mentioned that his father had died before his birth,” she said.