Page 47 of The Duke's Last Dance
Nicolas groaned internally.
Someone should have just told him that he was excused from the wedding breakfast or that the breakfast was cancelled. He would have loved to show up without Miss Alexia or not at all… and this was why.
“Thank you, Miss Alexia,” Miss Juliet said. “If you’ll please take your seat; you are holding up the line.”
Nicolas watched as Miss Alexia stuttered, and he quickly moved them along. His mother was already sitting down.
He was so preoccupied with making sure that Miss Alexia did not return to tell Miss Juliet how slighted she had been by that phrase that he didn’t see Lady Catherine before he sat down. She was facing away from him, looking at the line of people walking into the room.
He was not at all surprised by this. Lady Catherine had loved to watch people come in and out of rooms as a child, and he would have been surprised to learn that the habit had died while he had been away in the Navy.
He pulled Miss Alexia’s chair out for her, and then he sat down beside her.
The wedding breakfast started, and he watched Lady Catherine as secretly as he could. Her pastel pink gown again made him marvel at how well it looked on her, who had made it, and how they had made the choice to put such a pretty color on her. Then again, anyone who dressed Catherine had to have a certainje ne sais quoito how they picked their colors and accessories to make her stand out even more than she already did.
“I think this wedding breakfast was a little poorly planned,” Miss Alexia began, but in a tone that was thankfully hushed so that only he and his mother could hear it. “There are not enough chairs for everyone, and my gown is getting even more wrinkled.”
This was going to be a long breakfast. Nicolas could feel it. Miss Alexia, although having been told that it was supposed to be Miss Juliet’s day, was still trying to make the day all about her, at least around Nicolas and his mother. It was not something that Nicolas would stand for.
He glanced at Catherine again. She was still in her seat, and he wondered why she had not touched her food. He would not be able to ask without drawing more attention to it than he thought was necessary, so he did not dare to ask about it yet.
Perhaps once he had found a way to talk to her alone.
Miss Alexia kept him engaged in conversation, as if he was only to give attention to her and no one else, despite the fact that there were many people here that he had not seen since he had gone into the Navy and he wanted to talk to them too. No, it was all about Miss Alexia when she was around.
He secretly hoped that his mother would be able to get her engaged in a conversation focused on someone else or something else. It was not right of her to expect to be able to keep all of his attention focused on her all the time.
Then he saw Catherine slipping out by the side door. She had always loved the gardens when they were children, and he wondered if she was going there to clear her head. It would have made sense, but that would have to wait. He was still in a conversation with Miss Alexia, and that was all hecoulddo to keep her happy.
She was only happy talking about herself, it seemed, and that was not the kind of person he wanted to marry. That was, of course, provided he could find a way to convince his father that this was not the kind of woman that would be good for him.
“Duchess Maria, what would you think of me wearing something like what Miss Juliet is wearing? Not for my own wedding, of course; my gown will be grander than that. But more for something like an engagement ball?”
Though Nicolas wanted to gag when he heard Miss Alexia discussing an engagement ball with his mother, he was glad to hear that she was going to engage Miss Alexia in a discussion. It would give him a chance to slip out after Lady Catherine.
He excused himself, claiming that he needed some air and that he did not want to interrupt their conversation, and then he walked out of the side door.
The gardens were just as lavish as he had always remembered them. The first blooms were beginning to show up in the various tress and the bushes that had been planted years ago, and he wondered what colors would come up first. He hoped the roses would bloom first; they were always the prettiest parts of the gardens here at Camberton.
There were also plenty of water fountains. There were so many memories from his childhood here; he would have loved to be able to enjoy them again with Catherine or find a way to enjoy them at all. Miss Alexia had already stated that the only gardens she ever enjoyed were the ones at her own manor, but that Ashwood’s gardens were slowly starting to warm her heart.
She would never set foot in the Camberton gardens, she had declared a week ago, because they were not maintained by a gardener. Though Nicolas knew this to be very wrong, he had not corrected her. She could stay away from Camberton for all he cared; he only wanted Lady Catherine and having to entertain Miss Alexia’s fantasies was a dangerous game.
He continued to wander the gardens, hoping to find Lady Catherine. The first little while he had no such luck, though he did find areas of the gardens that made him nostalgic for the simpler times when he was a child. He remembered being able to play in these gardens without worrying about anything else, and he knew that there was nothing more he could do than remember them now.
Then, he came upon Lady Catherine. She sat on one of the water fountains, her dress trailing off the fountain into the dirt and her hand in the water, twirling it and twisting it to make ripples and waves in the fountain.
He wondered how she could stand to do that; the water must have been incredibly cold today. Though the sun was shining, there was still a slight breeze and he worried she would catch cold if she continued to play in the water like that.
This was the same fountain they had thrown shillings into when they had been children, and that was all Nicolas wanted to remember right now. They had thrown many shillings into this fountain, much to the chagrin of both their parents and the maids who continually had to fish the shillings out of the fountain.
Catherine looked up at that moment, and Nicolas could see that she was getting ready to say something to him.
“Lady Catherine, please, I beg of you, what I have to say is important. Please…do not tell me not to speak to you,” he said quietly.
This was not how he had wanted to start this conversation, but he knew that if he did not have a chance to say anything now, he would not have a chance to later. His father had already insisted he start courting Miss Alexia to his chagrin, and he wanted to make sure Catherine knew where his heart truly lay instead of assuming based on what she was seeing.
“Make it quick. We should not be left alone.” She narrowed her eyes at him, and he felt a certain kind of animosity coming from her.
