She removed a delicate cucumber sandwich from the three-tiered stand and placed it on her bone-china plate, although the last thing she felt like doing was eating. Instead she took a sip of her tea, forced herself to smile pleasantly, and looked at her fellow guests. The elegant ladies were adorned as beautifully as the room, wearing stylish gowns, and large fashionable hats, bedecked with feathers, flowers and ribbons. They were all enjoying a leisurely afternoon tea. Presumably they had just finished a busy day’s shopping and needed to recuperate. Perhaps after tea they would return to their country estates, or maybe they were staying at their London town houses and tonight they would take in the opera or a play.
That was a life Nellie could have had if she had accepted Dominic’s proposal. It was a life she didn’t want. She would be miserable doing nothing but ordering her servants around, changing from her morning gown to her tea gown, then dressing for dinner, every day, day after day. She’d go mad making idle chit-chat with other idle ladies. She loved the life she had made for herself. Loved being independent, loved being busy. Unfortunately, she also loved Dominic Lockhart.
Dominic had said he wanted to marry her. He had also made it clear how much he would be sacrificing for her when they married. Instead of marrying someone who would elevate him up the social ladder, like Lady Cecily, she would be dragging him down. He said he didn’t care, but how long would that last? How long before he looked at her and all he saw was the sacrifice he had made in marrying her. How long before he resented her? That was not a risk Nellie was prepared to take. Nor did she want to marry someone who thought she was beneath him, just because she hadn’t been born into money. Nellie was beneath no one. She wasn’t beneath all these wealthy, idle women and she was not beneath Mr Dominic Lockhart.
She picked up her cucumber sandwich, determined to enjoy this afternoon tea and not think about Dominic or anyone else who considered themselves better than her. Then she put the sandwich back on her plate. She just wasn’t hungry. Instead she took another sip of her tea and smiled at the Duchess. The Duchess was one person who had never treated Nellie as if she was inferior, despite the vast gulf between their positions in society.
‘So, how is the latest play going?’ Nellie asked, determined to make polite conversation, despite that annoying pain gripping her heart. A pain that would not go away no matter how hard she tried to ignore it. ‘I hear you got rave reviews, once again.’
‘Mmm, yes, it’s going very well. But I don’t want to talk about that now. I want to know what’s wrong with you, Nellie.’
‘Me? Nothing. I’m fine. I’m always fine.’ To prove the point Nellie sent the Duchess her sunniest smile. ‘The business is going well. Very well. I’m busy every day. Booked solid most days.’ Instead of the reassured nod she expected back, the Duchess rose her eyebrows and looked sideways at Nellie.
‘When I entered your parlour this afternoon you looked completely miserable and that’s not like you. I had a quick word with Matilda and she said it was man troubles. That’s why I whisked you away here. So, are you going to tell me what the problem is, or do I have to grill Matilda some more?’
‘I’m going to have to have a word with that Matilda about her tendency to gossip.’
‘No, you’re not. You’re going to have to talk to me. So, what is this man trouble?’
Nellie looked across the white-linen tablecloth at the Duchess. She had that defiant look on her face Nellie had seen so many times when they were growing up. She was not going to let this drop until she knew every detail. The Duchess already knew about her first encounter with Dominic at Hardgrave Estate. She had helped engineer her escape, so Nellie filled her in on everything that had happened since, taking in the brawl at The Hanged Man, the assault in the streets, him recovering in her rooms, that fateful kiss, Lady Cecily running off with her footman, through to the proposal. Unlike every other time Nellie had recounted the tale of her encounter with Dominic Lockhart, this time she did not edit it to avoid any of the embarrassing parts. She just told it as it had happened. She even told the Duchess just how intimate that kiss really had been.
The Duchess laughed through the early stages of the story, when Nellie was playing games with Dominic. But then her face grew serious when he was beaten and recovering in her rooms. And once she got to the part where Nellie had kissed Dominic in the library and had been caught in an extremely compromising position by Lady Cecily, her brow furrowed and she nibbled on her bottom lip in concentration. But her smile returned when she told her about Lady Cecily crediting Nellie with the decision to run off to America with her footman, even though Nellie had no recollection of advising that and suspected it had all been Lady Cecily’s idea.
When she got to the part where Dominic proposed, the Duchess beamed with happiness, then her smile suddenly died. She furrowed her brow and looked sideways at Nellie, as if trying to work her out. ‘But that’s good, isn’t
