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Nora returned home to find Scarlett waiting impatiently. “Nora. How was it, darling?”
“It was tolerable.” Nora looked around, surprised not to see her daughter sitting at the table. “Where is Lydia?”
“She was tired when I brought her home and a wee bit warm. I sent her to bed with some chamomile tea with a bit of steeped willow bark. Should let the wee one rest, and God willing, it’s naught but a symptom of the changing weather.”
Scarlett’s gaze sharpened. “And do not think you’ll get out of my question so easily. After the way that harridan in the shop treated you…” Scarlett trailed off, her stormy expression promising dire consequences if she happened to encounter the dressmaker again. “Did you have a chance to acquire a dress for tomorrow? Did you have any other problems? Was that Duke a gentleman?” Her tone indicated she had no intention of being put off.
To distract herself and attempt to maintain her composure, Nora drifted over to the bed. Lydia was there, laid in a boneless sprawl. Her cheeks were a little flushed and slightly warm to the touch, and she seemed to be sleeping soundly. Nora sent up a prayer of her own that Scarlett was right and it was only a temporary ailment from the changing weather.
Scarlett was still watching her expectantly, waiting for an answer. Nora sighed and found words she hoped would placate her friend. “It was... it went well. I shall have proper attire for dinner tomorrow, at any rate.” Her cheeks felt hot, remembering again what else had transpired.
Her blush must have shown on her face because Scarlett’s gaze sharpened. “What else?” She drew Nora to sit next to her. “Come now. I know that expression.”
Nora swallowed, forced to confront the things she had tried to avoid thinking of but also unwilling to push Scarlett away. She twisted a bit of her skirt in her fingers as she sought the words to explain. “I... when we returned to the estate, the Duke.. Arthur, I mean... he asked to speak with me. In private. I agreed.”
“And?”
“We argued. And then he was kissing me, and... other things happened.”
“Nora… you didn’t…”
“No. Not that. But…” Her cheeks flamed hot enough to rival the fire in the hearth. “He has many talents, no doubt learned from all the lovers he has had. And he offered me... he called it a sample of what he might bring to a courtship or a marriage bed.”
“Well, now that is interesting. And did he please you?”
She might catch fire, or her blush might never subside, with the heat in her cheeks and the back of her neck. “He... he did, yes. And... and he took no pleasure himself.”
“Did he not? I’ll wager he found pleasure enough, Nora dear, even if it were only the memory after. But still, that he took no advantage... I suppose it does speak well of him, even if he is still something of a scoundrel, I think.”
“I know. And so I told him when he asked. But even so...” Nora swallowed back the sudden sting of tears in her eyes and bile in her throat. “Even so…”
She shuddered suddenly, her mood giving way to soft, shivery breaths that were not quite tears.
She felt Scarlett’s arm settle soothingly around her shoulders. “What is it, darling?”
“I fear... I fear... I feel as if I may be losing my heart to him. He was... this morning, when we danced... and then, he came for us in his carriage... and he offered you a ride... and he was so gentle, so kind, even when I angered him…”
She leaned into Scarlett’s warm shoulder. “And he said... he said he did not want a marriage in name only any longer. He said he wanted a true union, one of equal partnership, and he said he wanted to know all of me.”
“Oh, love.” Scarlett’s voice was sympathetic as her hand stroked soothingly up and down Nora’s back.
“And all I can think of is Lydia. And I do not know what to do.” She exhaled a shaky breath. Now that the worst of her worries were out in the open, she felt somewhat better, though drained.
“Well, I wager it’s simple enough if we take it in steps.” Scarlett’s voice was still sympathetic but brisk, reminding Nora of that long ago night in the rain when the red-haired model had taken in and comforted a frightened, pregnant young girl standing on a street corner. “The first step is... do you still intend to go through with this marriage?”
That did not take much thinking to answer. “Yes. I do.”
"And you think you might be falling in love with your Duke?"
"Yes. Though my heart would be far safer if it were not so." She swallowed against a hard lump in her throat and the feeling that she'd swallowed ice.
"I rather doubt that, but leaving that aside… is your Duke such a poor manner of a man? Uncouth? Dirty? Foul-tempered? Ugly?" Scarlett's tone was somewhat reproving as if she expected Arthur to have all those faults and more besides.
Nora felt a spark of defensive anger come to life. "You know well he is none of those things. And I would not have him if I suspected he bore such faults in his manner."
"Then what's your fear, Nora, love?"
She swallowed again and twined her fingers together to still their trembling. "I fear what Arthur might say upon meeting Lydia or if I were to reveal her existence. Mayhap Arthur has no faults to his character that time and experience and a woman's touch may not mend… but I cannot know."
