Page 22 of The Duke's Last Dance
“We meant to arrive at your loft room earlier, but it seems that we have had a good change of fortune, Lord Lockhart.” Lord Radcliff smiled. “Our footman startled the horses and had to calm them.”
“’Tis all good, sir,” Nicolas replied.
Then, he happened to glance inside the carriage.
As he had expected, Miss Juliet was sitting in the carriage. She looked as beautiful as any engaged woman ought to on an outing with her fiancé, dressed in a suitable day dress. The color suited her well, and her hair was currently covered by a hat with a few small flowers.
Then, his eyes drifted to the side, and they stopped completely.
Lady Catherine was also sitting in the carriage. Unlike her friend, she wore a day dress in cream, highlighting the way her blue eyes sparkled in the setting light. Her hair was done up in a twist, and a few strands had been teased out to frame her face. The effect was stunning, even with the hat hiding the rest of Lady Catherine’s hair. The hat, now that he looked at it, had a lot of flowers on the brim, all gathered on one side of the ribbon that had been attached to the hat. It looked well put-together, and it matched the dress. She wore beautiful matching gloves, too, soft cream silk covering her dainty hands as she held a reticule in her hands.
He wondered if she had been getting something out of the reticule when the carriage stopped and had decided it would be better to wait until they had fixed whatever the issue was before she continued.
“Lord Lockhart, what a pleasant surprise,” Miss Juliet said.
Lady Catherine looked over when the silence broke.
“Yes, what a pleasant surprise,” Lady Catherine echoed. “Edward did not tell me that you were the friend he had invited to join us at Vauxhall Gardens for the evening.”
“He must have wanted to surprise you, Lady Catherine. What a pleasure to see you again,” Nicolas said. He extended his hand out to her.
She took it, and he kissed her knuckles lightly. Her hand shook in his, and he wondered if that had anything to do with the fact that there was a light breeze blowing through the carriage with the window and the door open. Perhaps it was nerves at seeing him again so soon after their dinner.
“Come, if we do not hurry, we will not make it to Vauxhall Gardens before they close to visitors for the evening.” Lord Radcliff hurried them along.
Nicolas got into the carriage and sat across from Lady Catherine. Lord Radcliff sat across from his fiancée, and he shut the door behind him.
“Do you have a date for your wedding yet, Lord Radcliff?” Nicolas sensed that the ladies had an unfinished conversation that they wanted to finish, and he was going to allow them to do that.
“Not yet, but we are planning a spring wedding. We’re thinking sometime in April or May.” Lord Radcliff smiled. “I think that it will be fun and beautiful all at once. We will be able to enjoy it, and we will have a lot of people there to celebrate with us.”
“Are you excited to be getting married?” Nicolas was not sure what was appropriate to ask about getting marriage, but he had a feeling that this would be a good question. If he could not offer a good answer in front of Miss Juliet, then he was not ready to get married.
“Yes. I am,” he answered without hesitation. “Miss Juliet is a wonderful woman, though I say that often enough around her that she says I say it too much.” He laughed a little and looked towards his fiancée.
Miss Juliet looked down, her cheeks coloring.
“You are correct, Lord Radcliff. You do say it too much,” she said. “I believe you say it too often, but you say it and mean it every time. How can I be mad at you for that?”
“She makes a point, Edward.” Catherine gave her brother a pointed look.
Lord Radcliff only laughed, holding his hand out towards Miss Juliet. Miss Juliet took it, and then Lord Radcliff kissed her knuckles much as Nicolas had done to Catherine when he arrived at the carriage. Miss Juliet’s cheeks turned a darker red, and Lord Radcliff let go of her hand.
Nicolas stole a glance at Catherine as the love birds did their thing. She was now looking out the window, her hat hiding her face from him. However, the dress hugged to her figure, the bodice tight on the waist and hips and the skirt long and flowing free. She was the perfect woman for him, and the longer he looked at her, the more he talked to her after all of the time he had spent away, the more convinced of this he was.
She leaned her head on her hand, as if she was sighing to herself and trying to think of something that she could say to him.
It did not take long before Lord Radcliff could turn his attention back to Nicolas, and Lady Catherine was saved from having to make conversation with him.
“Do you think you will ever settle down, get married, Lord Lockhart?” Lord Radcliff turned the topic to his own life.
“There is one woman I have hoped to court, but I do not know that she would take me now,” Nicolas replied. “I left her three years ago without word, and my heart still flutters when I see her.”
“Do you think it is a remnant of some childhood crush?” Lord Radcliff raised an eyebrow, his lips curling up into a smile.
“It could be. I do not know if she would remember me as her childhood crush, but perhaps… perhaps she might, if I were to remind her of it,” Nicolas said, looking towards Lady Catherine.
She was still looking out the window.
