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“You’ve missed little of consequence,” the Earl opined afterwards.
“Oh?” Nicholas asked with deceptive calm. “WhatdidI miss?”
“The likelihood of red-haired children, were you to mate.”
The image of Helen holding their daughter in her arms appeared in his mind, the girl’s russet tresses making him grin.
The air rushed from his lungs as he leaned onto his thighs.
“Ah, clarity,” David said crisply, seemingly in no doubt as to what he had just witnessed, even if he didn’t know its direction.
“Bloody hell. My parents were right.”
“About?” David drawled.
“My mother has guessed when I’ve…grown close to a woman, even if she didn’t know who. Sometimes, I expected her to push me to marry. But she always said I would know when the time was right—not because the situation was perfect. When I didn’t care that it wasn’t.”
The Earl’s eyes flared in horror. “When you can suspend reason, in other words.”
“Indeed.” As the realization washed over him, Nicholas knew great relief. Suddenly, his visceral resistance to his parents’s wishes began melting away. It was embarrassing to admit it, but he had, in part, resisted his attraction to Helenbecausehis parents encouraged him to pursue her. “You know my parents aren’t subtle.”
“No, they are not.”
“My mother believes God himself brought Helen to me.”
Aghast, David eyed him. “Good God, man, so do you!”
God. The Fates. The universe.Yes. “Perhaps.”
“The list of difficulties you just acknowledged in the light of day. It means nothing?”
“Not nothing. It’s just…”I want nothing more to hear what she’s going to say next. To be in her presence when she blushes. When she smiles. Scowls. Gives me any reaction at all.His hands closed. How they itched to explore the dips and curves of her body. How he wanted to discover the color and taste of her nipples.
“So you’ve decided?”
Looking up after the Earl’s dry observation, he nodded. Rolling his shoulders, he discovered that the tension gripping him earlier had eased considerably. “You were spot on, David. With my decision made, much of the misery has lifted.”
“And the decision is…?”
“I’m not fighting Fate anymore.” Despite his efforts to check his smile, it only grew as he thought of Helen.
“You’ll be courting her?”
“With time. I have a hole to dig out of first. Damn. She’s—she’s been mistreated before. I have to earn her trust, especially after that collateral business.Shemust decide if she wants to be courted. I must do my utmost to convince her she does.”
David’s chin lifted. “Send her to me, should she have any doubts. While I can’t endorse the wisdom of any courtship, let alone this one, I do have something to say on the matter of your trustworthiness. A more honorable man cannot be found.”
Nicholas dipped his head, smiling at his friend’s tactlessness combined with his support. There was a comfort in knowing exactly where one stood. “I’ve no need of your assistance with Helen, but thank you.”
Staring at him with resignation, the Earl eventually nodded. “The suffering has lessened, but I suspect the distraction will persist. Do keep it to a minimum.”
“I’ll try,” Nicholas said wryly.
But his thoughts were already straying tothat American woman.
∞∞∞
Nicholas faced the first test of his newfound resolve that very night.
