Page 4 of It's In The Duke's Kiss
His brother’s words pierced the heart of what was bothering Lucian. Was Nathaniel really so self-interested? If so, Lucian had failed miserably in helping him become the honorable man as he’d promised to do. “Nathaniel—” Lucian started, then clamped his jaw shut as his brother skated off. Lucian watched him go without trying to stop him. If he caught Nathaniel now, he’d likely give him a much-needed facer to knock some sense into him. Lucian stared out at his brother and followed his progress across the ice and toward Lady Emmaline. Nathaniel stopped in front of her. After a minute, her dizzying circles halted.
She tilted her head back to look up at his brother. Then she nodded, and Lucian groaned. He knew enough of Lady Emmaline and her races in Hyde Park over the last several years to know the young girl who’d fallen from his great-uncle’s tree was still very impetuous…and apparently still just as easily dazzled by Nathaniel as she’d been for so many years. Should he go put a stop to whatever trouble the two would likely find together?
As soon as the idea hit him, an undeniable realization struck: Nathaniel’s biggest problem was Lucian.
Hell and double hell.He had been so busy trying to save Nathaniel from himself that Lucian had failed tolet himgrow up. His brother had never been accountable for any of his mistakes because Lucian always fixed them for him. Well, no more.
Lucian turned his back on his brother and Lady Emmaline, and marched with determined steps to the mead tent. Whatever folly Nathaniel led her into on the ice, he would have to correct it on his own. As Lucian ordered a mug of mead, he comforted himself with the knowledge that there was surely not much trouble his brother could find while skating. What was the worst that could happen? Nathaniel might steal a kiss, but Lucian didn’t think his brother was quite that foolish. Every fiber of Lucian’s person entreated him to turn around and ensure all was well, but he forced himself not to move and to slowly drink his mead and to contemplate how he might help his brother out of this, and then dismissed those thoughts as he remembered that Nathaniel needed to get himself out of his mess.
Several acquaintances passed through the tent and offered greetings. Lucian responded automatically, barely hearing what they said, his mind so preoccupied with what Nathaniel might be doing. But when his distant cousin, Nicholas Beckford, Lord Edgeworth stepped into the tent, Lucian genuinely smiled.
“Nick,” he exclaimed. “I’m surprised to see you here. I thought you were still traveling with your wife.”
His cousin grinned, looking relaxed and happy. Jealousy twisted through Lucian. Would he ever look like that?
“We just returned,” Nick replied. “Lillian is skating.” He turned toward the ice and pointed. “She’s just there in the red cape.”
Lucian looked out at the ice. Nick’s wife was easy to spot in her red cape with her black hair tumbling over her shoulders. “She’s lovely as always,” Lucian said politely, even as his attention was drawn to his brother, who was now skating side by side with Lady Emmaline. Suddenly, Nathaniel took her hand, and Lucian muttered to himself.
“What’s the matter?” Nick asked.
“My brother’s the matter.” Lucian pointed to Nathaniel and Lady Emmaline. “He’s stirring trouble again. Talking foolish, innocent ladies into forgetting themselves.”
“Are you going to run off to rescue him per your usual form, or do you care to walk with me and say hello to Lillian?”
“I’m taking a sabbatical from saving my brother,” Lucian declared. “I came to the realization that he needs to suffer some consequences in order to grow up.”
Nick arched his eyebrows. “When did you come to this understanding?”
“About a minute ago,” Lucian said, forcing a laugh, even though new knots formed in his shoulders as he thought of what exactly it might mean to let Nathaniel pay for his mistakes. Had Lucian failed, then, to live up to his promise to his father and the promise Lucian had made himself to be the father of whom Nathaniel had been robbed?
Emma’s heart fluttered as Nathaniel tightly held her hand in his. He looked the other way to guide them in another turn, and her breath caught as she pulled back.
He glanced at her as they glided. “Whatever is the matter?”
She bit her lip. She hated to sound like a ninny, but the ice to their right looked dangerous. “Doesn’t the ice look thin to you, Lord Nathaniel?”
He squeezed her hand. “Call me Nathan.”
Her pulse ticked up several beats. Hewasperfect. So casual. So friendly. So indifferent to the rules, just as she was. “Nathan, I think we should avoid that ice.” She inclined her head toward the area of which she spoke.
He chuckled. “I’ll keep you safe. I vow it.”
The way he said it with such surety almost made her concern slide away. Still…she couldn’t help but glance down and tense as they skated near the edge of the patch of ice that was worrying her.
“You’ve become a stunningly beautiful woman in this last year, Emmaline.”
It might be cold outside, but his words made her feel hot on the inside. She’d never been called beautifulora woman. “Do you say that to all the ladies?” she teased, pleased she had found witty banter even as her mind felt scrambled.
“Only to you, my enchanting snow fairy.”
“You think me enchanting?” she managed to say without gushing.
He offered her a dazzling smile. “Especially when you’re spinning and your hair fans around you. Shall I spin you?”
She nodded, feeling as if her every wish were about to come true.
He swung her out to the right, directly over the thinner ice. Her fear spiked, but as they glided over it and nothing happened, she let the fear go, and when he spun her around again, she simply closed her eyes, determined to enjoy the moment.
