Page 21 of The Love Potion
“Yes. Miss Petrelli’s situation is dire, but I think Ras has the right solution. At least for the moment.”
She huffed. “A momentary solution is not a permanent one, my lord, which is why I need your help. You’ve known the duke for a long time, haven’t you?”
Lord Nathaniel rocked back on his heel as he looked at her. He kept his expression genial, but she felt the reserve in him. “Yes. We met at school and have been fast friends ever since.”
“Good.” She pulled the folded list of love questions out of her reticule and held them out to him. “Do you know how he would answer any of these questions? They’re important, and I couldn’t work any of them into the conversation the other day. Not so he would answer, that is.”
“Ras is rather private,” he murmured as he began to read. Then his brows rose in surprise. “I can see why you’d have trouble working these into a conversation.” He frowned down at the sheet of foolscap and read two of the questions aloud. “What is the most foolish thing you’ve ever done in your life? What did you think of me when we first met that you don’t believe now?” He looked up at her. “He’ll never answer questions like that.”
Which was exactly her point! “That’s why I need you to answer them for him. You know him best.”
“Lady Zoe, what is this for?”
She bit her lip, desperately trying to come up with a convenient lie.
“Does it have to do with the love potion?”
She winced. “You heard that.”
“It was hard to miss.” He folded up the paper and handed it back to her. “You must know that he will never marry you.”
She sniffed. “He would, if he fell desperately in love with me!”
“And why do you want him anyway? He’s old and proper, like a good duke ought to be.”
“And don’t old men like young wives?”
The man winced. “Not Ras. Not like that.” He folded his arms as he regarded her. “I do not understand your determination to wed at all, much less him. You are a young woman. You could have several more Seasons until you’re considered on the shelf. We are one day into your first Season, and yet here you are, determined to wed the one man who will never choose a young wife.”
It was no business of his why she did what she did. She’d been very logical in her thought process. “Can you not think of how he’d answer even one of these? Perhaps he told you what he thought of me when we first met.”
“He thought what we all did. That you are very young.”
“I’m not that young!” she huffed.
“Lady Zoe—”
“The London air does not agree with my father. He coughed seventeen times this morning in just an hour. Horrible, hacking coughs that are terrible to hear.”
Lord Nathaniel frowned. “I am very sorry to hear that.”
“Mama wears gloves all the time because her knuckles are so swollen. She thinks her hands ugly. She is better in Cornwall where I have a special liniment for horses that works well on her hands. Plus, the water is much cleaner where we live.”
“I shouldn’t doubt that. I fear that London has a deleterious effect on everyone’s health.”
“Exactly. I will not put them through another Season. It will kill my father!” There. She’d said it, and damned that her eyes were tearing up at the thought of losing her parent. She knew it was coming, of course. Everyone saw how her father was fading a little more each day. But the London air had accelerated the process to a distressing degree.
His lordship took her hand and squeezed gently. “Perhaps then, it would be better to leave London altogether. Skip this Season and return next year after all this bruhaha is over. Or does a year seem like too long to wait?”
“It’s not me who insisted on this course, but my mother. She’s afraid she won’t be able to properly launch me when my brother inherits.”
“Is he as bad as all that?”
“What? No. He’s wonderful, but he despises London and has this mad idea about shipbuilding. His business requires all histime and energy, and he won’t take the time out for my Season. I’ll be stuck in Cornwall with him for the rest of my life!” That last part came out more as a wail than true conversation, and she immediately tried to moderate her tone. But it was so hard.
Meanwhile, Lord Nate nodded wisely. “So there’s the crux of it then.”
No, that wasn’t the crux of it. Why didn’t anyone understand? Her father wanted her wed this year and would not leave until that was accomplished. “My lord, isn’t there anything that makes you happy beyond reason? Something that absorbs your every waking moment and even haunts your dreams? I’m talking about a passion, my lord, that consumes you.”
