Page 51 of Dancing with an Enigmatic Duke
Lady Callum tipped her head so that she could see him from beneath her wide-brimmed hat. She squinted up at him from her vantage point on the bench. “Hello there, Lord Torrington. Have you come to watch the birds?”
“I came to find you, so if you are watching birds, then I suppose I am watching birds,” Lord Torrington said as he dropped gracefully onto the bench.
Lady Callum’s golden strands fell here and there around her neck and face. He wondered suddenly what she would look like with her hair completely down. She looked at him curiously. “Why do you look at me so? Is there something on my face?”
He chuckled. He clasped his hands in his lap and shook his head. “No. There is nothing on your face. Tell me about your childhood.”
“Why?” It was a simple question, but she seemed truly surprised that he wanted to know.
Nash sighed. “We are supposed to be engaged soon. Should we not know things of each other?”
“My childhood was probably rather dull compared to yours.” She shrugged in the soft white muslin dress she wore. “There really is not much to tell.”
Nash said instead, “You have quite the rumours going about yourself and Lord Hawley.”
“Yes, Harcourt spoke to me about it. People talk, Lord Torrington.” She looked down at her hands. “And in a few weeks our engagement will be no more.”
Lord Torrington nodded. “I know. Which is why I am very concerned that your reputation remains unsullied. My reputation can take the punishment, but a lady’s reputation is a delicate thing.”
“Do you think I do not know that?” Lady Callum sighed heavily, and her shoulders slumped. “I told you that I thought I liked him very much.”
He nodded as there was little else he could do. “What abouthimthough? Does he not care that there are rumours?”
“I have not spoken to him of it.” Lady Callum shifted on the bench beside him. She turned her body so that she could look at him more fully. “What should I do?”
Lord Torrington could think of precious little. He was not a masterful player of the social game that everyone else seemed so fond of. “I think we should hope for the best, but perhaps we should spend more of our time together. It might offset the rumours.”
“We could do that,” Lady Callum agreed readily. “I shall see you tonight then?”
He stood up and gave her a bow. “Tonight.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips. He gave her a wink, which was a bit roguish, but she laughed off the gesture.
It was not until he got back home to his own study that he realised that the engagement party really was not that far off. The moment he had been holding out for would be upon him. The odd thing about that was that he did not feel a sense of relief.
He sank down into his leather chair and stared at the ceiling as if it would tell him some great secret. A knock at his door brought him out of his revelry. Before he could say anything, the door opened and his mother entered with a swish of skirts and perfume.
“You are supposed to wait to be asked to enter,” Nash said. He did not bother sitting up. He continued to look at the ceiling.
“What are you moping about for?” His mother’s words were clipped. “Do you not announce your engagement soon?”
Nash sat up reluctantly under her scrutiny. He closed his eyes, as he had seen his father do so many times before. It was not until he was older that he understood why Father took a moment before he answered Mother’s questions. When he opened his eyes, he placed a smile on his face. “Of course, I am happy, Mother. I am merely tired.”
“Who can blame you on that? Not I,” she said in an unusually warm tone, and then immediately added, “I told you to rest more, yet you do not. I can do no more for you than I have done.”
Nash rubbed his eye as he felt it start to twitch. “How is Father? I have not seen him in a few days.”
“Did I not tell you that he went to visit your brother?” His mother eyed him as if she could not have possibly made a mistake, and she waited for Nash to confirm that it was his mistake and not hers.
Nash thought for a moment then said, “Of course. I have just been so busy that I forgot.” Even though she had indeed, probably deliberately, not told him of his father’s departure, there was little Nash could do but agree. “Remind me, Mother. When is he due to return?”
“In two days,” she supplied smoothly as she adjusted her shawl. “Do you think your schedule will permit your lady to come to visit us?”
Nash wanted to scream absolutely not, but instead he said, “Perhaps. We have a full schedule of parties and balls to attend. She has already met you, Mother.”
“It was a small luncheon, hardly a formal welcome to our home, her home,” his mother said as she tapped a dainty foot firmly against the floor. “She should show respect to the line that she is to be a member of.”
“It is not she who has the problem coming here, Mother. I do not want you to terrorise her.” Nash regretted the word instantly, but his mother’s ire was at least firmly focused on him again.
Her gaze was never more intimidating than when she sensed an insult to herself. “I was right when I said that you viewed me as a burden.”
