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Fine dark brows drew down. “You will claim Robert only recently came to live at the Hall?”
“We will be vague and allow others to draw that conclusion. For a time after Papa’s death, Robert did not know he’d been declared dead—that much is quite true—and I did not know my brother was alive—also true. The only element of discretion we will apply to the facts regards the timing of Robert’s return.”
“Discretion.” Althea remained silent while Nathaniel tied the ribbon at the bottom of her braid. “And what of the Crown? What becomes of the title?”
Nathaniel went down on one knee, the better to look Althea in the eye as they had this difficult discussion.
“The more secluded Robert’s life is, the more he’s at risk to be taken advantage of. You made me see that. You refused to allow Lady Phoebe to send you into exile, though that would have been the easier course. She would either reveal herself before the entire shire for the spiteful creature she is, or she’d learn to behave decently toward her neighbors.
“You called the tune,” Nathaniel said, taking Althea’s hand, “because you chose the battleground not of public opinion, but of simple decency. A duke who’s never seen, who eschews good society, has far more to fear from public opinion than a duke who goes about his business taking a few precautions to accommodate a quirk of his health.”
“And you think Robert can be that duke?” She brushed her hand over his lapel, smoothing the slight wrinkle where his boutonniere had been. “The duke whose mental and physical competence is regularly on display?”
“Not immediately, but he can strive toward that goal. He attended your ball, and that was a leap away from the role of the cowering invalid. He cannot return to the fiction of death. I won’t allow it.”
The compulsion to be more than Althea’s lady’s maid had been growing since she’d appeared in the doorway, a tired vision in bronze silk. This discussion was important, but Nathaniel was increasingly distracted by the sheer need to touch her.
“How does your brother know my sister?” Althea asked, drawing the pin from Nathaniel’s cravat. “Robert and Constance were having a conversation that was intended to look cordial, but I know my sister. She was clinging to her composure by a slender thread.”
Althea set aside the cravat pin and drew the signet ring from Nathaniel’s finger. She wasundressing him, and that had to bode well for a former false duke on bended knee in a lady’s boudoir.
“At this moment, Althea, I am clinging to my composure by force of will alone. I have no idea how Constance and Robert might have met, but he has ever had private correspondence into which I do not pry. You want more than a neighborly connection with me, Althea, and I want more than that from you too. Much more.”
She untied his neckcloth and piled it with his cravat pin and ring on the vanity. “Our situation will be complicated. We cannot abandon Robert, but he must make his own way. My family will try to meddle.”
Our situation.How Nathaniel loved the sound of that.
Next, she started on the buttons of his evening coat, which was difficult when he knelt before her, so he stood and offered her a hand.
“I was hoping the Wentworth family would add their support to Mama’s efforts when it comes to managing the gossip. Robert should eventually present himself at court, there are writs to sort out, letters patent that might require re-issuance. His Grace of Walden mentioned an acquaintance at the College of Arms who could be helpful.”
None of which Nathaniel cared two groats about at the moment. He was in Althea’s bedroom, her hand in his, and she was apparently undaunted by all that lay ahead. Truly, he had given his heart to the right woman.
Althea rose and looped her arms around Nathaniel’s waist. “This will be challenging, to navigate the whispers, deal with family, and aid Robert.”
Her embrace wasn’t seductive so much as weary, which Nathaniel could well understand. “I welcome the challenge, Althea, provided you welcome it too. You were right that the deception had served its purpose, and right that Robert was capable of more. So am I. I am capable of loving both you and my brother, and I want more too.”
She sighed, relaxing against him. “More?”
“My mother’s company at frequent intervals. The occasional winter spent someplace other than Yorkshire. Mostly, though, I want you, and I am willing to beg you for the honor of your hand in marriage.” He prepared to go down on one knee again, but Althea stopped him.
“Beg me, Nathaniel? Beg me for the honor of my hand?”
“I’m certainly not going to beg any other woman for that honor.”
“Butbegme, Nathaniel?”
He’d bewildered his lady and put a touch of wariness back in her eyes. An explanation was in order—abriefexplanation.
“My late father was so afflicted with pride that he refused to allow even his wife to know of his illness. He was so worried about what the world would think of him that the welfare of his own young son was sacrificed to his arrogance. I could have become him, Althea. Organizing my strange little fiefdom to suit my narrow version of order, telling myself the whole arrangement was done for the benefit of others, when in fact, I was simply being a martinet. I never was the Duke of Rothhaven, nor do I wish to be that man. I am Lord Nathaniel Rothmere, and not too proud to beg for what really matters.”
Althea bundled close. “You need not beg me for the heart I have already given you. I have puzzled out that when a child has to beg for food, any shame attaches to those who pretend not to see her or those who scorn to help her. When a well-established hostess must be begged for common courtesies, so too is she the party deserving of shame. I do have a few demands of you.”
“Anything, provided we can get into that bed in the next five minutes.”
“I want circulating schools in the slums, I want goats to go with my pigs, for goats give milk that can be made into cheese and butter but they don’t require half the grazing a cow does. Goats can live on alley weeds and table scraps. I want—”
Nathaniel kissed her, because she wanted all good things, and because he wantedher. “You want?”
