when his father said, “You seem to have lost your skill for this game, Nathan.”
“Er, not at all. I’m setting an elaborate trap from which you will not escape.”
Doubt was written all over his father’s face. Another burst of laughter came from across the room, and Nathan’s gaze involuntarily shifted to the merry whist players. After he pulled his vision back to his own disastrous game in progress, he noticed that his father’s attention remained fixed across the room with a speculative expression.
“Remarkable woman,” his father said softly.
Nathan stilled, then barely controlled the urge to look heavenward. It appeared Victoria had made yet another conquest. How bloody delightful. “Remarkable?” he repeated with feigned indifference. “I find her rather… tiresome.” He again resisted the urge to look heavenward, this time to see if a lightning bolt would smite him for uttering such an outrageous lie.
His father’s surprised gaze flicked toward him then resettled again across the room. “I wasn’t aware you’d spent enough time in her company to form such an opinion.”
As far as his peace of mind was concerned, he’d spent far too much time in her company, and before her visit to Cornwall was over, he’d be forced to spend much more time with her. And damn it, he couldn’t wait.
“One need not spend days or weeks with a person to form an opinion, Father. First impressions tend to be fairly accurate.” A frown pulled down Nathan’s brow as he realized that his first impression of Victoria had been that she was utterly… charming. Too innocent for him, too aristocratic, but charming nonetheless.
“I completely agree,” Father said, nodding.
Nathan pulled himself from his brown study. “You agree? With what?”
“What you just said. That it isn’t necessary to know someone very long to realize they are… special.”
“I said
“Perhaps not in those precise words, but that was the idea, yes.”
“You might not need to spend much time, but certainly at least a private conversation is necessary, Father.”
“Again, I agree. We had a delightful chat this morning in the garden, then again this afternoon over tea. Can’t recall the last time I was so delightfully entertained.”
Nathan’s brows puckered further. “I thought you spent this morning with Lady Delia in the garden.”
“And so I did. As I said, a remarkable woman.”
Nathan blinked. “You think
His father looked at him strangely. “Yes. What on earth did you think I was saying? Has your hearing become afflicted along with your chess playing ability?”
No, but clearly his mental capabilities were not all they should be. “I thought you were referring to Lady Victoria,” he muttered.
Father stared at him hard for several seconds. “I see. A man would have to be blind not to notice that Lady Victoria is comely.”
“I never said she wasn’t.”
“No. You said she was tiresome. Chit doesn’t strike me as such. Clearly, neither your brother nor Alwyck find her objectionable, either.” He studied Nathan over the rim of his crystal snifter. “Not the sort of woman you used to be attracted to.”
Damn it all, when had he turned into a book his father could read so accurately? “I wasn’t aware that ‘tiresome’ was synonymous with ‘attracted to,’ ” Nathan said, keeping his tone light.
“Normally it’s not. However, sometimes…” Father’s voice drifted off, then he added, “A woman of her rank is a much better match for Colin. Or Alwyck.”
The bitterness he’d spent years holding at bay twisted Nathan’s lips. “As opposed to an untitled second son who is a lowly country physician with a dubious reputation. I wholeheartedly agree.”
His father’s gaze hardened. “I harbor no objections to your choice of profession. Indeed, being a physician is respectable for a man in your position and far preferable to having you risk your life and your brother’s life as a spy. But I neither approve of nor understand the decisions you’ve made regarding where and how you live and the way you left Cornwall.”
Nathan hiked up one brow. “Little Longstone is a quiet, charming place-”
“Where people pay you with farm animals and you live in a shack.”
“Cottage. It’s a cottage. And not everyone pays me in farm animals. And if you recall, I left here because you ordered me to go.”
A tension-filled silence followed his tersely spoken words. A muscle ticked in his father’s jaw, then he replied in a low voice. “Let’s be honest, Nathan. Angry words were said on both our parts. Yes, I told you to go, but we both know you’re the sort of man who wouldn’t do something you didn’t want to.”
“I’m also not the sort of man to stay where I’m not welcome.”
“Face the truth. You wanted to go. To escape the untenable situation your actions caused. I may have told you to leave Creston Manor, but it was
An uncomfortable flush heated Nathan’s face. “I’ve never run away from anything in my entire life.”
“I know. That is why I found it, and continue to find it, so confounding that you did so in this instance. Your situation was difficult, yet instead of fighting for what you wanted, you left.”
“I left to find what I wanted. What I needed. A peaceful place. Where no one whispered behind my back or stared at me with doubt and suspicion.”
Another burst of laughter drew Nathan’s attention across the room. Victoria was smiling at Gordon in a way that set Nathan’s teeth on edge. Pulling his attention back to his father, he found himself on the receiving end of a troubled stare.
“If you believe a woman such as Lady Victoria will settle for the rustic way you live when she could be a countess and have all this,” Father waved his hand to encompass the entire room, “then I fear you are destined for disappointment.”
“As I agree that not only am I an unsuitable choice for a lady like her, but that a pampered Society diamond such as Lady Victoria would be a disastrous choice for me, I do not fear suffering any disappointment. And now that that’s settled, shall we resume our game?”
“Of course.” Father reached out and moved his bishop. “Checkmate.”
Nathan stared at the board and realized that he had indeed been vanquished. He looked across the room and his gaze collided with Victoria’s, who was watching him over the fan of her cards. He felt the impact of her regard as if he’d been sucker punched, and he greatly feared he’d been vanquished in more ways than one.
Twelve
by Charles Brightmore
Victoria left her bedchamber early the next morning with a determined step and a plan firmly in mind: locate Nathan and make certain he did not escape as he had from the library yesterday afternoon and from Lord Alwyck’s drawing room last evening. She’d not had the opportunity to have a private word with him since he left the library with the notes and map yesterday, a vexing situation to be sure. Her heart had leapt and her stomach trembled when she’d seen him standing in the foyer last evening before the group departed for Alywck Hall. And certainly not because he looked so dashing and rakishly handsome in his formal evening wear, or because of the heated, compelling look in his eyes. No, it was because she’d finally have a moment alone with him to find out what he’d been up to all afternoon. Yes, that was why.
