Page 23 of The Duke's Last Dance
He did not know why he was so sure that he wanted to marry her, even after three years of not seeing her or hearing from her. After three years of not being sure what life would be like when or if he returned to Town.
“Well, if you want help reminding her, I would not be opposed to help with that.” Lord Radcliff now looked towards his sister.
She was not responding to either of them.
“Do not worry about it, Lord Radcliff, but I thank you for the offer.” Nicolas sighed. “Please, tell me how you met Miss Juliet.”
Lord Radcliff entertained him and told him about how he had met his fiancée. It had been last Town Season, and they had been at one of the parties. Her father had actually made the introduction, as he knew the Earl of Camberton well and wanted to introduce Miss Juliet to Lord Radcliff, just to see if perhaps the connection would lead to something more.
Nicolas found that fascinating. They were introduced in the hopes of a marriage, but no one had ever put that thought into Lord Radcliff or Miss Juliet’s head. It had been entirely up to them where the relationship went, and if it had only been a friendship, both sets of parents would have been happy with it. He found that just fascinating, as his father was setting him up with Miss Alexia in the sole hopes of a marriage coming out of it. In fact, he was being told he had to marry her…
He fell into thought. He still had yet to meet Miss Alexia, and his father was doing nothing to stop him from spending time with Lord Radcliff. His father must have known that if he was spending time with Lord Radcliff, he was also spending time around Lady Catherine, his childhood crush. His childhood love.
That had been the entire reason his father had forced him into the Navy, after all. He did not want Nicolas to associate with Lady Catherine in this way.
If he had never gone off to the Navy, Nicolas thought he perhaps could have been married by now. Three years had passed, and a lot of courtships turned to marriages in three years if they were right for the couple. Many young women liked to be done with the courtship that quickly, and many men thought that if the woman was right for them, they would know it immediately and would know what to do about everything. They wanted to be able to say they had found the right person.
If he had never gone off to sea, to the Navy, he could have been married. He could have at least been courting someone steadily. After all, his best friend was now getting married, and his childhood crush had had her debut into society.
Or, was about to be debuted into society. He could never keep it straight.
“Don’t you think, Lord Lockhart?” Miss Juliet’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
“Huh?” He looked over at her. “My apologies… I must have slipped into thought about other things. Could you repeat that?”
“I asked if it was sweet, how he proposed to me,” Miss Juliet repeated.
“… I did not hear that part of the story.”
“You must have been deep in thought then, Lord Lockhart,” Lord Radcliff said.
He repeated the story. He had taken Miss Juliet to a garden before the end of the last Season, and he had proposed to her under an orchard. She had found it incredibly sweet and romantic.
“I think Lord Radcliff would have done better if the blossoms had been in bloom. They had died the week before he proposed to you,” Lady Catherine interjected. “I told him to do it earlier so that the blooms would be there, but he did not listen.”
“The blooms did not matter to me, Lady Catherine,” Miss Juliet said gently. “What mattered to me was the thought he put into it. Is that all that matters, the blooms?”
“No, but it would have been better,” Catherine insisted. “The blooms are always beautiful that time of year, and he had asked what he could do better.”
“I do regret not listening now that the time has passed, but I did not realize they would die so quickly, Catherine,” Lord Radcliff added. “What matters is that she said yes.”
“And immediately afterwards, you came home and asked her father for permission. You should have asked for permission first, Edward. Sometimes, you do not think things through properly.” Lady Catherine shook her head, finally looking away from the window. “I cannot believe he allowed you to do so after doing everything out of order.”
“Sometimes, ‘tis not the order that matters, Lady Catherine. If I understood correctly, the introduction happened in the hopes of this marriage coming to fruition,” Nicolas said. “Perhaps that is why the marriage is happening even though Lord Radcliff has allowed his feelings to get the better of him.”
“I asked permission! That matters,” Lord Radcliff muttered.
“You asked after she said she would marry you. What would you have done if her father had said no, Edward?” Lady Catherine made an excellent point.
Lord Radcliff did not respond, and the conversation ended on a sour note.
Nicholas did have to admit that Catherine had a point. If a woman’s father said they did not approve of the marriage, the man often had no recourse to change his mind. Either they got married in secret and hoped that the father would not be too mad, or the one hoping to marry his daughter had to end the courtship and move on.
He knew what the latter choice was like. He had never had a chance to start a courtship with the woman he wanted to court. His father sent him off to the Navy like the illegitimate son would be shipped away so that the world did not know he was there. Or, at the least, that he was not related to the father.
Nicolas shook these thoughts away.
There was only one chance for him to get what he wanted, and he was afraid that his father was going to do everything he could to ruin it. Though he was to meet with Miss Alexia soon and be introduced properly, he wanted to enjoy this evening with Lady Catherine Radcliff. It could be the last chance he had to enjoy an evening with her before his father decided to get Miss Alexia into Ashwood Manor, and he was not looking forward to that.
