Page 59 of The Duke's Last Dance
“Wonderful!” He smiled widely. “Wonderful. I shall pick you up accordingly, and shall see you at, say, seven?”
“Seven sounds perfect, Lord Burton,” she said. “Absolutely perfect.”
He continued to talk with her, making small talk and asking how she had been. He did not touch on why she had not been in society for the last two months, but instead tried to make sure she knew that he would be there when she needed him.
When he left the house, Catherine swore the floor was closer to her face than to her feet. The fact that the Duke of Hestina had come to call on her and had sought her out when no one else had, despite her not publicly courting anyone, had to be a sign to move on.
It had to be. Otherwise, why would he have come to call on her? Why make the trip only to be rejected, and especially if he knew that he was going to be rejected by her? It did not make sense. A duke would only make that trip if he knew there was some chance she would say yes.
Her mother came into the room shortly after the duke left.
“Who was that, Catherine?” Her mother frowned. “I heard voices…”
“The Duke of Hestina has paid me a visit, Mother,” she said. “He invited me to Haymarket Theatre, as his partner, tomorrow night.”
“Did you accept?” Her mother furrowed her brows.
“Yes, I did,” Catherine stated, beaming. “I did.”
“I thought you were to court Lockhart…” her mother stated. She shook her head. “Catherine, he loves you. Why are you turning your back on him?”
“If he loved me, he would have written to me by now, Mother,” Catherine replied. She could not help the venom in her voice. “I have waited two months for a letter from him. I have heard nothing from him, not even a single letter to tell me that perhaps he cannot respond to every letter as he promised.” She let out a breath through her nose. “Two months, Mother. Why has he not written me in two months?”
“Perhaps his father’s health has taken a turn for the worse, Catherine. I do not know, and since I can only guess, I do not wish to make a guess that would paint him in a horrible light.”
“I suppose you have a point…” Catherine sighed. “I am going to Haymarket Theatre with the Duke of Hestina tomorrow, and there is nothing he can do to stop me.”
“If that is what you believe is best, Catherine, then I will not stop you. I only wish you would consider what Nicolas is going through before you continue to see the Duke of Hestina,” her mother warned. “You never know what is going on in his life unless he tells you.”
“Then he should have written to me.” Catherine held firm.
She had written to him every week, as she had promised. He had not responded, and she knew that he had made her a promise.
Her mother sighed, and then she walked away.
There was nothing more they could do but wait and see where everything led them. Where she ended up deciding to go, who she courted.
Catherine walked to one of the large windows in the sitting room and looked out of it. This one overlooked the beautiful gardens, and somewhere in the distance – though she could not see it – Gracemere stood in this direction.
She remembered standing here as a child, hoping to see Nicolas’s carriage pulling in from Gracemere when the Town Season began. She had never been able to see the carriage come into Ashwood, but Nicolas had always made it a point to see to it that he visited Camberton as soon as he feasibly could when he arrived for a Town Season.
The memories hurt to think about. That was, of course, back when neither she nor Nicolas had had a care in the world, and there was nothing more they could have done about anything in the world. They could have easily had bread and jam for dinner as they could have danced in the dining room when no one was looking.
Now, there were societal norms in the way of having what she wanted, and she was ready to give it all up. If she could not get Nicolas’s attention in any way other than to be with him, physically, it did not bode well for a marriage. He would be more tempted to have an affair with someone than she, and that would only end in a scandal for everyone. The Duke of Hestina, on the other hand; he had sought her out.
He had come to find her, and he had made the first move, asking her to accompany him to Haymarket Theatre.
“You have to hurry, Nicolas, for if you do not write to me soon… I will not be yours much longer,” Catherine whispered.
She felt as though she had gutted herself as soon as she said it. It hurt to give up on what she had thought was true love, and to now have done it twice hurt even more. But that was the consequence she would have to pay for believing that Nicolas would or could keep his word.
For all she cared, he could marry Miss Alexia Balfour and keep out of her life. Fool her once, shame on him, but fool her twice, and shame on Catherine. Her heart must be guarded, she decided, and the best way to do that now was to court someone else.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Two months. He had waited two months, and it had been a miserable wait. Lady Catherine had never written to him. He had waited for that first letter to come, and when it had not arrived, he wrote one to her, asking how she was doing and what was going on. Had something happened in Town he needed to be aware of?
For two months, he had worried that perhaps Catherine had met some horrible fate, been taken by another man, or something worse. He had heard stories of women being captured by the highwaymen that ran rampant in Town, and then being taken or sold or worse. He hoped with all his heart that this fate had not befallen Catherine, but he had not had the heart to write another letter.
