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David was the first to reach him, smirking and clapping him on the shoulder. “Well done, and congratulations! I’d thought there was some manner of interest brewing with the way you’ve been brooding these past weeks.”
Have I truly been so transparent?But he had no time to contemplate the matter further as the others joined in.
Samuel nodded. “She is a pretty little miss. She’ll be a fine bride.”
Ralph was staring at Nora, but he grinned as he added his own words. “A beautiful young maid. She’ll do well for you, I wager. Congratulations.”
Arthur forced a smirk onto his face. “Well, I don’t disagree, but as it happens, I haven’t yet heard from the lady on the matter.” He turned to Nora.
The rage and disgust in her face nearly set him back on his heels and shook him from his complacent smugness with all the force of a shock of icy water to the face. Her eyes were fairly snapping with blue fire as she drew herself up. “I see you have finally remembered me.”
He gathered his composure enough to smile confidently. “I never forgot you, darling Nora. Though I note you have not yet given me an answer.”
“An answer? An answer, Your Grace?” The words were ground out through gritted teeth. Her gaze flicked to his mother, and she clearly reined in her tongue before stalking closer.
The words she hissed were no less full of fury for all their low volume. “If you think I will ever agree to this... to being your little plaything and trophy wife… then you are sorely mistaken.”
And with that, she turned on her heels and left through the terrace doors closest to the tables, leaving him standing bemused and not entirely easy with the way things were transpiring.
* * *
The chill wind was bracing and a welcome shock after the stuffiness of the ballroom. It served to help cool her temper as well as the heat of her blushes.
But it wasn’t just temper and embarrassment singing through her blood and causing her hands to shake with fine tremors.
It washim. The man who’d approached to greet and congratulate the Duke of Bedford. It was a face she could never forget, not if she lived to see the sun rise and set on a hundred Seasons.
If she’d known the Duke of Bedford was associates, let alone friends with him, she’d never have agreed to be within the estate for any Society function. And if she’d known that the Duke himself was going to toy with her, like a cheap escort for hire, she’d have politely excused herself from the evening festivities.
For that matter, she wasn’t entirely sure she’d have accepted the position with the Dowager in the first place had she known what sort of company her son kept.
“Well, it looks like you’ve done quite well for yourself.” The last voice she wanted to hear broke the quiet of the terrace. She spun around to face the man lounging by the terrace doors.
“I beg your pardon?” It was all she could do to keep her voice steady and her words civil.
“You’ve done well for yourself. When last I heard from you... well, I’m sure you remember it better than I.” He waved a hand, the glow from inside glinting off his dark hair. “But look now. You’ve gone and caught yourself the eye of a Duke. Not a bad match, all things considered.”
She bit her lip on a sharp retort, knowing she could not afford to offend the Duke’s friends, even if he had proposed. She doubted he was serious in any case.
After a moment, the smug look left his features. He turned away. “Well, I suppose if you’re here... you kept the babe, then?”
Concern flared hot and bright in her stomach, and she clenched her fist in the fabric of her skirts. With an effort, she managed to keep her voice and face both impassive and faced him coolly, determined to give him no clue as to her feelings or her affairs. “The babe... you’ve no need to concern yourself with the babe, sir. There’s no babe a little savin cannot take care of. Would that the disgrace were so easily mended as a pregnancy.”
She saw the shock clear on his face and took the opportunity to make her way past him. “If you will excuse me.”
I will not let him find out about Lydia.Better he should think she’d miscarried and left home to escape the shame of nearly having a child out of wedlock. Better still, if he assumed she’d induced the miscarriage, too ashamed to even consider keeping his child.
She hoped to be able to leave the estate and the uncomfortable situation the night had become, but the Dowager was waiting just inside the terrace doors. “Nora, dear.”
She forced herself to stop, unwilling to scorn her benefactress, whatever part the woman had played in the night’s events. She might think the Duke was only toying with her, but she was fairly certain the Dowager was sincere and meant her intervention kindly. “Your Grace.”
“I know you have been rather blindsided by the turn of events, dear. I suspect we all have, even my rascal of a son. But I would appreciate it if you would stay until the evening is over, so we might sort things out properly and come to some formal arrangement.”
She swallowed hard. She wanted nothing more than to return home and to her daughter—to put the night behind her. Dawn and the next working day would come soon enough, she feared.
Nor was she interested in any kind of ‘formal’ arrangement with the Duke. Not of the sort he had proposed, and the Dowager was no doubt entertaining consideration for. She honestly had no idea why the woman was even considering the obviously spur-of-the-moment and outrageous proposal her son had made.
Still, the Dowager had been kind to her, even to the point of permitting her to live in lodgings away from the estate. Most employers preferred that their servants live on the estate, to avoid any potential scandals or servants being coaxed into different situations.
